Sensorization: Smart Cities

 SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES 

Karen Lightman

Executive Director, Metro21 Smart Cities Institute 

Carnegie Mellon University

        Karen Lightman is Executive Director of Metro21: Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Karen is an internationally recognized leader in building and supporting communities based on emerging technologies. She is well-regarded in the MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) industry, having helped start and then lead MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG), the largest industry consortium solely focused on MEMS and sensors. Under her leadership, MSIG covered every sector of the MEMS value chain and successfully orchestrated numerous annual international conferences, workshops and tradeshows. Karen led the successful acquisition of MSIG by SEMI, the world’s largest semiconductor association. Karen has expertise with commercializing academic research, building industry-based consortiums and strategically leading teams to explore market-based opportunities. Her diverse background spans the consumer, military, healthcare, manufacturing, and automotive sectors. Karen is ranked by EETimes as one of the top 25 “Women in Tech” and was inducted into the SEMI/MSIG "Hall of Fame" in October 2020. She is a passionate advocate and spokesperson for technology solutions to real-world problems and has held several board positions and is currently treasurer on the board of the MetroLab Network.

Karen has a BA from the University of Vermont (UVM) and a MS in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. She and her family reside in Pittsburgh, PA.

Sameer Sharma   

Global GM (Smart Cities & Transportation)   

for IOT Solutions Intel 

        Sameer Sharma is the Global GM (Smart Cities & Transportation) for IOT Solutions at Intel and a thought leader in IOT/AI ecosystem, having driven multiple strategic initiatives to scale over the past 20+ years. Sameer leads a global team that incubates and scales new growth categories and business models for Intel. His team also focuses on establishing leadership across the industry playing a pivotal role in deploying solutions for the development of smart cities around the world—an important effort in furthering the goal of sustainability. These solutions include Intelligent Transportation, AI/Video, Air Quality Monitoring and Smart Lighting. With far-reaching impact, each of these solutions is providing local governments a plethora of data to enhance the daily quality of life for citizens while simultaneously promoting responsible practices to protect the environment. As a leading authority on Cities and AI, Sameer is a frequent keynote speaker at top global events and has been featured in publications such as Economist, Forbes, WSJ and New York Times. His high-energy talks cover pragmatic examples of impact and reflect his passion and belief that technology can and must be a force for good in our society.

Sameer has an MBA from The Wharton School at UPenn, and a Masters in Computer Engineering from Rutgers University. He holds 11 patents in the areas of IOT and Mobile. He can be reached through LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sameersharma/) or Twitter (@sameer_iot)

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