As we have all experienced, times are changing, and a “new norm” is developing. With these changes has come the realization that companies are required to know where their data is and how it is used. And subsequently, the realization that very little at all is known about data within an organization. In fact, according to PWC, only .05% of data is known and used by corporations. This unknown data holds a wealth of information about an organization’s processes, business models, security, privacy, and human dynamics.
When data is understood, it opens the door to a completely new world. Hence, we now have companies embracing the idea of data management and governance.
Data management and governance is a journey. This journey will have twists, turns, wrong turns, flat tires, and roadblocks to be overcome along the way. The task of managing large amounts of data is daunting. This is especially true for financial institutions, who own the additional task of managing highly sensitive customer data, such as banking information, PIN numbers, etc. The key is to break it down into small steps and celebrate the accomplishments along the way. The strategic plan each company develops for data management and governance will continue to grow and expand as new regulations, risks, and knowledge are introduced into the environment.   
Building a Foundation
Financial organizations implementing a data governance plan should always keep the big picture in sight to ensure that each step is meaningful to the organization. If a step doesn’t deliver value, organizations must revisit and revise that step, and possibly the plan, to incorporate value. To achieve data management and governance success, financial enterprises should build core foundational pillars to support the ever evolving challenges. This foundation includes:

• Getting Buy-In: Information governance committees are growing in popularity, in part because they serve to garner a wide range of expertise while uniting departments from around the organization towards a common goal. A critical part of the plan should be offering education company-wide, including senior leadership, to inspire collaboration and buy-in.
• Understanding What and Where Your Data Is: Dark data can lead to blind spots in the organization, including unidentified risks. This is why companies are now focusing on “people data” such as electronic messages and files to better understand the human side of the enterprise.
• Prioritizing Goals: Set goals along the way that align with higher level strategic initiatives. For example, an early-stage goal may be to gather insight and clean up high-risk data repositories, while implementing more mature governance and privacy policies across all of the unstructured data may be a benchmark that takes longer.

Getting Started
Once the foundation for a data governance initiative has been established, financial institutions should aim to ensure each step in the process is meaningful to the organization and delivers real business value. Here are a few points you will likely want to keep in mind:

• Think Privacy First: Privacy developments and new regulations often lie at the heart of today’s information governance initiatives. Therefore, a vision for how personal data will be managed should be one of the early topics that is discussed. This is an issue that is much trickier than it seems, nor can it be solved by any single stakeholder—it requires an orchestra.
• Manage in Place: Where possible, avoid copies. Multiple copies of your data increase your costs and risks and your ability to ever achieve a truly managed and governed environment. The use of emerging technology allows businesses to manage the majority of data without creating copies, while archiving can be reserved for high-value data (and data that is required to be retained for compliance purposes)
• Search + Insight are Key: An architecture that enables the capability to search and cull data to gather insight is a critical pillar to all governance functions, including eDiscovery, compliance, privacy, and now, “people analytics.”

 
Continue reading: https://www.paymentsjournal.com/data-governance-is-a-journey/

Today’s Woman in Tech: Agata Nowakowska, Area Vice President EMEA at Skillsoft
Agata Nowakowska is Area Vice President EMEA at Skillsoft, where she leads the field operations, to include enterprise and small & mid-market, as well as channel sales/strategic alliances across Europe, Middle East and Africa.
When did you become interested in technology? What first got you interested in tech?
I have to be honest and say it was actually an accident. At the end of the nineties, tech talent was as it is now, scarce. I was young, looking for a new opportunity and saw a job advert that attracted my attention. It was for a well-known hardware company in the Netherlands looking for an International Sales Manager. I was ambitious, eager to learn, and felt confident that I could do the job and learn as I go. And, while it appeared a little easier than it turned out to be, that’s how I got my start in the technology space.
Let’s talk about your background. How did you end up in your career path? What obstacles did you have to overcome?
I am a Polish female. However, I started my career in the Netherlands and then five years ago I moved to the UK. In my first technology role I felt a desperate need to prove my value to myself and others, working what felt like harder than anybody else at that time. It was over 20 years ago, and the tech sector was extremely male-dominated. I was the only female in a similar role in the company. However, while there were differences between myself and my male co-workers, such as in pay parity, at that stage I didn’t care so much. All I wanted was an opportunity to prove myself first.
Continue reading: https://jaxenter.com/women-in-tech-nowakowska-177046.html

