#harvardalumni

Alumni Paul Blankley, S.M. ’18 (computational science and engineering) and Ryan Janssen, S.M. ’18 (computational science and engineering), as well as current student Camilo Fosco, M.E. '19 (engineering), presented a workshop on fairness in data science at the Institute for Applied Computational Science’s (IACS) 2019 ComputeFest. They discussed new techniques that analyze the behavior of machine learning models and shed light on both interpretability and fairness, in an effort to combat the discrimination that can arise naturally in classifiers. Blankley and Janssen are alumni of the IACS at #HarvardSEAS and the @harvardgsas.⠀ #Harvard #HarvardIACS #ComputeFest2019 #Alumni #HarvardAlumni #datascience #machinelearning #fairness #computerscience #computation #engineering #workshop (at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtOGDbQnHmy/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fy223bk37zg6

New art for @harvardhbs Alumni Bulletin! Thanks to AD @emdashdesign The Blue-Green Revolution: Can Algae Deliver On The Promise Of A Biofueled Future? By: Alexander Gelfand. #harvardbusinessschool #algae #biofuel #ericnyquist #drawing #illustration #flamejob #semitruck #harvard #harvardalumni https://www.instagram.com/p/BuZUUiwhOMf/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11akobj9dxblo

Linda Yao wasn’t the type of kid who was dead-set on becoming a lawyer or doctor when she grew up. With wide-eyed curiosity and a bit of indecisiveness, she was tugged in dozens of different directions until she landed at #HarvardSEAS, where she chose an applied math concentration because of the field’s flexibility. It should come as no surprise that Yao, director of mergers and acquisitions and business development at @Lenovo, has found a role that is impossible to narrowly define. In the company’s Data Center Group, Yao seeks to build partnerships and explore new business models to keep the company at the leading edge of a constantly transforming industry. “I like the fact that my work is truly multidisciplinary,” said Yao, A.B. ’10. “Every M&A transaction is defined by a bunch of disciplines that all come together, like finance, strategy, project management, negotiation, law, etc. It ensures I’m never bored.” ⠀ #Harvard #HarvardAlumni #appliedmath #businessdevelopment #mergersandacquisitions #multidisciplinary #datacenter (at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

While working for his family’s dental supply business, Benjamin Cohen would often travel with company reps on sales calls. He was impressed watching reps build strong customer relationships, but as he learned more about the world of business-to-business (B2B) sales, he saw a problem. While sales reps were taking customer orders, they weren’t making orders happen. “In distribution businesses, there are more customer product combinations than stars in the sky, by quite a bit. What that means for reps is that it’s hard to find the right products for every single customer exactly when they need it.” said Cohen, A.B. ’19, an applied math concentrator at #HarvardSEAS. “It turns out delivering this type of personalization is something A.I. is excellent at.” He launched a startup, proton.ai, to apply some of the personalization tools pioneered by e-commerce giants like Amazon to the business-to-business wholesaling market. The algorithm-driven software suggests products a customer has never bought, but is likely to buy based on past purchases. The software also identifies substitute and complementary items that help an online customer ‘complete the shopping cart;’ predicts when a customer is likely to stop buying; identifies when items are ready for re-order; and tracks all customer interactions on- and offline.⠀ #Harvard #HarvardAlumni #startup #entrepreneur #AI #artificialintelligence #wholesale #businesstobusiness #B2B @harvardinnovationlabs https://www.instagram.com/p/By5FvdEHOAf/?igshid=lj9fe20gdys8

The millions of patients who suffer from chronic venous insufficiency receive little relief from treatment. For these patients, malfunctioning vein valves can cause blood to pool at the bottom of their leg, often leading to painful ulcers. Available therapies are only stopgap measures, involving either wound-healing treatment of the ulcers or the use of pumps that squeeze the leg and temporarily relieve the pressure. New technology developed by InterVene could get these patients back on their feet. The startup has developed an endovascular device that uses patients’ own venous wall tissue to create new vein valves in their legs. The device essentially performs precise microsurgery on the end of a catheter, allowing for multiple new vein valves to be formed with a single procedure, explained Michi Garrison, A.B. ’83, InterVene’s vice president of research and development. She oversees the technical group, ensuring the design functions as intended and is properly tested for use in humans, while also directing the company’s intellectual property, operational, and quality functions. “This project is exciting because there is an immediate impact. Even within 30 days, we are seeing patients who have less pain, and are able to walk around more easily,” she said. “It is so rewarding to be able to bring a therapy to patients who previously had no alternatives.”⠀ #Harvard #HarvardSEAS #Alumni #HarvardAlumni #medicaldevice #biomedicalengineering #tech #research #startup (at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByXo14unQ3d/?igshid=13fe5frat14sr

Creating impeccable barbecue involves more than culinary intuition— it requires rigorous science and precise engineering, according to @desoracooks, a startup founded by #HarvardSEAS alumni. Launched in 2016 by engineering sciences concentrators Michel Maalouly, S.B. ’16, Yinka Ogunbiyi, S.B. ’16, and Kit Parker, Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics, Desora creates innovative grilling products designed to perfect the taste and texture of food, while simplifying the cooking process. In partnership with @kamadojoe, they developed three barbecue grills with the SlōRoller, a grill insert to replicate the cooking process of a hyperbolic-shaped smoker, and also built a smart barbecue grill controller and smartphone app that precisely controls the cooking temperature. The company also recently expanded into the indoor grilling market by acquiring Cinder, a smart counter-top grill that uses advanced temperature sensing algorithms and patented technology to cook food with one-degree precision. “We’ve approached barbecue with heavy scientific rigor,” said Maalouly. “I think this is the first time anyone has designed a barbecue using computer simulations to make sure you have even heat and increased smoke exposure. It is that exact ethos that we took from our education at Harvard, and then applied it to this company.”⠀ #Harvard #Alumni #HarvardAlumni #startup #entrepreneurship #engineering #barbecue #BBQ #cooking https://www.instagram.com/p/BxM8FI2Hnhk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1m9tbx6xxxeao

Kopin Corporation founder and CEO John Fan, Ph.D. '72, holds more than 80 U.S. patents on technology related to transistor wafers for mobile phones, liquid crystal displays, and mobile consumer devices.. Now, he's looking to enable the next technological revolution. Combining sensors, algorithms, and electronics, Kopin is working on wearables to help people see in the dark, improve their hearing, and instantly translate speech into other languages. Fan believes the most significant human improvements won’t come from a biology lab, but rather through hardware and software innovations that help individuals who have lost their natural capabilities, like a digital ear for someone suffering from hearing loss. “You have to think about what your responsibility is to society,” he said. “We learn, we are educated, and we have certain capabilities, so why wouldn’t we want to do something to better society, to better humans’ experiences?”⠀ #Harvard #HarvardSEAS #Alumni #HarvardAlumni #inventor #innovation #tech #wearables #hardware #software @harvardgsas https://www.instagram.com/p/BvwRDmlnPnG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=p3t11qe8oy6p

Alumnus Russ Wilcox, A.B. ’89 (applied math) has been named to the new Experts-in-Residence program recently launched by the Harvard Office of Technology Development. Wilcox, a partner at venture capital firm Pillar, joins 27 entrepreneurs, executives, and leaders who will advise Harvard faculty and researchers to accelerate startup formation and support the commercialization of University innovations. Wilcox, who also holds an MBA from @harvardhbs, is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded three companies.⠀ #Harvard #HarvardSEAS #HarvardAlumni #entrepreneur #startup #innovation #venturecapital #tech #founder @hbsalumni (at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvmAsr3noRc/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1akwt5b944yhu