Save the Dates of April 5th and 6th for the 2nd Annual, 2018 Smart Cities Miami Conference. This year’s event, presented by Hotwire explores the convergence of technology, design, and development in the shaping of a new urban landscape transformed by disruptive innovation. Join us for conversations with social scientists, humanists, engineers, administrators, and citizens, as we contemplate a future of hyper-connected environments and lifestyles. For more info, click here.
The Panelists this year include:
Dean Rodolphe el-Khoury | MODERATOR
Dean, University of Miami School of Architecture (U-SoA)
Program Director, UM Center for Computational Science (CCS), Smart Cities
Partner, Khoury Levit Fong (KLF)
Before coming to U-SoA in July, 2014, Dean el-Khoury was Canada Research Chair and Director of Urban Design at the University of Toronto, Head of Architecture at California College of the Arts, and Associate Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design. He has taught at Columbia University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Princeton University and has had Visiting Professor appointments at MIT, University of Hong Kong, and Rice University (Cullinen Visiting Chair). After earning a Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design, Dean el-Khoury obtained a Master of Science in Architecture from MIT and his Ph.D. from Princeton University.
Dean el-Khoury was trained as both a historian and a practitioner and continues to divide his time between scholarship and design. As a partner in Khoury Levit Fong (KLF), his award-winning projects include Beirut Martyr’s Square (AIA San Francisco), Stratford Market Square (Boston Society of Architecture), and the Shenzen Museum of Contemporary Art (AIA Cleveland). His books on eighteenth-century European architecture include The Little House: An Architectural Seduction, and See Through Ledoux; Architecture Theatre, and the Pursuit of Transparency. Books on contemporary architecture and urbanism include Monolithic Architecture, Architecture in Fashion, States of Architecture in the Twenty-first Century: New Directions from the Shanghai Expo, and >Figures: Essays on Contemporary Architecture.
el-Khoury’s current research in architecture focuses on applications for information technology, aiming for enhanced responsiveness and sustainability in buildings and smart cities. He is also working on the application of robotics and embedded technology in architecture in projects and prototypes for interactive and responsive environments, including immersive environments and multi-sensory architecture. With the tools and resources of RAD-UM, his lab at UMSoA, he aims to put every brick online and believes that “embedded technology empowers networked environments to better address the environmental and social challenges we face today.”
Articles on his projects and research have appeared in the Wall Street Journal,The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and WIRED Magazine. He was also featured online (Gizmodo, DeZeen, Fast Company, Domus, Reuters) and on television and radio shows (CBC, Space Channel, NBC, TFO, BBC World), speaking about the Internet of Things (IoT) and the importance of connectivity. His work in this area is documented in The Living, Breathing, Thinking Responsive Buildings of the Future(Thames and Hudson, 2012). His 2013 TEDxToronto talk on Designing for the Internet of Things has been viewed more than 63,000 times.
Professor Nasrine Seraji, AA dipl FRIBA
Founder and Principal, Atelier Seraji Architectes et Associés (ASAA)
Professor and Head of the Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong
After studying at the Architectural Association and practising in London, Seraji moved to Paris and established her studio where architecture is treated as both a cultural debate and a critical practice. Since, she has pursued a path constantly enriched by her simultaneous engagement in architectural practice, teaching, and research. She has taught and directed many schools globally, she has lectured and exhibited her work widely in Europe and North America, the Middle East as well as China and South East Asia.
Recipient of many honours notably Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur, in 2016 she became Officier de l’Ordre Nationale du Mérite and most recently she received the distinction of Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Farès el-Dahdah
Professor of the Humanities; Faculty Scholar, Baker Institute for Public Policy; Director, Humanities Research Center, Rice University
An educator, scholar, humanist, and designer, Farès el-Dahdah received his undergraduate degrees in fine arts and in architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and went on to pursue graduate studies in urbanism and architectural theory at Harvard University. Following a two decade long professorial track at Rice University’s School of Architecture, he was appointed director of the Humanities Research Center (HRC) in 2012 and Professor of the Humanities in 2014. With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, el-Dahdah co-led the 2015-16 John E. Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Cultures Cultures titled, Platforms of Knowledge in a Wide Web of Worlds: Production, Participation, and Politics and the 2016-17 Rice Seminar titled, Chronotopic Imaginaries: The City in Signs, Signals, and Scripts. His current research interests explore and critique how digital platforms uphold the mission of disseminating knowledge as well as and he is currently developing online geospatial platforms that describe cities over time, as they existed and as they have come to be imagined. At Rice, el-Dahdah’s activities extend across the university in his capacity as chair of the Rice’s Information Technology Council and as a member of its Data Sciences Initiative’s Programming and Search Committee, in addition to serving on the advisory panels of the university’s Digital Education Committee and its Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences. As director of the HRC, el-Dahdah is involved in identifying, encouraging, and funding the research projects of faculty, visiting scholars, graduate, and undergraduate students as well as spearheading new ventures in the humanities and beyond.