The entertainment landscape has been progressively moving towards capitalizing on Web3 through popular franchises. The start of this shift however has not been without its challenges.
The legal perspective around ownership is seeing ongoing litigation between Quentin Tarantino and Miramax, Nike NKE -0.5% and StockX, and Hermes/Mason Rothschild.
NFT issuers and holders, therefore, need to understand the complexities involved in what is, and isn’t, allowed once an NFT changes hands. For example, once purchased the underlying rights of an NFT aren’t generally given by the issuer. Instead, specific rights are given to display and exhibit the work.
Under federal law, a full copyright holder is granted certain rights under ownership. Including the ability to reproduce and distribute the work, as well as introduce derivative projects. Generally, NFT holders can’t do this and subsequently fully commercialize their NFTs, which therefore brings the question of ownership to the forefront.
With the sector in its infancy, in regards to its understanding and application of Web3, clearly, several issues still need to be ironed out.
What is clear however is the mass potential of increased revenue. Marvel, for example, has been selling physical merchandise for decades and is seen as a tangible revenue stream for the company. Web3 has now made it possible for the company to sell items such as digital figures, key scenes and even potential original movie scripts, all tracked by the blockchain to guarantee originality. Unlike memorabilia of a physical nature, however, Marvel could make royalties from each subsequent sale of their product, once again, because of blockchain.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwilson/2022/04/20/entertainment-industry-pushes-to-shift-intellectual-property-to-web3/?sh=1f4f5fd942ef

Associated with libertarian politics, arcane terminology and cartoon monkey avatars, the idea of ‘web3’ can be hard for outsiders to fathom. But beyond the obscurity and hype lie both opportunities and risks for the UK economy. So, what is web3? It very much depends on whom you ask.
web3 promoters
For its advocates, web3 marks an important shift towards the next iteration of the internet. Its predecessor, Web 2.0 – the era of large, powerful social media platforms (such as Facebook) – is said to be characterized by asymmetries and injustices.
Dominated by a small number of Big Tech companies whose founders and investors have amassed unprecedented amounts of wealth and power, Web 2.0 has had consequences that are widely seen as damaging to society and democratic institutions. 
This financial success seems to have been built off the backs of Web 2.0’s users. Professional creators of music, imagery and video receive only a small fraction of the revenues that their content generates for platforms like Spotify and YouTube.
Developers of apps have no option but to pay 15-30% of their revenue to the App Store (Apple) and Play Store (Google/Android) in return for distribution. At the same time, ordinary users supply the posts, engagement and behavioral data that are integral to the advertising-based business models of Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Despite their role as ‘prosumers’ (producing as well as consuming), they receive no financial compensation. 
Continue reading: https://www.economicsobservatory.com/what-is-web3-and-what-might-it-mean-for-the-uk-economy

Web3, blockchains, crypto are undoubtedly set to form part, if not all of the future of the internet - but how do developers, the people actually building the tools, feel about these technological innovations?
Stack Overflow polled 595 developers on their views on Web3 and blockchains, two areas that could form the heart of the next phase of the internet, and discovered some very differing thoughts. 
Opinion on Web3 was divided, with 25% saying Web3 is the future of the internet, although 15% said it was a bunch of hype, 14% think it was important for crypto and related apps, and 9% said it was a scam. 
Believing the hype?
Interestingly, a further 36% – so the largest group of all – asked "What's Web3", which points to the confused nature of the branding, which is often promoted by venture capitalists, such as Chris Dixon at a16z.
We hear a lot about Web3, especially from people building things in the space, but the exact definitions and dimensions of the technology, besides a reliance on some kind of blockchain, remains heavily contested. 
Continue reading: https://www.techradar.com/news/developers-are-split-over-web3-and-the-future-of-the-web

