Category: Public Sector

Data can be a powerful driver in solving social issues. The AWS Cloud Credits for Research Program seeks to remove barriers and enable researchers to do their best work, bringing them closer to the answers. DrivenData and the Data Science for Social Good Fellowship are two entities using research credits to make a difference for society.

Amazon today announced the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative to promote sustainability research, innovation, and problem solving by making key data easily accessible and even more widely available. The Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative leverages Amazon Web Services’ technology and scalable infrastructure to stage, analyze, and distribute data, and is a joint effort between the AWS Open Data and Amazon Sustainability teams.

From Cape Town, South Africa to Herndon, Virginia, Amazonians hosted over 140 events across the globe with over 1,760 employees volunteering their time to teach an Hour of Code to over 28,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade. Employees across Amazon volunteered for Hour of Code to help inspire the workforce of tomorrow.

Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) is an important part of the federal government’s cybersecurity strategy, and it’s getting a boost in visibility since the House passed the Advancing Cybersecurity Diagnostics and Mitigation Act (H.R. 6443). Among other things, this Act directs the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop and provide the capability to collect, analyze, and visualize government-wide information relating to security data and cybersecurity risks and to make these program capabilities available for use by any federal agency.

Amazon AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed application streaming service that lets students access the applications they need for class through a browser. It doesn’t matter whether they’re using Macs, Chromebooks, or PCs, or whether they’re in the classroom, the library, a cafe, or at home. For example, Cornell University uses AppStream 2.0 to deliver CAD/CAM applications to its engineering students without the need for computer labs.

To celebrate Computer Science Education week and the Global Hour of Code, AWS Educate has launched a new experience for students between the ages of 14-17. Students now have access to a new website experience and three new badges with learning content to discover and grow their cloud expertise. The website offers a dynamic, streamlined navigational experience so students can easily dive into interactive challenges and hands-on activities. Teachers can also access supplemental guides for the challenges that map to core computer science principles, enabling both students and teachers to explore, invent, and build.

Coastal communities in the Southern United States are frequently impacted by flooding from storm surge, rain, and tides. To help monitor and enhance flood emergency preparedness, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at the College of William & Mary has been providing tidal forecasts since 2012 for a dozen locations in the lower Chesapeake Bay through its VIMS TideWatch Network. To expand and enhance these capabilities along Virginia’s seaside Eastern Shore, VIMS developed StormSense. The StormSense project works closely with coastal local governments leveraging a network of Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled water level sensors, VIMS’s hydrodynamic flood modeling and forecasting capabilities, and the VIMS TideWatch Network to improve flood resilience in the region.

Fife Public Schools provides a device for every kid in the district. But like many schools with 1:1 programs, they ran into challenges when trying to provide specialty software programs to students. CTE (Careers and Technical Education) classes were using specialized applications like CAD, Project Lead the Way, and Photoshop – all programs that were only accessible via computer labs during school hours. Fife began exploring how they could offer students access to these programs at any time on their 1:1 devices.

During the first week of December, students all around the world will learn computer science during the annual Hour of Code event led by Code.org. It’s an important effort, aimed at helping kids from all backgrounds learn to code and work toward successful careers making use of computer science skills.

It’s almost the end of the 2018 calendar year. Still, no signs of holiday fatigue for the public sector blog. Here are the biggest takeaways from November.