Demystifying artificial intelligence | Around Campus - MIT News

Doctoral candidate Natalie Lao wants to show that anyone can learn to use AI to make a better world, says Kim Martineau, MIT Quest for Intelligence.

A PhD student in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Natalie Lao has co-founded startups aimed at democratizing artificial intelligence and using AI to protect democracy by fighting false and misleading information.
Photo: Andrew Tsai

Natalie Lao was set on becoming an electrical engineer, like her parents, until she stumbled on course 6.S192 (Making Mobile Apps), taught by Professor Hal Abelson. Here was a blueprint for turning a smartphone into a tool for finding clean drinking water, or sorting pictures of faces, or doing just about anything. “I thought, I wish people knew building tech could be like this,” she said on a recent afternoon, taking a break from writing her dissertation.

After shifting her focus as an MIT undergraduate to computer science, Lao joined Abelson’s lab, which was busy spreading its App Inventor platform and do-it-yourself philosophy to high school students around the world. App Inventor set Lao on her path to making it easy for anyone, from farmers to factory workers, to understand AI, and use it to improve their lives. Now in the third and final year of her PhD at MIT, Lao is also the co-founder of an AI startup to fight fake news, and the co-producer of a series of machine learning tutorials. It’s all part of her mission to help people find the creator and free thinker within...

The HINTS team is now working with its first client, a media analytics firm based in Virginia. As CEO, Lao has called on her experience as a project manager from internships at GE, Google, and Apple, where, most recently, she led the rollout of the iPhone XR display screen. “I’ve never met anyone as good at managing people and tech,” says Tsai, an EECS master’s student who met Lao as a lab assistant for Abelson’s course 6.S198 (Deep Learning Practicum), and is now CTO of HINTS.
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Source: MIT News

Community Chest's Professional Development Series Announces Winter, Spring Workshops | Giving Back - TAPinto.net

The Community Chest's Professional Development Workshop Series will hold four workshops during the winter and spring seasons by TAPinto.net.

Photo: The Community Chest

The following topics will be covered: communicating with adolescents, the art of "prezentation", managing the media and using social media, and human resources management.

The workshops are free and open to supervisors and middle managers working with area nonprofit organizations.  Advanced registration is required.  For information or to register, contact Karen Adler at Karen@karenadler.net.
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About The Community Chest

Founded in 1933, The Community Chest, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, has supported local not-for-profit agencies for 86 years.  The Chest leads initiatives and supports nonprofits that make our communities stronger and benefit people in need in eastern Bergen County.  Each year, The Chest raises funds and allocates them to agencies demonstrating the capacity to provide services to local citizens.  The organization also provides coordinating and planning services in its communities, serving as a bridge between agencies and organizations and investing in the stability and quality of the service network. 

The Community Chest's Board of Managers is comprised of community leaders dedicated to improving the lives of neighbors in need.  People interested in being considered for board membership may contact.

For further information about The Chest, visit www.thecommunitychestebc.org/ or call 201-568-7474. Stay updated about the organization’s activities on Facebook and Twitter.  

Source: TAPinto.net

Georgia State’s Master’s in H.R. Management Responds to Emerging Business Needs | Georgia State University News

Atlanta – The redesigned Master of Science in Human Resources Management (MS-HRM) offered by Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business provides graduates with functional acumen in H.R. management and an understanding of people leadership strategy.

Photo: Georgia State University News

The new curriculum was developed in consultation with Atlanta-area H.R. practitioners, including program alumni, members of the Atlanta chapter of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), and members of Robinson’s Human Resources Executive RoundTable, according to program director Thomas Conklin...

The demand for H.R. professionals is growing. According to the “Occupational Outlook Handbook” of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for H.R. managers will rise 7 percent between 2018 and 2028. By contrast, the average growth rate for all occupations between 2018 and 2028 is projected at 5 percent.

The 10-course, 12-month program meets two evenings per week at Georgia State’s Buckhead Center and prepares students to sit for the SHRM certification exam. 
Learn more at https://robinson.gsu.edu/mshrm.
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Source: Georgia State University News

This workforce trend will redefine the 'new HR' | Employee engagement - Human Resources Director

Organizations are repositioning their HR leaders as EX engineers and architects, explains Rachel Ranosa, journalist.

This workforce trend will redefine the 'new HR'

Redesigning the workplace to become ‘employee-centric’ will be the key feature of this new decade in human capital management.

For 96% of talent professionals polled by LinkedIn, employee experience (EX) is becoming more important than ever.

And while many will proclaim there’s an altruistic reason behind companies learning how to view the workplace through the ‘lens of the employee,’ studies show positive EX also impacts the bottom line.

 

In fact, many organizations have come to reposition their HR leaders as EX engineers and architects...

Why do companies invest in good EX?
 
    To increase employee retention (77%)
    To increase employee productivity (71%)
    To meet expectations of Millennials and Gen Z (40%)
    To attract more candidates (29%)
 
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Source: Human Resources Director  

CSR News: Mobile Gaming With a Purpose | Environment - thecsrjournal

To bring a change in the world, there is a need for a collective transformation in attitude and behavior of the society by The CSR Journal.

Ocean Heroes mobile game

With this thought at its core, Dropledge, a Mumbai-based tech enterprise, recently launched ‘Ocean Heroes- Make Ocean Plastic Free’, a mobile game to promote clean oceans and raise awareness of the dangers of plastic to marine life amongst the community. 

The company intends to propagate a simple thought that can create a positive impact on issues in the society and environment through a memorable gaming experience.  Ocean 

Heroes looks at increasing the reach and awareness about plastic pollution in oceans and protection of marine life. In this game, as the user progress through various levels, he or she has the aim of collecting as much plastic waste from the ocean as possible while saving the marine life and helping in cleaning up the ocean resulting into collection of credits by recycling garbage...