Everyone is talking about web3.
Richard Muirhead, a partner at Fabric Ventures, hails web3 as the next information exchange revolution, analogous to the shift from a primarily agricultural society to a more urban one. He defines web3 as “a composable, human-centric and privacy-preserving computing fabric for the next wave of the web.” From his perspective, web3 will usher in an entirely new paradigm for interacting with the internet. 
Others take a less optimistic view of its promise. Didier Thizy at Stellex Consulting claims that web3 is merely a term for a collective internet nostalgia, a time more like the first incarnation of the internet, when “creators were not at the mercy of Big Tech social media platforms” like YouTube and Facebook. Didier sees web3 primarily as a way for fringe internet users to keep more of their online assets insulated from giant tech conglomerates.
Both of these visions, though contradictory, are at least partially true. So, what do we really “know” about web3, and how many of the promises that are frequently touted are likely to become a reality in the next five years? 
Continue reading: https://builtin.com/blockchain/web3-predictions

What will Web3 infrastructure look like? While some describe Web3 as a decentralized replacement for today’s leading content platforms, early indications are that much of Web3 will use cloud services or bare metal servers housed in data centers, rather than blockchain nodes running on desktop computers around the world.
This is creating business for cloud platforms and some data center operators, as well as new providers specializing in blockchain infrastructure.
That includes Edgevana, which is helping blockchain businesses create distributed networks of nodes that provide security and process transactions. Edgevana has just launched QuickRamp, a service to help build these networks quickly, deploying nodes across many locations and data center providers. Blockchain nodes serve as the building blocks for digital currencies and distributed applications.
“By reducing time, complexity, and cost, we’ve shown we can make becoming a node operator far more attractive,” said Mark Thiele, co-founder and CEO of Edgevana. “The effort to build a globally distributed network of data centers and nodes can require interaction with dozens of vendors. Our goal for QuickRamp is to deliver more value, faster and at lower cost while strengthening node operator communities and blockchain ecosystems.”
Continue reading: https://datacenterfrontier.com/edgevana-looks-to-speed-growth-for-web3-blockchain-infrastructure/

How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing Cyber Security and Protecting Against the Next Level of Hacking.
Hackers and cyber breaches have become more and more prevalent in recent years. 
As a result, not only does every company need to spend a fortune protecting their data and assets, but almost every citizen of the world has been in danger of being a victim of hacking at some point.
It may seem like an insurmountable problem – but it doesn’t have to be! The latest cyber security trends show that the introduction of artificial intelligence is leading to far higher success rates in hacking prevention.
How AI is Improving Cyber Security and Protecting Us from Future Hacks?
The future of cyber security is very promising. We are already seeing AI-based security solutions that are helping us protect our data from hackers and other cyber criminals.
With the help of AI, we can predict the next attack and take preventive measures before it happens. 
This will help us save time and money, as well as avoid potential risks that come with a possible hacker attack.  
There are many industries that benefit from AI cybersecurity solutions. For example, AI-based cybersecurity solutions are already being used for fraud prevention and identity theft protection, but the scope of AI’s impact on security is vast. 
Continue reading: https://programminginsider.com/the-impact-of-artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning-on-cyber-security/

New research conducted by the Airborne International Response Team (AIRT), the leading 501(c)3 non-profit organization supporting the use of drones for public safety and disaster response and home to the DRONERESPONDERS program, has found that Florida public safety agencies and other government entitles who operate drones need more time to transition to recent legislative changes regulating government sUAS use.
During the first two-weeks of April, AIRT conducted a survey through the DRONERESPONDERS Florida Public Safety Coordination Group (FLOGRU) of 60 government entities who operate drones.  According to the data, 95% of respondents (58 out of 60) said they believe recent changes to Florida Statue 934.50 by the Florida Legislator will have a negative impact on their organization’s drone program over the foreseeable future.  A harrowing 87% of those respondents are predicting an “extremely negative impact” due to the change in legislation.

In 2021, the Florida Legislator approved Senate Bill 44 which instructed the Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) to create an “Approved Drone Manufacturers” list.  That list was published on December 31, 2021, causing great concern among Florida public safety agencies who had invested heavily in small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) manufactured by DJI – a Chinese company that is the undisputed global leader in the sUAS market, but is perceived as a security threat by federal government agencies – particularly the Department of Defense.
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2022/04/19/floridas-approved-drone-manufacturers-list/