Brian Breslin
Co-Founder, SimCase
As co-founder of SimCase, Brian leads technology and growth. SimCase is an education technology startup revolutionizing the in class experience for thousands of students across higher education. SimCase partners with top tier business schools to bring world class content to students globally.
A long time serial web entrepreneur, Brian started his first business online at age 14 in 1996. Over the years, he has been involved in a number of different startups and enterprises. Brian’s primary business, Infinimedia, inc. was founded in the late 1990s as a web design firm, and has evolved over the years into a world class software development firm working with numerous Fortune 500 clients.
Brian is most widely known for his involvement in shaping the South Florida tech community through RefreshMiami, the nonprofit organization he founded in 2005. Refresh has become the largest networking and educational organization in the state of Florida focused on technology and entrepreneurship. Over 9,000 people participate in Refresh Miami’s community, with over 4,000 attending Refresh’s events in 2014 alone.
Brian has won numerous awards, including the Miami Herald 30 under 40 business leaders, Power 30 under 30, as well as the Technology Organization of the year from Miami Dade Chamber of Commerce.
Brian has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (2016), and a BA in Foreign Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Politics at the University of Virginia (2004).
Leigh-Ann A. Buchanan, Esq.
Founding Executive Director, Venture Café Miami
Leigh-Ann A. Buchanan, Esq., is the founding Executive Director of Venture Café Miami. In this role, she works to facilitate sustainable growth, increased diversity and inclusion, and greater connectivity within Miami’s innovation and entrepreneurial community. Since launching in mid 2016, VCM’s innovation programming has attracted over 17,000 attendees, resulting in content partnerships with 350+ organizations and 600+ free educational sessions.
Leigh-Ann frequently speaks on and writes about cultivating inclusive innovation communities, experiential leadership development and strategies for social justice innovation. Previously, she served as legal counsel to entrepreneurs, startups and multinational corporations in a wide variety of complex business litigation matters and commercial disputes.
Leigh-Ann is the founder of the Nyah Project, an exclusive fellowship which develops diverse youth leaders from underserved communities through transformative experiences abroad, where 100% of Nyah fellows receive college acceptance and 90% win scholarships.
She has been recognized as a Harvard Business School Young Leaders of America (2018); Miami Fellow (2017); Black Enterprise Magazine, Miami Tech Trailblazer (2017); Dade County Bar Association, Woman on the Rise Award (2017); Legacy Magazine, Under 40 Achiever (2017); Miami Girls Foundation (2017); Miami Dade Chamber Young Innovator of the Year (2016); Aspen Institute’s National Working Group on Inclusive Innovation (2016); American Bar Association Top 40 Young Lawyers (2016); Bethune Cookman University, 40 Under 40 (2016); Daily Business Review, Rising Star (2015); Greater Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, HYPE Award finalist (2014); National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division Rising Star Award (2013); and South Florida’s 40 Under 40 Black Leaders (2013).
Richard Grant
Professor of Geography, and Urban Studies Director, University of Miami
Richard Grant, PhD, is an urban economic geographer who works mainly on Africa. His most recent book is Africa: Geographies of Change, 2014, Oxford University Press. He is also the author of Globalizing City: the Urban and Economic Transformation of Accra, Ghana, 2009, Syracuse University Press. His current research focuses mainly in the cities of Accra, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Miami. His projects focus on electronic waste, xenophobia, immigrant entrepreneurship, creative urban spaces, slum economies and sustainable urban development. He teaches study abroad courses in South Africa in spring and summer sessions.
Allison Schifani
Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities, UM Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Allison Schifani is Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature at the University of Miami. She received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Graduate Program in Comparative Literature. Her work on media technologies, art, literature and the urban can be found in The Journal of Urban Cultural Studies, Media Fields, and elsewhere. She is also a founding member of the urban research and design collaborative, SPEC. Her research interests include: Digital Humanities; Media and Technology Studies; Critical Theory; Urban Studies; Cultural Geography; 20th and 21st Century Literature of the Americas, Theories of the Body, Biology, and Life; and the Intersection of Geo-Techno Ecologies, Literary Texts, and Urban Practices.
Danielle Ungermann
Co-Captain, Code for Miami; Product Marketer for BrightGauge Software; curator of Startup Digest Miami
Having graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in Journalism and Psychology it was in her studies that Danielle Ungermann first became interested in learning more about technology and it’s implications on our everyday lives. She has since focused on working with different software tools to align solving real problems with the boost of data. Serving as the co-captain of local Code for America brigade Code for Miami, Danielle has organized numerous hackathons and events intent on getting citizens involved in their communities and with local government to help enact change and see the value in access to open data.
