The Prepare.ai Podcast

Dr. Jason Keune is the executive director of St. Louis University’s Bander Center for Medical Business Ethics, established in 2007 to promote ethical business practices in medicine and healthcare.  Dr. Keune is also an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. He performs abdominal and gastrointestinal surgeries and conducts research on biomedical ethics, medical business ethics and social justice. He received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, where he also received a Graduate Certificate in Professional Ethics. Jason also holds an MBA in management from St. Louis University

Sanmay Das is a professor of Computer Science at George Mason University. From 2013-2020, he was on the faculty of the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also founded and served as the first chair of the steering committee of the Division of Computational and Data Sciences. Dr. Das received his Ph.D. from MIT and a Bachelor's degree from Harvard, both in Computer Science.He is chair of the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence, a member of the board of directors of the International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, and serves as an associate editor for the ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation, the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, and Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems. He has been recognized with awards for research and teaching, including an NSF CAREER Award and the Department Chair Award for Outstanding Teaching at Washington University.

George Leno Holmes Jr is the co-founder and CEO of Hire Henry, a robotic lawn-mowing startup that is growing and evolving rapidly in the heartland of the United States. George received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, focusing on the intersection of human-robot interaction, mechatronic design, and robotics. George leads the development of the company's R&D plan, strategic milestones, intellectual property protection, company formation, fundraising, and network security. Additionally, he is involved in product design, fabrication, and software integration.

Serial entrepreneur Paul Powers co-founded Physna in 2015 to bridge the gap between software and the physical world by normalizing 3D data and applying machine learning to it. Physna's proprietary technology is patent-pending in over 120 countries and is used in cybersecurity, protecting the integrity of 3D designs in aerospace, automotive, medical devices, and other industries from otherwise untraceable manipulations & cyber attacks. Physna technology, which can compare and analyze millions of 3D models in seconds, is also used to increase efficiency with CAD design, reduce supply chain / procurement costs, optimize inventory, and make quality control predictions immediately upon design.  

William Yeoh is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and a co-director of the Division of Computational and Data Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. His research interests are in optimization, heuristic search, and planning under uncertainty, especially in the context of multi-agent systems. He is an NSF CAREER recipient and was named in IEEE's AI's 10-to-Watch list in 2015. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Artificial Intelligence Journal, on the International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems Board of Directors, and on the Symposium on Combinatorial Search Council. He has served on the committees of numerous AI-related conferences including AAAI, AAMAS, ICAPS, and IJCAI. He was also a conference co-chair of the 2019 Symposium of Combinatorial Search (SoCS 2019) and is a program co-chair of the 2022 International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS 2022).

Amanda Clifton is Staff Vice President, Technical Product Ownership at Centene Corporation, a publicly traded managed care company based in St. Louis, MO that serves as an intermediary for government-sponsored and privately insured healthcare programs. Centene was ranked 24th on the Fortune 500 list in 2021 with 2020 revenues exceeding $111 billion. Amanda has been with Centene for 10 years, rising through the ranks from Senior Auditor to Director of Provider Data Management and then Senior Director of Digital Transformation before being promoted to Staff Vice President of the Technical Product Ownership organization in 2020. Prior to joining Centene Amanda held leadership roles at Deloitte. Amanda holds a Bachelors Degree in Accounting and Management Information Systems from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a Masters in Accountancy from Stetson University. Full disclosure, Centene is a client of Capacity, where Dave holds his day job as Chief Data Scientist - we’ll discuss their engagement in a bit more detail during the program! 

Serial entrepreneur Dheeraj Patri is the former CTO of Label Insight, a product metadata platform Dheeraj and his partners cofounded in 2008 which became a market-leading database of more than 200k product nutrients, 400k product ingredients and more than 9 million product attributes when it was acquired by NielsonIQ in May of 2021. In November of 2021 Dheeraj announced that he was joining the leadership team at Inclusively, a technology-centered inclusion solution and employment platform for job seekers with disabilities, mental health conditions, and chronic illnesses. Dheeraj holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from DePaul University and we’re so happy he’s with us today, welcome to the program Dheeraj!InclusivelyLabel Insight

