Tom Kelly (Keynote Speaker)
About Tom Kelly: Tom Kelly is a globally recognized expert on Industry 4.0 and its impact on business. As executive director and CEO of Automation Alley, a Michigan-based nonprofit Industry 4.0 knowledge center with a global outlook and a regional focus, Tom is often tapped to share his visionary leadership and expertise around digital transformation. His strong presentation at Showcase [AI] featured emphasis on AI and additive manufacturing, and how companies in Michigan are adapting to the new playing field.
Jennifer Weller
About Jennifer Weller: Dr. Jennifer Weller is currently an NSF program director for the Directorate of Biological Sciences and an associate professor at UNC Charlotte. She served a previous stint as a program officer at NSF, and was invited onto Showcase [AI] to share award opportunities and provide valuable perspective during the Women in IT and Tech Panel.
Bill Spotz
About Bill Spotz: Dr. Bill Spotz is a highly skilled program manager in the US Department of Energy Office of Science, a position he has held for 7 years in total over two stints. He has extensive industry experience, during his time with Sandria National Laboratories and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and looked to close the gap for potential proposals by providing insight on upcoming/ongoing funding opportunities and methods for securing grants with the DOE.
Jeffrey Horn
About Jeffrey Horn: Dr. Jeffrey Horn has been a faculty member at Northern Michigan University since 1996, providing excellent instruction and forming significant research during his time there. In recent work, Dr. Horn led a team of graduate students at Northern Michigan University to study how applying a massively parallel algorithm based on the evolution of cooperative species to solve shapenesting problems in manufacturing DSE, implemented on GPUs, can find quickly tight nestings of complex shaped pieces on 2D sheets or in 3D volumes, reducing wasted materials and/or optimizing space usage.