From the classroom to the great outdoors: Catch up with the AWS Fix This podcast

In July and August on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Fix This podcast, we heard from customers on their solutions for the classroom, in diagnostic research, for working from home, and in the great outdoors. Dive in below.

How can cloud-based solutions help students?

In July, we covered how cloud-based solutions are helping students from grade school to higher education stay on track. In today’s world, students are increasingly required to be online to connect with teachers and their classes, especially while remote. With an increase in online time, it’s more important than ever to make sure kids are set up for success with basic, online safety information. To learn more, the team sat down with Patrick Craven, the director of The Center for Cyber Safety and Education, to hear about their global program to educate young children on internet etiquette and personal safety rules.

Meanwhile, higher education students may be searching for the fastest, most efficient route to graduation. Machine learning can help. We chatted with Dennis Gilbert, enterprise architect in the Office of Information Technology at Portland State University, to discuss their new machine learning-based tool that helps students find faster, efficient routes to graduation. Listen to Fix This podcast episode #18, “Keeping students on the right track.”

Global collaboration: How the AWS Diagnostics Development Initiative helps speed the time to discovery for COVID-19 diagnostics

Managing the spread of COVID-19 and developing accurate, cost-effective, and widely usable diagnostics for COVID-19 remains a global challenge. To help, the AWS Disaster Response team launched the AWS Diagnostics Development Initiative to support organizations in diagnostic research in rapid and accurate patient testing for COVID-19.

The AWS Diagnostics Development Initiative provides technical support and AWS Promotional Credit for organizations. We chatted with Maggie Carter, head of the AWS Disaster Response team, to uncover why funding diagnostic research is a priority and how the program will help beyond COVID-19.

Next, we had a conversation with Dr. Duncan Ferguson, a resident in the University of British Columbia radiology department, who works at Vancouver General Hospital in Canada. Dr. Ferguson shares how his team uses machine learning to speed the time to diagnosis. Last, we chatted with Dr. Marco Ali from Centro Diagnostico Italiano in Italy about the importance of global collaboration within the scientific community. Listen to the Fix This podcast episode #19, “COVID-19 diagnostics research.”

The future of work: How changes made now will have a lasting impact

Shifting to remote work has propelled industries toward a new future of conducting business. Cloud computing is powering many of the solutions we’ve come to rely on during this period of rapid development in remote work.

In healthcare, Mount Sinai Health System in New York built a multilingual chatbot using AWS that streamlined the patient experience and changed the way their staff works. We spoke with Benjamin Maisano, chief technology officer and head of application engineering for consumer digital at Mount Sinai to learn more about the chatbot—how it has helped manage the influx of patient contact and what role the chatbot will play beyond the pandemic.

Next up, we chatted with Cas Holloway, head of public enterprise at Unqork, to explore how their public sector customers can benefit from incorporating modern tech solutions into their standard workflows. From replacing legacy systems to envisioning new ways to serve the public with technology, Cas predicts that these changes are here to stay. Listen to the Fix This podcast episode #20, “The future of work.”

Stay connected to the great outdoors

Even while indoors, we can use technology to connect with what’s happening in the great outdoors. Powered by the AWS Cloud, livestreaming is a valuable tool to help us not only observe, learn from, and explore nature, but also protect it.

We spoke with Charlie Annenberg, founder of Explore.org, to discover all of the ways livestreaming natural scenes from around the globe—elephants in Africa, bears in Alaska, and more—can foster a deeper appreciation and knowledge of nature.

To learn how livestreaming can help protect nature, we also talked with Peter Girgis, chief technology officer of Bigmate, about their livestreaming solution built for the Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency, which helps the local government monitor bushfires in real-time. This livestreaming solution helps the government react quickly to bushfires and make data-driven decisions. Listen to the Fix This podcast episode #21, “Livestreaming nature.”

Stay tuned for stories from the Fix This podcast, or dive into our archives on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, Overcast, and via RSS.