John Salerno, PhD

Dr Salerno began his professional career in 1980 at Air Force Research Laboratory in the Communications Division where he was involved in and ran several research efforts in both voice and data communications networks. In 1989 he transferred from the Communications Division to the Intelligence and Exploitation Division where he was involved in research, development and fielding of systems for the intelligence community. Technologies ranged from distributed heterogeneous data access architectures, data mining, information retrieval, tools that support situation awareness, data fusion and modeling countries to include people and their responses to environmental changes.
Dr. Salerno retired from the Air Force Research Laboratory in 2015 and is currently employed by Peraton, Inc. His work continues in the modeling of various infrastructures and effects placed upon them and in the application of machine learning.
Dr. Salerno received an Associate in Applied Science (AAS) in Mathematics in 1978 from Mohawk Valley Community College, his Bachelor of Arts (BA) in both Mathematics and Physics in 1980 from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam, a Masters in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) in 1984 from Syracuse University and his PhD from Binghamton University in 1997 in Computer Science.
Dr Salerno has written over 80 published papers and reports, has been awarded four US patents and has received numerous awards. Among which include: Special Achievement Award (Army); ESC Team Award; AFMC General (Ret) James Ferguson Engineering Award; R&D Team Award; and Rome Laboratory Engineer of the Year. In 2005, Dr. Salerno became an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Fellow.

Talk title: "The Need to Understand the Populace's Action / Reactions: A Walk Through of Selected Past Research"

Abstract: Governments exists to support the sovereignty of its nation - its borders and people. Decisions by the government on behalf of the populace should be made with the "best" interest in meeting their populace's needs. What are these needs? What will keep them happy? In this presentation we will provide motivation as to the need for answers and take a walk through a series of research activities that were pursued to explore such questions. We conclude by discussing the need for continued research, the motivation for SBP and its importance to the community.

Eric Rasmussen, MD, MDM, FACP

Medical doctor, CEO for Infinitum Humanitarian Systems (IHS), Research Professor in Environmental Security and Global Medicine at San Diego State University and instructor in disaster medicine at both the International Disaster Academy in Bonn, Germany (Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe) and the Institute for Disaster Preparedness in Beijing, China.

Eric Rasmussen is the CEO for Infinitum Humanitarian Systems (IHS), a multinational consulting group built on a profit-for-purpose model. He is an internal medicine physician with both undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University and a European Master’s degree in disaster medicine from the UN World Health Organization’s affiliate CEMEC (Centre European pour la Medecin des Catastrophes) in Italy. He was elected a Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 1997 and a Fellow of the Explorer's Club in 2014.
Rasmussen is also a Research Professor in Environmental Security and Global Medicine at San Diego State University and an instructor in disaster medicine at both the International Disaster Academy in Bonn, Germany and the Institute for Disaster Preparedness at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
>He serves, pro bono, as the medical director for two biotech startups, and as pro bono CEO to an NGO specializing in anti-slavery/anti-trafficking efforts for refugees. He’s a Permanent Advisor to the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Panel on Water Disasters and has been a member of the US National Academy of Science’s Committee on Grand Challenges in Global Development since 2012.
He served in the US Navy for 25 years aboard nuclear submarines, amphibious ships, and aircraft carriers. His positions included Joint Task Force Surgeon (Forward) for the Hurricane Katrina response, Team Lead for the Banda Aceh Tsunami Response Team from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Fleet Surgeon for the US Navy’s Third Fleet, director of an Intensive Care Unit, and Chairman of an academic department of medicine in Seattle.
His wartime deployments included Bosnia three times, Afghanistan twice, and Iraq for nine months. For a portion of his Navy career he was also a Principal Investigator in humanitarian informatics for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
After retiring from the Navy he was appointed the Founding CEO for the TED Prize awarded to Dr. Larry Brilliant, then Executive Director of Google.org.
Since 2014 Rasmussen has also led the Global Disaster Response Team for the Roddenberry Foundation, supported by the Star Trek franchise and in partnership with MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. That team provides permanent water purification and renewable power to displaced populations and have deployed to Supertyphoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the Nepal earthquake, Hurricane Mathew in Haiti, and three times to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

Talk title: “Augmented Intelligence in the Humanitarian Space”

Abstract: As we end the second decade of the new century we note there are at least 65 million people in the world unwillingly displaced from their homes. Conflict, natural disaster, economic opportunity, climate change, environmental degradation, and cultural oppression all play roles, and the techniques we’ve previously used for detecting migration and then provisioning water, power, food, physical safety, communication, and identity are no longer able to provide anything close to what’s required. I lead a disaster response team for the Roddenberry Foundation, supported by the Star Trek franchise. As a consequence I’m in a position to consider, with help from a range of useful specialists, what machine learning, geospatial visualization, data analysis, algorithmic planning, and augmented intelligence might soon contribute to our improved effectiveness. We’ll also look at several real-world events, and examine what augmented intelligence is already contributing in the humanitarian sector.