Events

IEEE Computer Society San Francisco Bay Area Chapter Virtual Tech Talk

The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the IEEE Computer Society invites you to our free and open
Virtual Tech Talks. No IEEE membership is required.

Speaker:

Ram Sekhar Bodala

Title: AI-Assisted Vegetation Risk Forecasting for Railway Corridor Asset Protection

Abstract

Vegetation-related hazards such as fallen-tree obstructions, signal interference, blocked drainage, and wildfire-driven asset damage increasingly affect railway safety and reliability under changing climate conditions. Conventional vegetation programs are still dominated by periodic inspection cycles and manual patrols, which are poorly aligned with dynamic environmental risk.

This presentation introduces a conference-style framework for AI-assisted vegetation risk forecasting in railway corridors by integrating satellite-derived vegetation indicators, meteorological observations, wildfire exposure factors, and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) automation.

The study is grounded in published literature on railway vegetation risk, Earth observation, wildfire exposure, predictive maintenance, and digital railway asset management. Landsat 8/9, Sentinel-2, vegetation and fuels layers, and meteorological observation families are used as the principal data streams described in the literature. The proposed method fuses these inputs within a spatiotemporal scoring model for obstruction risk, wildfire susceptibility, and work-order prioritization.

Because this work intentionally avoids uncited portal-derived data and fabricated benchmarks, the results section synthesizes evidence from published studies and presents analytical figure outputs generated from the proposed equations rather than claiming a new field deployment. The resulting architecture shows how vegetation condition, climate stress, and asset criticality can be combined to support prioritized intervention and automated EAM work-order generation.

This paper contributes a reproducible, literature-grounded structure for predictive vegetation management in railways.

Biography

Ram Sekhar Bodala is an Enterprise Asset Management leader with more than 16 years of experience modernizing infrastructure systems across the rail, automotive, and renewable energy sectors. Skilled in IBM Maximo, predictive maintenance, and ISO 55000 strategies, he has delivered impactful programs for Amtrak, Ford, and GE.

A published researcher and active member of IEEE, BCS, SCRS, and IETE, he is also committed to mentoring the next generation of engineering professionals.

Speaker(s): Ram Sekhar Bodala

Virtual Event Link:

https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/560178

30th CASIS Workshop at LLNL

We are thrilled to host LLNL’s 30th Center for Advanced Signal and Image Sciences (CASIS) Workshop.
The workshop returns with a full two-day, in-person schedule on Wednesday and Thursday, June 24–25, 2026.

We encourage a broad range of technical topics at the workshop. Because the workshop is non-archival apart from original work, we are also considering intermediate results from ongoing efforts as well as recently published work for presentation as a talk and/or poster.

The goal of the workshop is to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and networking with peers across disciplines to foster collaboration and build community.
Please submit your abstract by Friday, May 15, 2026. Authors will be notified of review decisions one week later, on May 22, 2026.

In addition to the regular presentation track, the workshop will feature parallel tutorials, hands-on mini workshops, and a dedicated student track introducing career opportunities at LLNL.

The workshop will be held in person at the
University of California Livermore Collaboration Center
and requires pre-registration by June 18, 2026. As this is a full two-day workshop, coffee and snacks will be provided during morning and afternoon breaks, and lunch will be provided on both days.
As part of the 30th anniversary celebration, a Happy Hour will follow the regular program on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.

Workshop Website:

https://engineering.llnl.gov/centers/casis/workshops

Technical Tracks

• AI / Machine Learning — Phan Nguyen, Kowshik Thopalli
• National Ignition Facility — Eugene Kur, Christopher Miller
• Non-Destructive Evaluation — Seemeen Karimi, Harry Martz
• Quantum Sensing & Quantum Computing — Kristi Beck
• Remote Sensing, Non-Invasive Imaging & Inverse Problems — Sean Lehman, Viacheslav Li
• Robotics & Automation — Aldair Gongora, Abhik Sarkar
• Student Track: All Topics (Poster Only) — Ted Bauman, Min Priest

Become part of this great experience and submit your talk proposal at

https://engineering.llnl.gov/centers/casis/workshops
.

Check out

last year’s event highlights

to see what to expect.

The no-fee CASIS Workshop is sponsored by the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Engineering Directorate
and held at the
University of California Livermore Collaboration Center.
It is organized by the
Center for Advanced Signal and Image Sciences (CASIS),
and is a joint meeting with the local chapters of the
IEEE Signal Processing Society
and
IEEE Computer Society San Francisco Bay Area Chapter,
with support from
IEEE Region 6, East Bay Section.

Co-sponsored by: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Center for Advanced Signal and Image Sciences

Location:
Building 661, L-794
University of California Livermore Collaboration Center
7000 East Ave
Livermore, California 94550
United States