Global demand for rail travel is growing rapidly; passenger and freight traffic is expected to double globally by 2050. As rail ridership grows, the promise of a safer and more efficient rail infrastructure is critical and must be actively pursued by rail operators.  
However, rail security presents a multitude of unique challenges. There are countless vulnerabilities associated with railway infrastructure due to its complex nature and vast geographical area. Rail operators are routinely faced with an array of hazards from trespassing to theft, dangerous weather conditions and much more. Despite lower ridership in 2020 due to the pandemic, there were still 783 rail-related fatalities and more than 5,400 injuries in the United States. 
There are several emerging technologies that are revolutionizing railway security and enhancing the efficiency of operations. Two of them in particular – 3D mapping technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) – are making a significant impact on the ability to reduce disruptions and protect rail assets, personnel and passengers. 
Continue reading: https://www.masstransitmag.com/technology/miscellaneous/article/21264602/how-ai-and-3d-technologies-are-transforming-rail-security

Every project manager has three hopes for their construction project: on-time, on-budget, and without dispute. However, 88% of construction firms are experiencing project delays, 89% are challenged with finding qualified workers, and 9 out of 10 construction projects are experiencing cost overrun.
The factors causing delays for project managers run the gamut, from inclement weather, to equipment failure, missing or incomplete data and project mistakes, post-bid disputes, persisting labor shortages, and communication issues.
With advanced technology such as drone data visualization, construction projects can resolve conflicts quickly and peacefully, minimize delays, and leave little room for error or rework. 
Can Tech Help Prevent, Resolve Worksite Disputes?
The global average of disputes between construction companies and their clients rose dramatically in 2020, according to the 2021 Global Construction Disputes Report. Disagreements often occur due to a lack of visibility into project data, impaired communication channels, and unexpected changes.
Made-for-construction technology alleviates the pain of conflict and reduces unwarranted delays by capturing worksite conditions in the pre-bid phase. With technology such as commercial drones, companies can conduct their own takeoff survey before moving any dirt, as well as before submitting a bid, enabling them to create a realistic budget and timeline that helps them prevent data discrepancies down the road. 
A project without conflict is often a project completed on time, with all stakeholders having the ability to access a centralized source for progress. 
Attract and Retain Skilled Workers 
Earthworks companies are facing two main challenges: a lack of younger employees to replace a retiring workforce and a lack of skilled workers to support construction technology. For every one new worker entering the construction workforce, two retire, causing a never-ending cycle of labor shortages. Technology has the power to attract and retain skilled workers, enabling companies to gain a competitive edge and take a proactive approach toward addressing the need for more workers. 
The latest construction technology can attract young skilled workers, who otherwise would look outside the construction industry for their career path. For current employees, the chance to learn new skills and work with cutting-edge tools they may not find at other jobs creates a more engaging workplace, which often leads to increased productivity and retention.
Embracing new technology into a worksite shows a company’s commitment to supporting and empowering their workforce, with new opportunities for continued training and education. This leads to well-run projects, equating to less stressful workdays and higher rates of job satisfaction. 
Improve Data Accuracy for Project Planning
Incorporating technology solutions into construction projects improves data accuracy through transparency and availability, while enabling cross-team collaboration. 
Continue reading: https://www.forconstructionpros.com/construction-technology/article/22184623/propeller-aero-why-incorporating-advanced-technology-in-construction-should-be-a-prerequisite-for-bids-and-project-planning

It’s an exciting and scary time to be a technology leader: Exciting for the endless opportunities offered by rapidly evolving digital technologies – and scary due to the associated feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out).
Consider Artificial Intelligence (AI). Driven by the desire to tap unprecedented volumes of data for a broad array of real-world applications, many organizations see AI as a magic wand that CIOs can swing to generate customer delight and executive exhilaration.
CIOs know better, of course. The challenges that come with any new technology hit technologists harder and faster than the optimism driving it. This is especially true with AI and related areas such as machine learning (ML), data science, deep learning, natural language processing (NLP), and cognitive intelligence. Not only is talent scarce in these fields, but their vocabulary and application development are also different.
Extracting value from AI is about making a real-world impact with demonstrable quick wins while developing the organization for an enterprise-wide scale. Let’s look at the four key focus areas that can help make that happen.
Continue reading: https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2022/4/artificial-intelligence-ai-4-priorities-cios

