Panel 1. Invited Speakers

Happy Marumo Sithole

National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure Initiative (NICIS)

Panel 1. Africa – Latin American HPC and AI Cooperation

Panel Speaker

Dr Happy Sithole is the Centre Manager for the South African cyberinfrastructure (CI) system, NICIS since 2019. He is responsible for the coordination of this system so that it meets the demands of the South African National System of Innovation, in support of the Department of Science and Innovation. This involves the three main entities of the CI, Centre for High-Performance Computing (CHPC), South African National Research Network (SANReN), Data Intensive Initiative of South Africa (DIRISA).

Prior to becoming the CI centre manager, Sithole spent 12 years as the director of the Centre for High Performance Computing. He completed his PhD in materials science, focusing on electronic and atomistic simulation of iron sulphides, at the University of Limpopo, where he also lectured for nine years. He has applied high-performance computing to solve problems in mining industries and nuclear power plant designs, such as at his time at the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor. Sithole also sits on the steering committees of high-performance computing meetings in Germany, Russia and Singapore. He was the Chairperson of the ICT Committee of the National Library Board and is currently a board member at the Centre of Excellence for Nuclear Safety and Security (CNSS) in South Africa.

 

 

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Matthew Mtumbuka

UbuntuNet Alliance

Panel 1. Africa – Latin American HPC and AI Cooperation

Panel Speaker

Dr. Mtumbuka has served as the President of the Malawi Institution of Engineers (MIE) for two years and as Chairperson for the ConnectIT Network, an association of IT Professionals in Shell in Europe. He was Executive Director of the Malawian Initiative for National Development and President of the Oxford University Africa Society. He currently sits on boards of several companies and organisations in Malawi including NBS Bank, Nico Technologies and Responsible Safari. Previously, he served as Vice Chairperson for the Council for Mzuzu University among other university governance roles.

A registered engineer with the Malawi Board of Engineers and Rhodes Scholar, Eng. Dr. Mtumbuka received a PhD in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford in England in 2005 after graduating from the University of Malawi with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (with DISTINCTION). His PhD Thesis, titled: “MIMO Techniques for Future High-Speed Wireless Communications Systems’ – investigated techniques that would improve the rate of data transmission on the mobile phone for 4G/LTE technology and produced more than ten publications in refereed journals.

 

 

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Luis Eliécer Cadenas

RedCLARA

Panel 1. Africa – Latin American HPC and AI Cooperation

Panel Speaker

Executive Director - RedCLARA Borned in Venezuela and with a vast experience in academic networks and the Latin American ICT scene, Luis Eliécer Cadenas started to work as Executive Director of RedCLARA on August 1st, 2017.

Computer engineer with postgraduate studies in economics, telematics, networking and computer science, with almost 30 years of experience in information technologies and telecommunications field both in the private and public domains, in his professional career the Venezuelan Luis Eliécer Cadenas has sought to be an agent of change, growth and development of people and organizations through information and communication technologies. In this line, his role as co-founder, President and member of the Board of Directors of the National Academic Network of Venezuela, REACCIUN, in which he had a central participation between 1996 and 2000 was fundamental. As President of REACCIUN, Cadenas sought to align the organization , infrastructure and resources to the needs of the universities and research and academics centers of his country, achieving the development of the first national physical network (financed with funds from the Inter-American Development Bank), connecting 17 public universities, increasing the availability of bandwidth for the scientific and academic communitties and making it a stable and reliable service.

In the same line of motivation and personal development, Cadenas was President of the Latin American Research Network Association (Enredo 1998-1999), member of the board of the National Supercomputing Center of Venezuela (Cecalcula, 1997-1999) and of the Technological Park of Sartenejas (1997-1999). When he decided to move to the private sector, he stayed related to the academic spectrum while leading the strategy for Cisco's Academic Network Program (2000-2006), then, motivated by adding new knowledge to his expertise, Cadenas moved within Cisco to the commercial arena, serving as Account Manager for the public sector of Venezuela (2006-2009), then for service providers (2009-2013), until 2014 when he moved with his family to Guatemala to lead the business strategy of the company with America Movil in Central America. Until becoming CEO of RedCLARA on August 1, 2017, Luis Eliécer Cadenas held the position of Account Manager for Claro Central in Cisco.

 

 

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Philippe Olivier Alexandre Navaux

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

Panel 1. Africa – Latin American HPC and AI Cooperation

Panel Speaker

Navaux is professor of the Informatics Institute from the university UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil, since 1971. Graduated in Electronic Engineering, UFRGS, 1970, Brazil, Master in Applied Physics, UFRGS, 1973, Brazil, PhD in Computer Science, INPG, Grenoble, 1979, France. Professor of graduate and undergraduate courses on Computer Architecture - High Performance Computing. Leader of the GPPD, Parallel and Distributed Processing Group, with projects financed by Brazilian government agencies Finep, RNP, CNPq, Capes, and international Cooperation, FP7 and H2020, with groups from Spain, France, Germany and USA. Also participates on projects with Microsoft, Intel, HP, DELL, Altus and Itautec. Has oriented near 100 Master and PhD students and has published near 400 papers in journals and conferences. Member of the SBC, Brazilian Computer Society, SBPC, ACM and IEEE. Consultant to various national and international funding organizations DoE (USA), ANR (FR), FINEP, CNPq, CAPES, FAPESP, FAPERGS, FAPEMIG, FACEPE and others. Was Member of the FAPERGS Superior Council and form the CTC, Scientific and Technical Council, LNCC/MCT. Was coordinator of the Computing Area Committee from Capes/MEC Ministry, and member of the UFRGS university Council. Currently is member and coordinator of the national scientific committee from CNPq/ MCTIC Ministry.

 

 

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Bianca Amaro

Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

Panel 1. Africa – Latin American HPC and AI Cooperation

Panel Moderator

Panel Moderator

Dr. Amaro holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Pompeu Fabra University (Spain). Acts in the following subjects: Scientific Communication, Copyright, Open Access to Scientific Information and Open Science. Coordinator of the Brazilian Open Science Program at the Brazilian Institute of Science and Technology Information (IBICT). Winner of the International Electronic Publishing Trust for Development Award (EPT 2015). Member of the Executive Board of the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR). President of the Federated Network of Institutional Repositories of Scientific Publications (LA Referencia).

 

 

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