KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Fernando Vasconez

Senior Director Business Development – Games + Strategy | SAMSUNG Electronics

Fernando has over 15 years of experience in the gaming industry, working with leading platforms, publishers, developers, and technology providers. His core competencies are new business development, product marketing, and strategy. He leads a team of business development managers and analysts who are responsible for identifying, negotiating, and executing strategic partnerships and initiatives with gaming partners.

Fernando leverages Samsung’s technology leadership and global reach to create value for their customers, partners, and stakeholders. He is passionate about exploring and advancing emerging trends and opportunities in the gaming industry, such as cloud gaming, blockchain, AI and 5G. His goal is to position partners as global leaders and game-changers in the gaming industry, and to contribute to their vision of inspiring the world through games and entertainment.

MODERATOR

Kim Grinfeder, MPS

Professor + Chair | University of Miami School of Communication, Department of Interactive Media
Director | University of Miami Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing, Creative Technologies
Director, XR Initiative | UMverse

Kim is a multidisciplinary media producer and an accomplished artist, designer, and creator who uses emergent technologies to practice new ways to communicate social and environmental issues. At the UM School of Communication, he is Chair of the Department of Interactive Media and Director of the UMverse, where he is developing a coordinated strategy to expand leadership in spatial computing. their customers, partners, and stakeholders. He is passionate about exploring and advancing emerging trends and opportunities in the gaming industry, such as cloud gaming, blockchain, AI and 5G. His goal is to position partners as global leaders and game-changers in the gaming industry, and to contribute to their vision of inspiring the world through games and entertainment.

PANELISTS

Soyeon Ahn, PhD

Professor and Vice Dean | University of Miami School of Education and Human Development

Soyeon received her Ph.D. in Measurement and Quantitative Methods in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education at Michigan State University in 2008. She joined the EPS faculty in August, 2008. Soyeon’s current research focuses on the application of the existing data analytic techniques in resolving the complicated data issues in meta-analysis (research synthesis). Her other areas of interest include hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), structural equation modeling (SEM), and longitudinal data analysis for educational and psychological research

Fabrice Manns, PhD

Professor and Chair | University of Miami College of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Fabrice serves as chair and professor of the University of Miami College of Engineering Department of Biomedical Engineering. He holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Ophthalmology where his research laboratory is located. As Co-Director of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute’s Ophthalmic Biophysics Center, his research activities include the development of optical and laser instrumentation for treating and diagnosing eye diseases, and studies on the optics of the eye and vision correction, including accommodation and presbyopia, myopia, and intraocular lenses for cataract surgery.

Ramin Moghaddass, PhD

Associate Professor | University of Miami College of Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering
Director |  Data Analytics Lab & DOE Industrial Assessment Center

Ramin is an associate professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Industrial Engineering where he studies complex, sensor-driven engineered systems, and is developing a new generation of flexible and large-scale models for real-time system health monitoring inspired by dynamic structures and networks. His research is applicable in a number of engineering systems, including wind turbines, power systems and other sensor- intensive engineering systems.

Rebecca Bulotsky Shearer, PhD

Professor | University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology
Principal Investigator and Faculty Advisor | Early Childhood Social Emotional Readiness Lab (SERL)

Rebecca is a child clinical and school psychologist who has worked both as a practitioner and researcher with very young children and families living in impoverished urban areas for the past 15 years. Her research is guided by a “whole child” developmental-ecological systems perspective that is child-centered, and which considers both proximal and broader system-level influences on children’s development over time.