General Meeting Topic – April 2021

April 1, 2021 by Kenneth Tubaugh
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Open Source Technology Battles COVID-19

Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Sharan Kalwani, President of SEMCO &
Member of the APCUG Speaker’s Bureau

This talk will highlight two major areas, amongst many, which are being used to help fight the virus: Open Source Low-Cost Ventilator Design and use of Open Source Machine Learning/data augmented algorithms to figure out, track and learn how to combat this new virus. From health professionals and protective equipment to tests and ventilators, the COVID-19 pandemic is stretching our finite healthcare resources dangerously thin. As a result, this unprecedented test of our healthcare system is forcing us to be agile and adaptable. One of the weapons we have in our arsenal is open source technology.

Sharan Kalwani, SEMCO

The excerpt above was provided by APCUG.

About the Presenter:

Sharan currently serves as the president of SouthEastern Michigan Computer Organization, Inc. SEMCO is one of the country’s oldest personal computing organizations and was established to help individuals better understand personal computing. He is also the Linux SIG leader. The purpose of this SIG is to advocate the GNU/Linux operating system and open-source software by educating the public and socializing among peers.

Kalwani is an industry technology specialist with 25+ years of experience. He has degrees in both Engineering and Computer Science and has worked in many diverse areas. Sharan is a senior member of IEEE-Computer Society, IEEE-Education Society, and Vehicle Tech Society, an Emeritus member of Michigan!UNIX/user group (mug.org) the oldest of the *nix user groups based in Michigan (they were first established in late 1985), member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). He enjoys teaching and holds an Adjunct Faculty position at local educational sites. He has published one book “Linux and Internet Security” and is now working on his second about a new computer programming language. He is a recipient of the IEEE MGA Achievement award for his contributions to IEEE activities in 2018.

The excerpt above was provided by APCUG.