Artificial intelligence is no longer a nice-to-have, so get off the sidelines before you're left behind.
The pandemic has accelerated the onset of new technologies across industries. With artificial intelligence (AI) expected to grow by 21%, reaching $62 billion in 2022, it’s no wonder nearly half of CIOs said they’ve either already deployed AI or plan to add it to their tech stacks in the next year. And with record-high numbers of Americans leaving their jobs, AI has moved from a “nice-to-have” technology to an essential way to optimize your teams’ work and keep everyone feeling productive. 
The question for most businesses is no longer whether to adopt AI — it’s how to best integrate it into processes that scale with the company. Even though companies have spent the last two years implementing new technologies, often under tight deadlines and without a clear plan of what will come next, the process can still feel intimidating. The potential costs, time and loss of productivity associated with major changes are enough for anyone to keep putting it off. 
Here’s the thing: Implementing AI doesn’t have to be arduous, time-consuming or difficult on your teams. The most important step is the first one, which is choosing the right kind of solution to support your customers and enable your team members. Point solutions might bring brief relief, but they ultimately add one more dissonant system to a long list of apps your teams shuffle through every day. Plus, they don’t always play well with others, meaning they can’t help with every task that would benefit from the power of AI. An AI-powered support automation platform connects the systems you already use, allowing you to simplify processes, increase ROI and align your teams for success.
Continue reading: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/421724

MIT Sloan Management Review and BCG have assembled an international panel of AI experts that includes academics and practitioners to help us gain insights into how responsible artificial intelligence (RAI) is being implemented in organizations worldwide. This month’s question for our panelists: Should RAI be a top management agenda item at organizations across industries and geographies?1 Eighty-six percent of them (18 out of 21) agree or strongly agree that it should be. In aggregate, their replies offer a compelling rationale for top management to oversee RAI efforts. We distill and explain this rationale below.
We also conducted a global survey of more than 1,000 executives that generated similar findings: Eighty-two percent of managers in companies with at least $100 million in annual revenues agree or strongly agree that RAI should be part of their company’s top management agenda. Unfortunately, only half of the respondents in that same survey reported that RAI is in fact on their top management’s agenda — a dramatic gap between expectations and reality.
Below, we share some of the insights of our RAI panelists. Then, drawing on our panelist responses and our own experience working with RAI initiatives, we offer three practical steps toward making RAI a top management agenda item.
Reasons to Focus on Responsible AI
A strong majority of our panelists agree that RAI should be a top management concern. But their reasons — or what they chose to emphasize — represent two distinct sets of concerns. One set relates to how a company’s use of AI affects external stakeholders, such as customers and society, as part of its broader corporate strategy and social purpose. The other set is focused on internal stakeholders and regards the support of company leadership and management as vital to effective RAI efforts.
Continue reading: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/why-top-management-should-focus-on-responsible-ai/

Have we reached the point where AI has become mainstream? As a recent study from Deloitte points out, 66% of organizations consider AI to be critical to their success. IDC also predicts global spending on AI systems will rise from $85.3 billion in 2021 to over $204 billion in 2025. With investments increasing dramatically and some of the largest companies like Meta and Google doubling down on AI research, the industry is reaching a new level of maturity.
Rather than having to hire a team of Ph.D.s, companies can now train open-source machine learning models on their own datasets with the tap of a button. Tools like Hugging Face and TensorFlow help with model discovery and customization for training. The practice of machine learning operations (MLOps) can now get these models into production easier than ever before. Once a technology like AI becomes simple enough to use, it rises to the level of mass adoption.
We've seen this story play out before with technologies like the cloud. Before Amazon, Google and Microsoft cloud platforms rose to prominence, the idea of hosting your data warehouse on a public shared server felt like an unbelievable risk. Now, some of the world's largest enterprises operate on the cloud, even those within highly regulated industries. The conversation has progressed from the idea of the cloud itself to its benefits—most prominently, its economies of scale over traditional data warehouses.
Now, it's AI companies' turn to shift the narrative from novelty to strategic value for stakeholders. Here's how.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/04/19/ai-is-going-mainstream-here-are-three-ways-companies-can-communicate-its-value/?sh=1f1a4a3e5f88

