 
 MEDIA
RELEASE
NIHERST and NASA collaborate with UWI on
open data to support economic development
Mr Ray O’Brien, Chief Technical Officer of IT at NASA
Ames Research Center in the US, has been sponsored by NIHERST to be the key
international speaker at the
Caribbean Open Data Conference (and Code
Sprint), being hosted by the Faculty of Engineering, University of the
West Indies, St. Augustine, on January 26th and 27th 2012. This initiative,
which marks a first for the region, is spearheaded by Dr. Kim Mallalieu, a
senior lecturer and the leader of communication systems in the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“Open data” refers to non-personal data that is made
freely available to the public for re-use without restrictions from
copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The conference aims to
raise awareness of the strategic role that open data can play in the design
and development of software solutions to address problems in the region. It
is part of a wider landmark regional initiative, themed Developing the
Caribbean, a key feature of which is Code Sprint – a software
developer competition focusing on the creation of applications to address
problem areas in agriculture and fisheries, regional trade, tourism and ICT
access.
Mr O’Brien will deliver two presentations: “open.nasa and
the US Open Government initiative” giving an account of NASA’s experience
with open data and insights into well-established open data facilities, and
“Open Data: The Possibilities for Innovators”.
The Honourable Fazal Karim, Minister of Science,
Technology and Tertiary Education, will deliver the closing keynote address:
“Outcomes and the Way Forward.” Just returned from a visit to India where he
forged ties and deepened relations with leading private companies and state
institutions in ICT, Minister Karim views collaboration with global centres
of excellence as critical to achieving major goals of his ministry. One of
these is to rapidly establish a solid foundation for Trinidad and Tobago’s
knowledge economy, which encompasses developing an innovative and highly
trained and skilled workforce and the ICT infrastructure to support
education and training, research and development, business and government,
among an array of services. Trinidad and Tobago will so become the first
intelligent island in the hemisphere.
In this regard, Minister Karim welcomes the development
of partnerships between NIHERST and leading world-class scientific
organisations like NASA to augment and accelerate national capacity-building
efforts in ICT. Minister Karim is keen about co-creation which this
partnership will also support.
NIHERST’s support of Mr O’Brien’s visit is just one of
several areas of collaboration that have been initiated between the
institute and NASA since the visit in 2011 of Trinidad-born NASA aerospace
engineer, Camille Wardrop Alleyne for NIHERST’s 10th Caribbean Youth Science
Forum (CYSF) and the historic live hook-up to the International Space
Station. In January 2013, local students will have the opportunity to
assist scientists from NASA Ames Research Centre, among other US research
institutes, and the Institute of Marine Affairs in studying carbon dynamics
in coral reefs and seagrasses in Tobago coastal waters.
About Ray O’Brien: In his current role at NASA, Mr
O’Brien is involved in the implementation of NASA’s Open Government plan,
promoting open data sharing and open source code development. Prior to this,
he was the project manager for NASA’s Nebula Cloud Computing Initiative.
During his tenure, Nebula’s Nova compute controller technology was chosen as
one of the two foundational components of OpenStack – the Open Source Cloud
Computing Initiative. Since its formation in 2010, OpenStack has become one
of the world’s fastest growing community software development projects.
About NIHERST: The National Institute of Higher
Education, Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST) is a statutory body
established in 1984 to promote science, technology and higher education in
Trinidad and Tobago consistent with national development goals. Our current
work focuses on the development of a more diversified, knowledge-driven
economy, based on the ingenuity of our people and their ability to create,
adapt and use science and technology for wealth generation and national
development. Many of our programmes aim to strengthen the innovative,
creative and entrepreneurial capabilities of the general population. We are
also very engaged in research, such as in foresight and innovation, to
support economic diversification; promoting innovation and the
commercialisation of technology in priority sectors; and building global
partnerships.
Do visit our website
www.niherst.gov.tt or call 622-7880 to learn more about our programmes
and activities.
For more information about NIHERST and NASA, please
contact:
Alana Xavier: 622 8800; e-mail: alana.xavier@niherst.gov.tt
Christiane Francois: 628 1642; e-mail:
christianeafrancois2@gmail.com
Issued: 23rd January 2012
NASA
turns to the open source community for advice: Interview with Ray O'Brien,
Chief Technology Officer for Information Technology at NASA Ames Research
Center
Downloads:
Press Release - 9th January 2012
Brief
Draft Agenda
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