cyber Security

Cybersecurity Is No Longer Optional! – Musings On Protecting The Homeland

Cybersecurity is No Longer Optional! – Musings on ASEI’s Cybersecurity Summit by Syna Sharma

Cybersecurity is a growing problem around the world. Many of our nation’s most important ports and elections are becoming compromised due to a lack of understanding of the importance of cybersecurity. Recently, ASEI held a Cybersecurity Summit, hearing from many different speakers and covering a wide range of topics, including overview of the threat landscape, building a secure future, and software supply chain security. One of the topics discussed that intrigued me the most was protecting the homeland from cyber risk.
Aastha Verma, the chief of vulnerability management at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), used many unique analogies to compare the different components of cybersecurity to the Wild West. Everything one can envision in the Wild West applies to the cyber world as well. Ethical hackers are cowboys; malicious actors of all types are outlaws and bandits; defenseless IT staff with primitive tools are sheriffs; and our most critical data assets are gold mines.
After laying the basic foundation for cybersecurity components, Aastha talks about the different opportunities everywhere for us to respond better and faster, such as the 2020 water disaster in Flint, Michigan, which was an epic monitoring fail. Similarly, airports, shipping ports, and spaceports are all at risk. An eye-opening point made by Aastha was the lack of anonymity and privacy we have in our day-to-day lives due to our devices. Self-service and automation are now an expectation. Using your WiFi connection, those same devices self-report back to home base whenever you leave the house. There is less ability to be anonymous.

A shocking statistic shown by the ransomware task force was that ransoms in 2020 increased by 171% compared to 2019, due to COVID exposure and the ransomware epidemic. 560 healthcare facilities were hit by ransomware. That is an appalling number, which led to Aastha’s final piece of advice, “Know where your software comes from and participate and learn about these topics,” because cybersecurity is not a choice.

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Syna Sharma is a San Jose, CA based rising high school freshman spending her summer time productively by interning and getting involved with ASEI activities. She participates in volleyball, tennis, and different forms of dances.

Nidhi Mathihali Wins NCWIT Award For Aspirations In Computing

Nidhi Mathihali Wins NCWIT Award For Aspirations In Computing

ASEI Student member from Silicon valley Nidhi Mathihali is no stranger to ASEI Newsletter readers. She has been featured previously as she won prizes in local Science fairs and ASEI events such as Silicon Valley BETS 2020, National YTE 2020 and also first prize during YTE at our recent 34th National Convention in January 2022. In addition to that, she volunteers her time with several non profits including ASEI. Nidhi has continued to win accolades at multiple avenues including second year in a row at NCWIT 2022 Award for Aspirations in Computing (AiC)
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is the farthest-reaching network of change leaders focused on advancing innovation by correcting underrepresentation in computingEach year, U.S. high school students in grades 9 through 12 who are women, genderqueer, or non-binary are eligible to receive recognition for their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and plans for post-secondary education. This year, 40 winners and 360 honorable mentions were selected from more than 3,500 amazing, talented young applicants. from all around the USA
Sustainability Leadership Through Technology And Innovation

Sustainability Leadership Through Technology And Innovation

In the universe are billions of galaxies,

In our galaxy are billions of planets,

But there is #OnlyOneEarth.

Let’s take care of it.

Led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and held annually on 5 June since 1973, World Environment Day is the largest global platform for environmental public outreach and is celebrated by millions of people across the world.

ASEI  Celebrated #worldenvironmentday2022 with a recommitment to  #sustainable #technology #innovations . Many of you may recall our earth day events, sustainability and energy talks in Michigan and So cal as well as   STI2022 – the theme for our 34th National Convention that was hosted by Silicon Valley chapter on Jan 15/16, 2022 .

Below is a first person impression of what transpired during the Sustainability panel discussion at the ASEI CXO summit as part of the recent National Convention, written by ASEI student intern Syna Sharma.
The climate is changing constantly and rapidly. Due to the constantly changing climate, all universities and organizations around the world need to be prepared for the unexpected. During ASEI’s 34th National Convention, the theme of the convention was STI – sustainable technology innovations. While a number of topics of importance to CXOs were discussed during the convention, one of the panel discussions focused entirely on Sustainability. Moderated by Kunal Sood, Founder and CXO of WeThePlanet and Global Ambassador of Singularity University, this panel featured voices from across 3 different continents, including tech executive Bhawna Singh, Award winning Civil engineer and UK based academic Dr. Priti Parikh, and Social entrepreneur and former head of innovation at Rolls Royce, Rajashree Rao.
CXO Summit
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Achieving Sustainability Through Technology and Innovation