Jay Massirman | MODERATOR
President, Rivergate Companies
Rivergate Companies is a real estate holding company focusing its efforts and resources on our active joint venture partners, with the goal of delivering outsized returns in varying product types, geographies, and market cycles.
The firm is presently engaged in several strategic ventures including: urban in-fill self-storage development & investment, multifamily development & investment, and multifamily property management. Rivergate invests its own capital alongside the firm’s relationships with high net worth, foreign, family office, and institutional investors. Jay is also extensively involved in emerging markets and technologies relating to urban development, parking, storage, and logistics.
Jay has over 30 years of real estate experience, and has participated in over a billion in principal transactions. Jay was formerly a Vice Chairman with CBRE Global Real Estate Investment Management, where he participated in over $10 billion in advisory transactions over a stellar 20-year career.
Citizenship:
- Nicklaus Children’s Hospital | Board of Directors
- National Multi-Housing Council | Board Member
- University of Miami School of Architecture Master of Real Estate Development + Urbanism Advisory Board | Board Member
- University of Miami Citizens Board | Board Member
- Greater Miami Jewish Federation | Co-Chair Real Estate Division
- Cushing Academy, Ashburnham, Massachusetts | Former Trustee
Jay received his BBA in Finance and Accounting from University of Miami
Andrea Calace
Senior Manager, Cisco IOT and Smart City Business Development – Americas
Andrea Calace moved to Miami from Europe in 2007, after graduating from its MBA at IE Business School. He studied computer science engineering, joined Cisco in 1999, and became a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert within a year. Passionate about technology and new market transitions, Andrea joined Cisco’s Internet of Things and Smart City initiatives from the very early incubation (in 2011), through a JV aimed to build up the first smart city of Songdo in South Korea. In his role, he has enabled strategic investments and acquisitions, developed market access strategies, built ecosystems and consortia, and positioned globally Cisco’s smart City vision, contributing to make Cisco today the Smart City Supplier leader in the industry based on its urban innovation and its strong sector-specific portfolio of solutions.
Olivia Ramos
Founder and CEO, Deep Blocks
Olivia is Founder and CEO of Deep Blocks, spearheading the effort to leverage machine learning to streamline the entire process of real estate analysis. She applies her market expertise to turn a process of three to six weeks into fifteen to twenty minutes. Olivia was accepted to Singularity University’s Global Solutions Program where she discovered that her wholistic knowledge of developing buildings would be better fit for an Artificial Intelligent System. Olivia was also the only female participant in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Innovation house, where she designed Big Data navigation software. She has also worked under Real Estate Developers, Architects, Brokers, and Contractors and holds a Master of Architecture from Columbia University, a Master of Real Estate Development form the University of Miami, and a Bachelors in Architecture from the University of Florida.
Jim Slattery
Senior Vice President of Advanced Technologies, Hotwire Communications, LLC
After designing, building and configuring the key fiber ring that runs Hotwire Communications, Jim Slattery, Senior Vice President of Advanced Technologies, personally contributed to the negotiations for its purchase to establish a fiber infrastructure across the country that supports over 100,000 customers. Many different aspects of Hotwire Communication’s technological advancements have come through Jim’s leadership including the installation of Minerva IPTV systems and the GPON network deployed to provide Hotwire’s services. As a technology authority, Jim has garnered accolades and peer recognition from the industry, operating his own consulting firm for 13 years and acting as an advisory board member to Motorola Telco, Ruckus, and Pace. Between teaching certification classes in Cisco to his speaking engagements at tradeshow panel discussions, Jim finds that time can be the only obstacle to overcome as there is always something new to discover in the ever evolving world of technology.
Matt Zirkelbach
President, RunBrook | Co-Founder, SustainaBase
CLASS 1 RESNET HOME ENERGY RATER, LEED FOR HOMES AP, LEED FOR HOMES GREEN RATER, FGBC CERTIFYING AGENT, NGBS GREEN VERIFIER
Matt is an entrepreneur driving success and organizational value through sustainability. He is the president and co-founder of RunBrook and SustainaBase. RunBrook helps multifamily and production home builders navigate various green building rating systems and ordinances, provides blower door testing and Home Energy Ratings, and helps obtain incentives to offset costs. SustainaBase is a web-based platform helping governments and corporations set and track sustainability goals through collection and management of key data. Under Matt’s leadership and decades of experience, his companies have certified and tested thousands of residential units, and secured millions in energy tax incentives and cost-savings. Through his vision and proprietary technology, he has also helped numerous governments and companies collect, analyze, and report carbon performance, water use, and other key metrics crucial to meeting their sustainability goals. Matt holds a masters and bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, as well as numerous building energy and sustainability certifications.