Grandiose promises of drone deliveries have been around for years, but the recent surge of commercial and civil drone activity may spark a wider adoption.
I first addressed the state of commercial drone delivery last year.
According to a recent report by McKinsey & Co., there have been over 660,000 drone deliveries to global consumers in the last three years. As of early 2022, more than 2,000 drone deliveries occur each day worldwide. McKinsey projects global deliveries for 2022 will be close to 1.5 million, up from under half a million in 2021.
Here is a list of recent updates from companies advancing drone deliveries.
FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., is teaming up with California-based Elroy Air, which is building an autonomous vertical take-off and landing aerial cargo system. FedEx Express will test Elroy Air’s Chaparral drones within FedEx’s middle-mile logistics operations, moving shipments between sortation locations autonomously.
The Chaparral aircraft can pick up 300-500 pounds of cargo autonomously and deliver it up to 300 miles by air.
FedEx and Elroy Air have been working together since January 2020 and will continue their collaboration to pursue certifications and begin flight testing in 2023.
–
Wing

Wing
Alphabet subsidiary Wing launched its first commercial drone delivery service in a U.S. metro area on April 7 in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to several thousand suburban homes.  The drones fly health and wellness products from Walgreens directly to customers’ homes, ice cream from Blue Bell Creameries, prescription pet medications from Easyvet, and first-aid kits from Texas Health.
In March 2022, Wing completed 200,000 all-time commercial deliveries across its global markets. In 2021, Wing completed just over 100,000 drone deliveries in Australia. Recently, it had its busiest week ever, with more than 1,000 global deliveries in a single day (one every 25 seconds).
–
Walmart

Walmart and DroneUp
Walmart and DroneUp, a global drone technology and services provider, have announced commercial drone delivery operations at three stores in Northwest Arkansas, operating from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., seven days per week, to deliver items to eligible Walmart customers by air in as little as 30 minutes.
“When we invested in DroneUp earlier this year, we envisioned a drone delivery operation across multiple stores,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president of last mile at Walmart U.S. “Opening our first hub within months of our initial concept showcases DroneUp’s ability to execute drone delivery operations safely and with speed.”
Continue reading: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/daily-drone-deliveries-surpass-2000-globally

It was not so long ago that package delivery drones, specifically ones from Amazon AMZN -2.1%.com, seemed poised to take flight as soon as the right regulatory bodies signed off. At present, however, the concept of package drop-off via drone is looking like it could be a dud.
Amazon’s drone program is nowhere near taking off despite nearly a decade in development. The company has made a $2 billion investment and has a global team of 1,000 people worldwide working on the project, according to a Yahoo Finance report on a Bloomberg investigation.
For some of the experts on the RetailWire BrainTrust commenting in an online discussion last week, the failed ambitions of the drone program were a foregone conclusion.
“I don’t know who is surprised or why they are surprised that it’s not ‘taking off,’ wrote Paula Rosenblum, co-founder of RSR Research. “In Colorado, you can buy a licen
se to shoot them down. They’re risky on a good day with anything heavier than a feather. They eliminate jobs for no good reason. What could possibly go wrong?”
“Drone delivery is great in concept, but a nightmare in reality,” wrote Steve Montgomery, president of B2B Solutions. “Imagine the air around your town or city full of drones from different companies rushing to make deliveries. Add in birds, a few people flying drones for recreation and what you have is a recipe for trouble.”
Speaking on Bloomberg TV, journalist Spencer Soper described problems with the Amazon drone design. In a test last summer, an Amazon drone experienced a motor failure while in flight and plummeted to the ground despite anti-crash safety features and caused a 25-acre brush fire with the explosion of its lithium battery.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/retailwire/2022/04/19/crash-raises-doubts-for-amazons-2-billion-drone-program/?sh=541a5c3e37c6

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced $4.4 million in drone research, education and training grants to seven universities. Research will focus on three areas: electromagnetic compatibility, detect and avoid classifications, and cybersecurity oversight. 
The universities receiving grants are University of North Dakota, University of Kansas, Drexel University, The Ohio State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Mississippi State University and Oregon State University.   
“This funding and our ongoing partnerships with these universities will allow the FAA to safely integrate the airspace that has a growing number of diverse aircraft users,” said FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen. 
The research initiatives and grant awardees include: 
Evaluate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Electromagnetic Compatibility
This research will assess the risks, identify drone design vulnerabilities, identify material and procedural mitigations, and propose guidance for safer electromagnetic compatibility with emitted and static fields. 

•   University of North Dakota: $325,042
•   University of Kansas: $325,000
•   Drexel University: $325,830

Investigate Detect and Avoid Track Classification and Filtering 
This research will provide proposed metrics, guidance, and test methods to assess the effects of false or misleading information on detect and avoid capabilities. The findings will support Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations.    