This panel presented many new ideas ranging from the pandemic’s impact on the climate and technology to how various technologies can be used to improve the overall wellbeing of the world. During the presentation, Bhawna Singh talked about the increased usage of cloud over the years, specifically during the pandemic. Impacting work habits, the pandemic has caused cloud usage to be higher than initially planned, according to 90% of the people sampled during research. Due to a shortage of hardware, many organizations accelerated their migration plans from energy guzzling data centers to the cloud. Going cloud-native is a major technology trend that is picking up pace,and embraces SDGs too as most public cloud vendors are either compliant or working towards SDGs by 2030 and reducing carbon footprint. This is why we need to embrace cloud technology and allow competitiveness in the digitized world.
Dr. Priti Parikh at the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management took an interesting take on technology’s impact on global sanitization and poverty. COVID has proven that if there is a lack of infrastructure and equity, those who are underprivileged suffer the most. 2 billion people on earth do not have access to basic sanitation. Dr. Parikh’s suggestion is to invest in sanitation as it will hit all of the sustainable development goals we are looking to meet. An eye-opening point she made was that lower-class citizens make up the majority of the population, yet they are only responsible for around 10% of the world’s climate change. They still bear the burden of that poor infrastructure and feel pressured to reduce emissions. In the panel discussion on helping the climate using technology, Rajashree Rao, a technology leader & social entrepreneur who has previously worked in innovation ecosystems as well as cloud computing and data analytics, brought up an inspiring point on how you don’t have to be an engineer to understand and know about technology, and if you are passionate, you can do anything. Concluding the panel, Bhawna Singh adeptly summarized the discussions into a single sentence that resonated with me-“Technology is an equitable means to get the solution or power of what we are trying to solve for everybody.”
Hearing from all these influential speakers during this panel changed my views on technology and its relation to climate change and sustainability, and showed me that by using technology, we can change the world for the better.

Syna Sharma is a San Jose, CA based rising high school junior spending her summer time productively by interning and getting involved with ASEI activities.

GettoHatere2022

The Summer Social Hour by ASEI SOCAL

Join us for a fun and friendly Social Hour at the India Kitchen. Make new connections and rekindle ole ones. Share what’s happening. Bring your Engineering and Technology jokes and latest stories. Enjoy the appetizers and quench your thirst. The team at ASEI SoCal looks forward to seeing you soon.

Cost $9. Appetizers and soft drinks included. (cash bar available)

Socl Hour 2022
Ashvin Rangan Live and Unleashed – Monthly meeting

Ashvin Rangan Live and Unleashed – Monthly meeting

Date/Time : Tue, Mar 21, 2023, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM (your local time)
Venue details : Irvine Ranch Water District, 15600 Sand Canyon Ave, Irvine, CA, US, 92618 Community Meeting Room
On behalf of ASEI SoCal executive team, we invite you to an Energizing talk with Ashvin Rangan on March 21st evening starting at 5:30 pm in Irvine.

Topic : Playing for Power: Generative AI, Bing vs Bard, and Pichai’s $100 billion nosedive

Ashwin (“Ash”) Rangan joined ICANN as Chief Innovation and Information Officer (CIIO) in March 2014. He joins the ICANN staff with over 20 years of experience serving in progressive capacities up to the Head of IT in a variety of organizations, both very large and relatively small. Ash is known as a visionary, strategist and leader in applying creative and innovative IT solutions to the ever-evolving needs of businesses and organizations. He has served as CIO at several well known brands such as Rockwell International, and Wal-Mart and most recently at Edwards Lifesciences. He is a sought-after expert in defining, developing and delivering high-value process innovations.

At ICANN, he serves as the SVP Engineering & Chief Information Officer. He works closely with the ICANN Operations teams in the US, Turkey, Singapore, Uruguay and other regional operations teams.

We are delighted and honored to have Ash keynote our this month’s meeting, and can’t wait to listen to his talk.

Many thanks to our ASEI life member Balaji Rao for helping us arrange the talk and sponsoring the dinner for this event.

We look forward to seeing you on March 21st evening… it’s going to be a fun evening.

We invite you to become our member or renew your membership.

Cost : $10 for non-members (Venmo / Zelle at the door.)
Albert-Robels-Water-Recycling-Plant-Tour

Albert Robels Water Recycling Plant Tour

Albert Robels Water Recycling Plant Tour

Date/Time : Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM 
Venue details : 4320 San Gabriel River Pkwy, Pico Rivera, California, US, 90660 Albert Robels Center
On behalf of ASEI SoCal team, we invite you to join us for a hands-on tour of the Albert Robels Center (ARC) for Water Recycling and Environmental Learning.

Why: Visit the state-of-the-art facility and see water recycling in action. Learn how ARC fully eliminates demand for imported water for regional water replenishment. Also learn how ARC supplements natural water recharge and acts as new water supply with advance treated water from the facility.

Network with fellow innovators and engineers. Share interesting stories. And have some fun 😃

We look forward to seeing you on April 27th… it’s going to be a fun afternoon.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING INNOVATIONS 2021

Science, Technology And Engineering Innovations – 2021 In Review

As we ring in 2022, there are a number of remarkable innovations that have happened across all engineering fields that we would like to share. 2021 was an unprecedented year. We broke new grounds and boundaries of science engineering and innovation were stretched. So the choices are plenty.

