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"Computing and Disasters," with Robin Murphy

866 views · Published 12 March 2018 · 1:22:49 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) · 2018 · Science & Technology

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Title: Computing for Disasters
Speaker: Robin Murphy
Date: 2/21/18

Abstract
This webinar aims to introduce computer scientists to emergency management and how their research might apply to disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. Participants will take away an understanding of the different phases of a disaster; how decision-making is organized in a disaster; the current state of the practice of informatics, the rising data overload from mobile devices, UAVs, and social networks; and the opportunities for computing. Hurricane Harvey will be used as the primary motivating example but lessons learned from over 29 disasters,  starting with the 2001 9/11 World Trade Center collapse, will be included. 

Speaker
Robin Murphy
Robin Murphy is the Raytheon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University and director of the Humanitarian Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and member of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue. She helped found the fields of disaster robotics and human-robot interaction, concentrating on developing human-centered AI for ground, air, and marine robots. Her work is captured in over 150 publications including Introduction to AI Robotics and the award-winning Disaster Robotics as well as a TED talk. Murphy has deployed robots to over 27 disasters in five countries including the 9/11 World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina, Fukushima, and Hurricane Harvey but her research also includes preparedness and prevention of disasters. Murphy’s contributions to computing have been recognized with the ACM Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions.

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