AWS Public Sector Blog

In 2016, Amazon made a public commitment to hire and train military Veterans and spouses. As part of that commitment, we committed to hiring 25,000 military Veterans and spouses (a number of whom will join us in AWS) by 2021. As of this month, Amazon now employs more than 21,000 Veterans and military spouses in full- and part-time roles across the United States. Learn more about available programs, training, and resources for Veterans and spouses.

re:Invent 2019 is less than a month away! And now that you know what technical sessions, chalk talks, and breakouts you’re attending, schedule in some fun. Although re:Invent is a big conference, the strength of the public sector community makes it a more intimate experience. Make time to meet colleagues, peers, and leaders in the public sector to network and share stories.

re:Invent 2019 is less than a month away! This year’s conference is going to be the biggest yet, with more than 60,000 attendees and more than 2,500 technical sessions. Check out the AWS Public Sector Guide to re:Invent 2019 and read more details on the technical sessions specific to the public sector.

Machine learning (ML) isn’t just for the technology industry. Today, machine learning influences research and consumer products and is leading to breakthroughs across industries like healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and retail. In the field of reinforcement learning, machine learning meets the real world when applied to robotics. Knowing this, how can we ensure students are skilled and prepared to leverage the power of this technology?

For the second year, Scratch and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Educate program built a new activity for Code.org’s Hour of Code, the annual global event to introduce students to computer science. Held annually during Computer Science Education Week on December 9-15, the Hour of Code is designed to demystify “code,” show that anybody can learn the basics, and broaden participation in the field of computer sciences.

Today, at the Simo Education trade show in Madrid, Spain, SM Educamos, an educational network learning platform, announced the launch of its new Alexa skill SM Educamos. Powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the skill is available free of charge to SM Educamos’s one million current users and in more than 1,200 educational centers.

As part of the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is supporting Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa). DE Africa is enabling African nations to track changes across the continent in unprecedented detail by making Earth observation (EO) data more easily accessible. This will provide valuable insights for better decision-making around prevention and planning in areas including flooding, droughts, soil and coastal erosion, agriculture, forest-cover, land use and land cover change, water availability and quality, and changes to human settlements.

As nonprofits work toward their missions, resource efficiency is top of mind, so that as much of their budget as possible is dedicated to achieving their mission. Working with limited budgets, nonprofits and charities use the cloud to help them remain lean, scale their missions, and address their skills gaps. Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world’s largest independent cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through cancer research.

During Homecoming 2019, the California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) Hub of Digital Transformation showcased the Bulldog Bot – a robotic take on the school mascot – built with Amazon Web Services (AWS) RoboMaker and AWS artificial intelligence (AI) services. The interactive Bulldog Bot engaged fans across campus by telling jokes, playing karaoke, and answering Fresno State homecoming trivia questions.

From tracking antimicrobial resistance to filling skills gaps, check out what you missed in October on the AWS Public Sector Blog.