Our pick of top 5 advances this year to highlight for our readers :

1. AI/ML : Artificial Intelligence solves problems using neural networks which are based on partial differential equations that are hard to solve. Two new neural networks – DeepONet and Fourier neural operators make this easier.

2. Spacetech : As we watch James Webb Space Telescope launched in space it is rewriting cosmic history. 

3. QuantumComputing : Google, using a quantum computer, created a time crystal that would flip back and forth between two distinct states forever, with no energy lost or gained. This violates the second law of thermodynamics

4. Neuroengineering : Rethinking how the brain works: there is not a right brain/left brain distinction anymore. It seems both halves are actually connected.

5. Cleantech : Green Steel plants that emit less than 2% of carbon dioxide emissions as compared to 7-9%.

Article by Amrish Chopra – Life member from  ASEI SiliconValley . Amrish is a Senior R&D manager with VMWARE and has over 25 years of experience in high tech industry

He has been a founding member of the ASEI News and Editorial team that brings out regular blogs and publications

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

To Infinity And Beyond

It is dubbed as the single most complicated project that has perhaps been attempted till date and it took over 25 years and $10B in the making! Yes, we are talking about James Webb Space Telescope (JWST ).
This year, every woman and man on this planet received a Christmas gift. And probably the greatest gift in the history of mankind. The gift came from NASA (along with European and Canadian Space Agencies). While the world was celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ on Dec 25, 2021, NASA launched an Ariane 5 rocket to carry JWST so that we may see the birth of the Universe- the Big Bang and the aftermath for millions of years.
The human-made engineering, technological and scientific marvel launched into space -JWST is the most powerful modern space telescope created and it is just beginning its month-long journey to give us the most intricate images of our universe, galaxy and solar system.

Over 25 years in the making through a joint effort lead by NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration along with contributions from the European Space Agency – ESA and the Canadian Space Agency | Agence spatiale canadienne, this new telescope is designed to see farther in space and, therefore, further back in time than any other telescope including the Hubble Space Telescope. The JWST primary light gathering mirror is 21 feet across, about three times bigger than Hubble, and seven times more sensitive.

This telescope will peer to see the longer infrared wavelength light from infant stars and galaxies from as early as 13.7 billion years ago soon after the “Big Bang” formation of our known universe about 13.8 billion years ago as well as make observations much closer to home for infrared signatures of oxygen and water on exoplanets in our own Milky Way galaxy. By this coming summer, if all goes well with the various steps needed for a successful orbit, deployment and activation of the various systems, astronomers and cosmologists will start receiving data on the initial observations. As Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator said: “This is one-of-a-kind. It is the most advanced technology that is going to, if successful, open up secrets of the universe that will be just stupendous, if not almost overwhelming, providing a quantum leap of understanding of who we are, how we got here, what we are and how it all evolve.”

In a sense, the JWST is a time-traveling machine that can see what happened in the universe in the distant past. Dr. Kevin Hainline, an astronomer on the JWST NIRCam science team has given a number of lectures on the project including kid friendly version here that many of you may enjoy as well. On the NASA website, we can track the JWST as it makes its way to be deployed in space near the Sun–Earth L2 Lagrange point, about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 mi) from Earth – about 3.9 times further from us than the moon. As we wait to be “wowed” by what we learn and even more so by what we can accomplish when we put our best minds to tackle what seems impossible.

At ASEI, we celebrate the role of women in STEM and encourage DEI in workplace so  it is quite heartening to note that two out of four lead researches of the four most complex instruments (MIRI, NIRCAM, NIRSpec and NRISS) on JWST are women; Marcia Rieke, astronomy professor at the University of Arizona who worked on designing the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Gillian Wright, Director of the UK Astronomy Technology Center in Edinburgh, who worked on the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

As the world is captivated with recent advances in Aeropace – be it improving life on earth through exponentially efficient and economical space travel and  exploration  technologies or  space tourism or the possibility of colonizing Moon and Mars, ASEI is bringing some of our Aerospace experts together to conduct a one of kind event – the Aerospace Symposium for everyone. This will be the first event as part of our 34th National Convention on Jan 15th&16th , 2022 . Register now and mark your calendar. Don’t miss it! 

Post by Piyush Malik, President ASEI 

If you are looking to know more about the Aerospace symposium and opportunities to sponsor, feel free to reach out to Piyush or either of the Aerospace  Symposium Chairs Dr Shreekant Agrawal and Dr Ajay Kothari

DECEMBER NEWSLETTER 2021

December Newsletter Will Have You Excited About The Rise Of The Indian American Techies To The Corner Office

The December  2021 edition of ASEI Newsletter was sent to all those who are on our mailing list till November end. In case you missed it, here is the web version. We also try to post it on our social media handles so you may want to engage with us there directly for feedback as well 

Happy reading and catching up on all that happened in the last month and what lies ahead with your society especially the elections and the Aerospace Symposium as part of upcoming ASEI 34th  National Convention!

ASEI is a volunteer run professional organization and we welcome your involvement. We request feedback and especially welcome any articles, blogs or ideas you would like to contribute. Please be in touch with anyone from the content/editorial team. 

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