Jason Carter is the founder and President of UNCOMN, an industry-leading B2B management and technology consulting provider he founded after serving 20 years in the US Navy after retiring as a commander in 2009. Jason’s Navy highlights include being onboard for a submerged collision with a Russian submarine, playing a key role in the largest maritime drug bust in US history; fighting fires in the Pentagon on 9/11; being the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN flag communications officer responsible for President Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech; and sailing across every line of longitude on earth. Along the way, attained an MS in Information Technology Management from the Naval Postgraduate School; a Master’s degree in Military Operational Art and Science from the Air Command and Staff College; and an Executive MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. Jason also holds a Bachelors degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Missouri S&T. Jason is an active member of his community, serving as President of the Board of CyberUp, a national nonprofit that cultivates the cybersecurity talent pipeline; Vice Chairman of the Board of FOCUS St. Louis, the region’s premier leadership organization; and Board Member of the United Way – Greater St. Louis.He joins us to talk about how he built a portfolio of government clients after leaving the military, and how he's grown UNCOMN by hiring uncommon people with an uncommon purpose, making an uncommon impact in the communities in which they live, work and play.UNCOMNJason's LinkedIn ProfileCyberUp

Sherea Dunlop is Executive Director of Create a Loop, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing computer science instruction to students in the Saint Louis Metropolitan area, including students from low income backgrounds, who have little to no access or are otherwise underrepresented in the field of computer science.  A graduate of Hood College with a master’s degree in from the University of Maryland College Park, Sherea has taught in 4 dramatically different elementary and secondary environments - Baltimore Public Schools, an elite private primary school in St. Louis, an independent St. Louis primary school that provides scholarships to 100% of its students and now Create a Loop. Show NotesDarknet Diaries

Bronwyn Morgan is a FAA certified drone pilot, FAA Safety Representative and FAA Drone Pro, and is the Founder of Xeo Air, an AI based drones on demand, data analytics and autonomy platform for mission management that connects B2B clients in telecom,catastrophic response, oil and gas, energy, construction, civil infrastructure. She is also Founder of Airversity Drone Academy + Consulting, a professional drone pilot training school for both Part 107 exam prep and drone flight and private and public safety consulting. Airversity has helped more than 20,000 students become certified drone pilots. Bronwyn began her career in consumer packaged goods marketing for both P&G and Coca-Cola before moving into the aviation industry.

Dr. Brian Gant is assistant professor of cybersecurity at Maryville University, where he oversees the university’s undergraduate cyber program. Brian has been in cyber security for nearly two decades, including working as a cybersecurity threat specialist at BJC Healthcare, a Postal Inspector for the United States Postal Service, a Special Agent in the US Secret Service and an Intelligence Analyst for the FBI. Brian received his Doctorate in higher education leadership  from Maryville University with a focus on cyber studies, where his dissertation focused on cyberbullying in eSports. Brian also holds two masters degrees, one in human services from Capella University and one in Management from Fontbonne University. He received his Bachelor’s degree in management information systems from Maryville. Today is joins us to talk about teaching cybersecurity to the next generation of ethical hackers and how eSports are changing the 4-year-college landscape.

Fully and Dave interview Rob Carpenter, a serial entrepreneur and passionate technologist. Rob is the CEO and Founder of Valyant AI, the first Artificially Intelligent “Digital Employee” that works directly alongside employees in customer facing roles. Valyant’s AI “Holly” works in fast food restaurants to greet customers at the drive-thru post, answer questions, and take food orders. Rob was named one of the top 25 most influential young professionals in Colorado by ColoradoBiz Magazine in 2013 and received the Denver Trailblazer award in 2016.

Erica Barnell is the co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Geneoscopy Inc., a clinical-stage diagnostic company working on early detection of colorectal cancer. Its technology analyzes RNA in stool samples to look for early warning signs of cancer, providing a non-invasive alternative to colonoscopies. Geneoscopy raised a $6.9m Series A in 2019; in 2020, its diagnostic device was awarded Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA and Erica was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30, and in 2021 a peer-reviewed article with results of company’s mutlifactor RNA-FIT test was published in the journal Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology. Erica is also an MD/PhD candidate at the Washington University School of Medicine with a PhD in Molecular Genetics and Genomics, where her thesis work was completed in the Griffith Lab at the McDonnell Genome Institute to advance bioinformatic tools in the precision oncology space. She joins Dave and Fully to discuss how AI is helping to detect colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal health conditions.We also get to talk poop jokes for the first time.