•   The Ohio State University: $732,411
•   Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: $371,000
•   Mississippi State University: $330,000
•   University of North Dakota: $80,000

Illustrate the Need for UAS Cybersecurity Oversight and Risk Management
This research will address UAS Cybersecurity Oversight and Risk Management as it pertains to the National Airspace System and other FAA systems.  

•   University of Kansas: $651,982
•   Oregon State University: $609,226
•   Drexel University: $608,783  

Continue reading: https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/airport-aviation-security/faa-awards-drone-research-grants-for-improved-compatibility-detection-and-cybersecurity/

Interesting watch and a cautionary tale. Learn more about the author and how to support here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRH7oj4SbgM

After a year of online school, I was stunned when I walked into the first class of my sophomore year, an upper-level computer science lecture of 70 students. I couldn’t see a single other woman in the classroom. I scanned the room a few times, then felt relief as I found at least a couple of female students. Yet even then, I was forced to lose the blissful ignorance that Zoom had allowed. My classmates were no longer muted and faceless names on a participants list; now, they were tangible people, and I was so obviously a minority among them. 
Experiences like these are extremely disconcerting, but unfortunately, they are not uncommon. Tech has seen industry-wide gender disparities since the 1980s, both in terms of women’s participation in the workforce and their compensation. The challenges that female STEM students face at Brown aren’t unique to this institution, but Brown has made valuable efforts to support its female students amid the sometimes overly competitive culture within STEM fields. Maybe women pursuing STEM degrees won’t be able to fully escape systemic disparities at Brown — I’m certainly not the first to wish for fewer gender-skewed classes — but the University deserves credit for its efforts at the departmental and institutional level to foster an environment that empowers women in the face of these challenges. 
The positive results of the atmosphere Brown has created for women in STEM are self-evident: The percentage of CS undergraduates at Brown who are female in recent years (39%) is almost twice the national average (20%). Most comparable schools — including Stanford University where 34% of concentrators were women in 2020, Northeastern University where 31% of incoming undergraduates in the department in 2019 were women and Penn where 25% of CS undergraduate degrees were awarded to women as of 2014 — seem to trail slightly behind Brown in this metric. Brown’s improving numbers are contributed to by institutional leaders and alumni’s efforts to work with STEM departments to organize targeted initiatives and campaigns for gender parity. 
Continue reading: https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/bahl-24-keeping-women-in-stem-in-stem

In January 2020, Kelly Gilbert felt as if her life was at a standstill.
The new mom was suffering from postpartum depression. She had just resigned from her security job of seven years, unable to take the stress. To make extra money, she began driving for ride-sharing companies, but she had to take her infant daughter along. As she struggled to make ends meet, she faced eviction from her home.
“I was overwhelmed. I knew I couldn’t give up, but I knew I didn’t have the energy to keep putting on a brave face,” said Gilbert, 32. “I didn’t have the fight in me.”
Then a friend told Gilbert about a new program from Atlanta-based nonprofit Women in Technology (WIT) that could help her launch a career in information technology. The application was due in four days so Gilbert called her contacts with an urgent request for recommendations and submitted the application in time.
During the interview, she was sure the panel would not take her seriously.
“How will you do this when you just walked away from your job?” one panel member asked.
“I am going to show my daughter that she can do whatever she wants to do,” Gilbert replied, crying.
Continue reading: https://www.the74million.org/article/atlanta-nonprofit-offers-path-to-success-for-women-in-tech/

A national organization wants to create new opportunities for Pittsburgh women working in tech.
The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), which is based in Boulder, Colorado, just announced that it would launch a Pittsburgh chapter of its Regional Initiatives program this month with funding from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation. Currently, the organization also has chapters of this program in Alabama and Michigan, in addition to its national programming efforts, with plans to expand to even more regions across the country in the future. The Pittsburgh program will partner with local leaders in education and industry involved with fostering involvement of women and girls in the local tech economy.
In coming to Pittsburgh, NCWIT will partner with the Pittsburgh Technology Council and other community stakeholders to bridge gaps in awareness, participation and mentorship for local technologists. In the past, regional programs have included efforts to develop the tech education pipeline or used counseling and workshops to encourage more inclusive workforce cultures.
Continue reading: https://technical.ly/diversity-equity-inclusion/ncwit-pittsburgh-women-tech/