With the philosophy of ‘Where Play Is Purpose’, Dropledge envisions a large community and collective participation to eradicate societal and environmental issues through a gamified, shareable and memorable experience.
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Source: thecsrjournal

#BizTrends2020: 7 shifts changing the face of HR | Human Resources & Management - Bizcommunity.com

Anja van Beek, independent leadership consultant, talent strategist and coach writes, HR (People) professionals will be expected to continue making a radical shift towards bigger and broader thinkers.

Photo: Getty Images

The ability to be innovative and to use technology in new and different ways is essential - this will enable them to enhance and lead the human-centricity way.

To achieve this, tech-savviness is required and to quickly respond to the ever-changing demands from the agile workforce.

Leaders need to be mindful of the latest trends – not just People (HR) teams...

Closing words
The best People leaders have a seat at the boardroom table – they contribute to conversations and decisions around new revenue streams, options to expand or shrink operations and lead the way with an agile mindset. They emphasise the importance of increasing autonomy, the use of intrinsic motivation and stress the benefits of a flatter organisation with quicker, distributed decision-making powers.

Whilst many People leaders are still grappling to embrace these points/actions, the first step will be to consider ways to enhance the leadership development programmes to be more inclusive and for businesses to display more inclusive traits.
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Source: Bizcommunity.com

The importance of studying at home for a degree: E-learning in Africa | E-learning - DW (English)

Many young Africans dream of a higher education by DW (English.

Symbolbild: Computertechnologie und digitales Afrika (
Photo: picture-alliance/Photoshot

But they often don't have the means: colleges are often far away and accommodation is expensive. Online universities and e-learning may provide a viable solution.

Lectures with compulsory attendance were not an option for Alida Tapsoba. The 29-year-old from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, has to earn a living and therefore needs to be in control of when she works and when she studies. With this in mind, she decided to take an online course. "But I was also afraid. I wasn't sure if I could do it," the journalism student told DW. "You have to be well organized to deliver the assignments on time — especially if you work extra hours." 

Alida Tapsoba said her choice is rather expensive. She spends a lot of money on internet access. She needs to download large files, which is time-consuming and costly. Rebecca Stromeyer knows the problem well. She said that in many African countries, internet access is consierably more expensive than in Germany. Stromeyer is the founder of eLearning Africa, an annual conference which attracts experts in the field to network and exchange information in a pan-African context.
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Source: DW (English

How eLearning Can Increase Company Cybersecurity Across the Board | Opinions - Infosecurity Magazine

Cybersecurity protocol is part and parcel of every business, but many still relegate it to the realm of IT, notes Juliette Peters, education consultant. 

How eLearning Can Increase Company Cybersecurity Across the Board

While it’s true that IT and tech staff are mostly in charge of setting up and maintaining your business’ security systems, today’s ever increasing digital world means that negligence is no longer an excuse.

This is where eLearning comes in. A 2016 study published in Information and Knowledge Management actually traces eLearning all the way back to the 1960s, but the steady growth of the internet has reformulated its pedagogical bent.

Today’s eLearning efforts — whether in the form of downloadable classes or interactive quizzes — are now geared towards making learning accessible.

Online courses are a popular format, but tutorials and articles are also a great way to learn. Internal communication channels and digital files can also be used to update staff members. Also, eLearning has grown in popularity due to its accessibility and depth of information, which makes it the perfect vehicle to teach your employees about cybersecurity.
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Source: Infosecurity Magazine

Ramdas Honored for Efforts To Improve Research Reproducibility | Machine Learning Department, Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University's Aaditya Ramdas, assistant professor in the Department of Statistics & Data Science and Machine Learning Department, has received the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Award for his project, titled "Online Multiple Hypothesis Testing: A Comprehensive Treatment.", inform Stacy Kish, Associate Director, Research Communications at Carnegie Mellon University.

Aaditya Ramdas, assistant professor in the Department of Statistics & Data Science and Machine Learning Department, has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award.

"Arguably, one of the major hurdles to reproducibility of scientific studies is the cherry picking of results among the vast array of tests run or quantities estimated," Ramdas said. "We need 'online' methods to correct for cherry picking, first acknowledging that the problem exists and then designing algorithms that can account and correct for it."

According to Ramdas, statistical methods that improve reproducibility in large-scale scientific studies will combat the increasing public distrust in science. The results of this five-year grant could transform how technological and pharmaceutical industries as well as the sciences perform large-scale hypothesis testing. In addition, it allows Ramdas to fund graduate and postgraduate students to prepare the next generation of researchers...

In this study, Ramdas will address this 'hidden' multiplicity to correct for selection bias that will improve long-term reproducibility. He hopes to develop statistical methods that will protect against the false discoveries using minimal assumptions. Ramdas aims to deliver an open-source software package to enable easier assimilation and application of these methods by other researchers.
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Source: Carnegie Mellon University

29 New Skills You Can Now Learn on LinkedIn Learning | New Courses - The Learning Blog

Today, the workforce is rapidly evolving, bringing both progress and challenge by Zoë Kelse, Learning Supporter at Linked. 

29 New Skills You Can Now Learn on LinkedIn Learning
Photo:  Learning Blog - LinkedIn Learning

This is where adaptability comes in. Adaptability is one of the 15 most in-demand skills in the world in 2020, based on recently released LinkedIn Learning data. 

Each week, we release new courses based on insights on skill gaps and trending topics to help you adapt to an ever-changing world. Whether you’re looking for a new job or to improve in your current role, honing your skills can make you more adaptable. 

Check out one of the 29 new courses now available on LinkedIn Learning:
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Source: The Learning Blog