Jason Bull is Chief Technology Officer of Benson Hill, a St. Louis-based food tech company unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants thru its cutting-edge food innovation engine.  Jason leads the company’s combined R&D and Data Science capabilities across predictive breeding, genomics, product discovery, big data engineering and software development. Prior to joining Benson Hill, he served as VP, Strategy & Machine Learning at Object Computing, Inc. and before that spent twenty years with Bayer (Monsanto) and then Climate Corporation, most recently as its Global VP R&D of Digital Seed Science. Jason has been granted 30 patents in digital agriculture, molecular breeding and robotic seed chipping and has also authored 15 publications. He earned his Ph.D. in Quantitative Genetics and Biometrics and a Bachelors Degree in AgSci (Honors) in Quantitative Genetics and Analytics from the University of Queensland in Australia.

Marc Bernstein is Founder & CEO of Balto, a real-time guidance tool for contact centers. Powered by AI, Balto listens to both sides of a conversation and visually prompts agents with the best things to say, live on every call. Marc also hosts Reimagining the Contact Center, a podcast that digs into the new contact center economy and how technology, businesses, and the modern customer work together for better outcomes. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Marc has both founded and worked at a number of startups before founding Balto. He joins Fully and Dave to talk about how technology is changing customer service and sales, and how Balto has captured so much market share so quickly.

Vidya Setlur is Principal Research Scientist and Research Manager at Tableau Software, a leading data visualization company acquired by Salesforce in 2019, where she focuses on natural language processing and computer graphics. Vidya earned her PhD in Computer Graphics in 2005 at Northwestern University; the goal of her work is to develop new computer algorithms and user interfaces that enhance visual communication and understanding of the semantics of the underlying data. Her research combines concepts and methods from information retrieval, human perception and cognitive science to help users effectively interact with devices and information in their environment. She speaks with us about user intent and human computer interaction, where search is headed in the coming years, and why its important for women in tech to engage young learners.

Paul Mensah, PhD leads the Bioprocess R＆D and Drug Substance Supply group in Pfizer’s BioTherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences organization, with sites in Andover MA, Chapel Hill, NC, and St. Louis, MO. The group is responsible for developing innovative and compliant manufacturing processes for biotherapeutics, including gene therapy and vaccines such as the Covid19 vaccine. As head of the group, Paul oversees the scientific and operational implementation plans for all aspects of bioprocess technologies and activities in support of Pfizer’s portfolio of biotherapeutics and vaccine products across the globe.  Paul is trained as a Chemical Engineer with a BS from Cornell and a PhD from the University of Virginia. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Society of Biological Engineers. Paul is on the advisory board of the Chemical Engineering Departments at the University of Virginia and at Cornell University.  He speaks with Dave & Fully about the remarkable development of Pfizer's Covid19 vaccine.

Dr. Melvin Greer is Chief Data Scientist for the Americas at Intel Corporation. He is responsible for building Intel’s data science platform through graph analytics, machine learning and cognitive computing to accelerate transformation of data into a strategic asset for Public Sector and commercial enterprises. His systems and software engineering experience has resulted in patented inventions in Cloud Computing, Synthetic Biology and IoT Bio-sensors for edge analytics.  He functions as a principal investigator in advanced research studies, including Nanotechnology, Additive Manufacturing and Gamification. Dr. Greer is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and serves on the Board of Directors, U.S. National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Dr. Greer has been appointed to Senior Advisor and Fellow at the FBI IT and Data Division. SHOW NOTESPrinceton Neuroscience InstituteGreer Institute for Leadership and Innovation

Mitra Goswami is Senior Director of Data Science & Machine Learning at PagerDuty, an incident management platform that provides notifications, automated escalations and other functionality to help teams detect and fix infrastructure problems quickly. Mitra has also worked in Astrophysics, Media, Marketing tech and Financial Services with organizations including Credit Suisse and Capgemini. Mitra holds a PhD in Astrophysics and an Masters in Physics from Northwestern University as well as graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai. She joins us to talk about her transition from astrophysics to business-driven data science and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead for the field.

Kristin Dennis is Chief Operating Officer of Impossible Sensing, a St. Louis-based company that develops next-generation sensing applications for deployment in extreme terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments. They developed two laser spectroscopy systems for the Mars Perseverance Rover and are currently collaborating with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and SETI on a deep ocean mission. Before joining Impossible Sensing, Kristin spent many years working in surgical ocular recovery for transplant, sterile technique and OR procedures.SHOW NOTESImpossible SensingNASA's Perseverence Rover SiteThe Sherloc InstrumentDavid Attenborough's A Life on Our Planet