After months of spoon-feeding information on its curiously codenamed "Bonanza Mine" approach to blockchain technology, Intel has officially taken the first concrete, product-laden steps in the form of its Blockscale ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). The announcement comes hot on the heels of several design wins, with cryptocurrency mining heavyweights Argo Blockchain, BLOCK (formerly known as Square), GRIID Infrastructure, and HIVE all inking multi-million-dollar deals for Intel's Blockscale solutions. The products are expected to see first deliveries by Q3 2022. Helped by Intel's decades of expertise in semiconductor design and refinement, as well as cryptographic technologies, the Blockscale ASIC builds on the company's first-generation Bonanza Mine accelerator (BMZ1), which served as a proof of concept for the second Blockscale design. It aims to bring energy-efficient cryptocurrency mining to mining specialist companies focusing on PoW (Proof of Work) workloads, one of the strategies that help secure transactions in blockchain environments. To that end, Intel has created a specific division that handles strategy and product development in this space: the Custom Compute Group, nested within Intel's Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics business unit. “Intel is committed to advancing blockchain technology in a responsible way, and we’re proud to collaborate with and provide solutions to companies that are creating a more sustainable cryptocurrency ecosystem globally," said Jose Rios, general manager of Blockchain and Business Solutions in the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group at Intel. "The Intel Blockscale ASIC is going to play a major role in helping bitcoin mining companies achieve both sustainability and hash rate scaling objectives in the years ahead.”
Continue reading: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-blockscale-asics

Bitcoin and blockchain promise significant transformations to the business landscape. Find out how the two innovations can revolutionize business. 
The business landscape is changing fast, and the emergence of new technologies is among the critical elements of that change. Bitcoin and blockchain have increasingly gained popularity among businesses, facilitating robust changes to traditional businesses’ operations and product offerings. They have also inspired several new business opportunities in multiple industries, including finance, manufacturing, health, tech, travel, and eCommerce. The following article explores how Bitcoin and blockchain can revolutionize business. 
Increased Business Opportunities 
Fiat currencies and traditional assets have significantly limited business potential over the years. Their usage is strictly regulated by government laws and institutional bureaucracy, impacting business operations and profitability. Such restrictions make it extremely difficult for investors to diversify or opt-out whenever they lose due to the limited opportunities. 
Bitcoin and blockchain have created robust money-making opportunities for individuals and institutional investors worldwide. Established and new businesses can invest by simply accepting Bitcoin as payment in their stores. You can make money with Bitcoin, including crypto trading, mining, and lending.  
Continue reading: https://www.ballerstatus.com/2022/04/18/how-bitcoin-blockchain-can-revolutionize-business/

People have been making a lot of statements on Blockchain technology recently. The Blockchain has been the most significant part of the cryptocurrency space. Cryptocurrencies are not capable of functioning without the Blockchain. Therefore, it is essential to note that the Blockchain is the survival chain for the cryptocurrency space on the investment website. If you want to make money today, plenty of options are available. However, it is none other than crypto coins for the most incredible one. Cryptocurrencies are available everywhere, and hence, they are straightforward to use. Yes, the global availability of cryptocurrencies makes them easy for everyone to use and operate from everywhere.
Recently, there was an argument raised regarding the Blockchain. Many people preferred Blockchain for storing information and any other data, while others were not in the same favor. Therefore, it has been a compelling argument on the technology of Blockchain. However, it is essential to understand that cryptocurrency technology is still new, and so is the Blockchain. Even if Blockchain has been many perks to everything, it is a new concept and unknown entirely. Therefore, whenever there is a talk regarding the compatibility of Blockchain to store anything, there are arguments in its favor and against it. Here are some things that make blocks suitable for storing personal data and digital commodities.

• Global existence

When it comes to something used for storing information and commodities digitally, it needs to be available everywhere. Blockchain technology has this feature. With the Blockchain, you can now access any information added to the network from any other corner of the world. You must know that it is not always the case that people think and instantly reach a particular place. Therefore, the transfer of information is necessary to be capable of such things. You need to understand that Blockchain technology is the only medium of uploading the data and making it available in any other country without any problem.
Continue reading: https://www.sundayvision.co.ug/why-is-blockchain-a-suitable-storage-place/