AWS Public Sector Blog

Category: Customer Solutions

Saguaro National Park

A streamlined, mobile-first approach to service delivery for counties and states

The COVID-19 pandemic magnified the health and financial strain in communities across the country. Before the pandemic hit, Wildfire, a state association for Community Action Agencies, was working with Prefix, an AWS Partner Network Technology Partner, to develop a cloud-based solution for utility and rental assistance. When the City of Phoenix requested they support the distribution of $20 million CARES Act funds, they shifted their resources and existing infrastructure and, in a matter of weeks, stood up a repeatable public-facing solution.

Dystech creates first dyslexia and motor dysgraphia screening app

In June, Australian startup and AWS EdStart Member Dystech, launched the world’s first screening app for dyslexia and motor dysgraphia. Dyslexia and dysgraphia impact between 10-20 percent of individuals worldwide. With this release, Dystech has the opportunity to change lives and accelerate testing for millions of individuals around globe. Dystech uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to create an app that transforms how education and healthcare organizations screen for this disorder.

Mars surface aerial shot

On Mars, powered by the cloud: Mars 2020 rover launches

Earlier today, NASA launched its Mars 2020 rover—Perseverance. Operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), the Perseverance rover will explore Mars for past signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for return by a future mission. The images taken from the Mars 2020 rover will be available on NASA JPL’s public website, and will be shared with people around the world. All images returned from the mission will be hosted on the AWS Cloud.

PSU external shot sign

How Portland State University accelerates student degree completion through machine learning

Portland State University (PSU) is using machine learning (ML) to help students find the most effective pathways to graduation. By tracking the course history of successful graduates and presenting recommendations to current students, PSU can provide guardrails and best practices for a focused journey towards degree completion.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

EdTech D2L shares lessons from an all-in migration to AWS

Moving all-in to the cloud is a big achievement for technology teams. For some customers, the migration is fast, and for others with behemoth systems and complex applications is staggered over years. D2L, a learning technology company, based in Canada took just over three years to shut down its last colocation facility in late 2019. This completed their all-in migration to the AWS Cloud. D2L leaders celebrated their success migration by sharing advice for other companies considering the move to the cloud.

Class2Class

Virtual exchange is transforming the global classroom

Each year, millions of students travel abroad to study and enrich their personal development and global perspective through international student exchange programs. Virtual exchange is becoming an important part of digital learning environments due to its student-centered, cost-effective, and equitable means of advancing international education. One example is
ImmerseU, a virtual exchange learning platform developed by Class2Class, an AWS EdStart Member.

flag in front of government building

Scaling to share unprecedented volume of election donation data, quickly and cost-effectively

Campaign contributions have grown exponentially in the United States. In 1980, there were around 500,000 contributions made; in 2020 alone, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) expects 500 million contributions. Meanwhile, the evolution of technology has changed the way Americans contribute to political campaigns, making it easier to make many small contributions. To meet unprecedented demand for data transparency, the FEC turned to the cloud.

public housing

How AWS customers and partners are supporting the homelessness crisis response during COVID-19

As the COVID-19 outbreak began, advocates and public health officials grew concerned for the more than half a million people experiencing homelessness. Homeless populations are particularly vulnerable because they have higher rates of serious underlying health problems, generally lack access to quality health care, and have no way to self-quarantine. This prompted many communities to implement interventions to reduce the risk of exposure for people experiencing homelessness. AWS customers and partners have acted with compassion and care to assist the most vulnerable individuals across our communities. Here are a few ways they are using cloud technology to support those in need.

Boolean Girl

Empowering girls with STEM education, safely and at scale

Boolean Girl is educating girls to code, build, invent, and animate. It provides enrichment classes, all-girl camps, special events, and partnerships, preparing girls everywhere to explore computer programming and engineering. Boolean Girl hosts its website on the cloud and is core to everything it does: telling its story, registering students and taking payment for camps and after-school clubs, processing donations, organizing events, building our email lists, and running its online university. Boolean Girl uses the AWS Nonprofit Credit Program to cover vital IT expenses while achieving its mission.

woman about to get her blood drawn

European Convalescent Plasma Collection Platform: Data-driven initiative to fight COVID-19

The European Commission, with three of its Directorates-General (DG) (DG SANTE, DG DIGIT, and DG CONNECT) in collaboration with the European Blood Alliance (EBA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), created the European Union (EU) COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP) Platform. This database is based on the concept of passive immunization (an approach promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) Blood Regulators Network), which tests the potential of plasma collected from convalescent persons to treat or prevent viruses and diseases such as COVID-19.