Disaster Response Communications: What Works & What Doesn’t. Are you ready?

Date and Time: Thursday April 10, 2014 at 6-8pm

Registration, Pizza, Cookies & Drinks, Networking: 6-6:45 pm  Presentation: 6:45-7:45 pm

Speaker: Catherine Blackadar Nelson of Intel and GHTC

Venue: Santa Clara University, Frugal Innovation Lab
Frugal Innovation Lab is on the bottom floor of the Bannan  Engineering Lab building
Map to: Santa Clara Univ. Frugal Innovation Lab with parking

Sponsor: IEEE SCV Special Interest Group for Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT)
Co-Sponsor: IEEE-SCV-WiE

Cost: $12 for IEEE members, $15 for Public, $5 for students, retirees, and unemployed

Click here for Eventbrite Registration 

Talk Summary:  Learn about deploying mission critical networks for humanitarian and disaster response communications. The presentation will cover current challenges with disaster communications. It will showcase the different types of technologies used from networks, to radio, voice, video and  social media as well as best practices and pitfalls. There will be real case examples from Haiti, Katrina, Sandy and others. The presentation will also cover factors beyond technology that need to be addressed in order to be effective.

About the Speaker: Catherine Blackadar Nelson is an expert in security, Internet technologies, and communications and is currently a Sr. Security Researcher at Intel.  She is also an advisor to multiple organizations, including the UN, USAID and FEMA providing guidance in Cyber security, disaster and remote communications. In addition, Catherine is involved in the development of the Rapid Technology Assessment Team Initiative launched out of the US Naval Post Graduate School, which provides communications assessments in disasters to the humanitarian community.  Her past experience includes being instrumental in building the Cisco TacOps Disaster Response Team which specialized in disaster/mobile communications, and technology solutions for austere environments. In her career, she has over 20 years’ experience in disaster response and has been involved in responses to Hurricane Katrina, the Haitian earthquake, and the Japan 2011 earthquake/tsunami.

Believing in giving back, she is the current Chair of the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference – which specializes in bringing together technologists from all over the world to share best practices. She is a member of the Anita Borg Institute’s NetHope Women’s TechConnect Mentor program.

Contact information: catherine.nelson@ieee.org | twitter:@CathBNelson

Need to drive -Parking garage is next to the Bannan Engineering Buildings:  http://www.scu.edu/map/parking/directions.cfm

How about Caltrain? Santa Clara Station is right there!  http://www.caltrain.com/stations/santaclarastation.html