The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is proud to be a part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2017 Annual Meeting this weekend, February 16-20, 2017 in Boston, MA.

CCC Chair Beth Mynatt, CCC Executive Council Member Ben Zorn, and CCC Council Member Shwetak Patel will be presenting on February 17, 2017 from 1:00-2:30PM on What Happens When Everyday Objects Become Internet Devices: A Science Policy Agenda in Room 203 of the Hynes Convention Center. CCC Director, Ann Drobnis, will be moderating it.

• Talk Titles:
  • Elizabeth Mynatt, Georgia Institute of Technology
    How People Think and Reason About an Internet of Things
  • Ben Zorn, Microsoft Research
    Programming a Secure, Robust, and Sustainable Internet of Things
  • Shwetak Patel, University of Washington
    The Future of Smart Environments and the Internet of Things
• Abstract: The Internet is being transformed from a system that connects people to information and services, into one that connects people to everyday objects from cars to toothbrushes. A recent McKinsey report estimates the economic impact of this “Internet of Things” (IoT) will be between $3.9 to $11 trillion dollars by 2025. IoT will have a profound impact on our daily lives, including technologies for “smart” cities and our homes, health, and transportation. Advances in sensors and hardware have enabled computers to more easily observe the physical world. These devices can monitor the physical environment and connect Internet servers with physical places and objects. This panel will enumerate science policy challenges tied to the emerging interrelationships between computation, people, and the physical world. Speakers will describe how people make sense of computational objects and look at the development and programming of IoT systems to explore critical issues in security, liability, and longevity, discussing how these technologies have the potential to shape future smart environments from homes to cities.
• For more information, see this website. 

Beth Mynatt, Shwetak Patel, and Greg Hager will be participating in a Press Briefing on Mobile Health Devices on February 17, 2017 at 12:00PM EST in Room 103 of the Hynes Convention Center.

• Informal briefing for members of the media—each researcher takes no more than five minutes to present a few key points, and the rest of the briefing is devoted to Q&A.

CCC Council Member Maja Mataric and CCC Council Member Shwetak Patel will be presenting Flash Talks on February 17, 2017, as part of the session on The Technology of the Future.

• Maja Mataric from University of Southern California at 10:30-10:45AM EST in Room 308 (Hynes Convention Center)
  Socially Assistive Robotics: Creating Robots That (Provide) Care
  • Abstract: Dr. Mataric will describe her leading work in the new field of “socially assistive robotics,” which focuses on creating robots capable of providing personalized therapy and care through social, as opposed to physical, interaction.  She will describe the research and other challenges she overcame in successfully testing her work with stroke patients, Alzheimer’s patients, healthy elderly, and children with autism spectrum disorders.
• Shwetak Patel from University of Washington at 10:45-11:00AM EST in in Room 308 (Hynes Convention Center)
  The Emerging Role of Mobile Phones in Health
  • Abstract: Dr. Patel will discuss how mobile phones and computing will play a critical role in personal health monitoring. In his talk, he will describe a set of projects where it is already possible to conduct clinically relevant health diagnostics using just the sensors already present on a smartphone. These tools can be used for population level screening, managing chronic diseases, and as case finding tools in developing regions.
• For more information, see this website.  

The CCC has participated in AAAS in the past and is looking forward to this year!