ACM ByteCast

• Darja Smite - Episode 65

  In this episode of ACM ByteCast, Harald Störrle hosts Darja Smite, Professor of Software Engineering at Blekinge Institute of Technology and a part-time research scientist at SINTEF ICT. Darja is an expert on the future of work and the impact of globalization and offshoring in software companies. She has conducted research with and international companies such as ABB, Boss Media, CALVI, DXC, Emerson Process Management, Ericsson, SONY, Spotify, and, Telenor and has insights from cooperating with offshore vendors in India, China, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine and Russia. Darja shares her background, growing up in Latvia with a love for math, and later moving to Sweden for work and Norway to conduct research at SINTEF, one of Europe's largest independent research organizations. She shares some of her research findings on outsourcing and discusses the effect automation will have on outsourcing and profitability. She also discusses reasons why people stay or leave their jobs, as well as cultural differences and the challenge of people from different cultures finding common ground. Darja also touches on the impact of COVID on work practices in the past five years and offers advice for people considering a career in IT.

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• Chieko Asakawa - Episode 64

  In this episode, part of a special collaboration between ACM ByteCast and the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)’s For Your Informatics podcast, Sabrina Hsueh hosts accessibility researcher and inventor Chieko Asakawa, an IBM Fellow at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, the Chief Executive Director of The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) in Japan, and an IBM Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Chieko’s inventions include the Home Page Reader (HPR); a word processor for Braille documents; a digital library for Braille documents; an application to improve accessibility of streaming services; and, most recently, the AI Suitcase project. Her career has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards and honors, including becoming the first Japanese woman IBM Fellow in 2009, receiving the “Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon” from the Emperor of Japan in 2013, her induction into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2019, being named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and the ACM SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility in 2024. In the interview, Chieko shares how becoming blind early in life led her to work in accessibility research. She talks about her IBM team’s work on the Home Page Reader, the first practical voice browser to provide effective internet access for blind and visually impaired computer users, as well as more recent work on the AI suitcase, a robot that helps visually impaired people walk around and navigate independently. Chieko and Sabrina touch on AI’s potential in aiding accessibility and the inspiration for the AI Suitcase. She offers advice and best practices for both early and mid-career researchers and interdisciplinary professionals.

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• Alvin Wang Graylin - Episode 63

  In this episode of ACM ByteCast, Rashmi Mohan hosts Alvin Wang Graylin, Global VP of Corporate Development at HTC. Alvin is also Chairman of the Virtual World Society, Vice-Chair of the Industry of VR Alliance, and President of the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance. Alvin is a leader in the virtual and augmented reality industries. As a serial entrepreneur, he founded four venture-backed startups across sectors including AI-driven conversational search, mobile social networks, ad tech, and big data AI analytics, spanning both China and the U.S. As an active investor, he funded more than 100 startups and played a pivotal role in the establishment of HTC’s ViveX Global VR accelerator and SOSV’s mobile internet investment incubator. A frequent keynote speaker at leading international conferences, Alvin is regularly featured in major media outlets, where he provides thought leadership on immersive computing (AR/VR/MR), AI, entrepreneurship, venture investing, and the Chinese market. His latest book, Our Next Reality, examines how AI and XR convergence will reshape society. He holds an M.S. in CS specializing in AI from MIT, an M.S. in Business from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, focusing on VR, AI, and CPU architecture. Alvin describes his early introduction to technology and computers after immigrating to the U.S. from China and later working at the first VR-focused research lab outside the military at the University of Washington. He highlights some of his pioneering contributions to the consumer PC, mobile, and internet industries in China, including helping establish Intel’s China office. Alvin explains how his background in NLP and AI helped him navigate and address the complexities of Chinese as a language for mobile search and shares some milestones from his work in China, at companies he founded and later at HTC. He touches on the early challenges and limitations of VR, progress made, and its exciting future promise. He also discusses some major advancements in XR technology, its transformative potential for education, and explains the synergy between AI and XR and the need for positive adoption at this pivotal moment in technological history.

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• Jennifer Chayes - Episode 62

  In this episode of ACM ByteCast, Bruke Kifle hosts ACM Fellow and ACM Distinguished Service Award recipient Jennifer Chayes, Dean of the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society at UC Berkeley. Before joining Berkeley, she co-founded the Theory Group at Microsoft Research Redmond and later founded and led three interdisciplinary labs: Microsoft Research New England, New York City, and Montreal. Her research areas include phase transitions in CS, structural and dynamical properties of networks including graph algorithms, and applications of ML. Jennifer is one of the inventors of the field of graphons, widely used for the ML of large-scale networks. Her recent work includes generative AI and ML theory in areas like cancer, immunotherapy, climate change, and ethical decision making, with more than 150 scientific papers authored and 30 patents she co-invented. Her honors and recognitions include the Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision Leadership Award, SIAM’s John von Neumann Lecture Award (the highest honor bestowed by SIAM), and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. She serves on numerous boards and advisory committees and has served on the ACM A.M. Turing Award Selection Committee. Jennifer shares her early experience as the child of Iranian immigrants, dropping out of high school and learning to embrace risk. She describes her journey from being a pre-med biology major to a PhD in mathematical physics, and how her love of theory and an interest in interdisciplinary work led her to start a Theory Group at Microsoft Research. She also relates how her later interest in economics and game theory led to the founding of Microsoft Research New England, and highlights some of her work there. She and Bruke talk about the challenges she has navigated throughout her career, and how that has influenced her approach to interdisciplinary research. Jennifer also shares her vision and goals for the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society at UC Berkeley. Finally, she opines on the skills needed for future leaders in computing, some of the urgent problems of our time, and offers some advice to young computing professionals.

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• Roger Dannenberg - Episode 61

  In this episode of ACM ByteCast, Bruke Kifle hosts ACM Fellow Roger Dannenberg, a Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, Art & Music at Carnegie Mellon University. Dannenberg is internationally renowned for his research in computer music, particularly in the areas of programming language design, real-time interactive systems, and AI music. Throughout his career, he has developed innovative technologies that have revolutionized the music industry and is known for creating Audacity, the widely known and used audio editor. In addition to his academic work, His other projects include Music Prodigy, aiming to help thousands of beginning musicians and Proxor, aiming to help software developers launch a successful career. Roger is also an accomplished musician and composer, having performed in prestigious venues around the world. Roger traces his two lifelong passions for computer science and music, and his fascination with the connection between sound, mathematics, and physics. He describes the signal changes in interactive computer music, which once required specialized hardware but has since been replaced by ubiquitous software-based audio processing. Roger and Bruke discuss the promise of AI in music, especially for enhancing creativity and live performance, as well as the challenges of balancing AI with human labor and creativity. Roger also describes his work on the powerful open-source audio editor Audacity (co-developed with former student Dominic Mazzoni), which has democratized music production and is now used by millions of users worldwide. Finally, he talks about some recent projects in music analysis and composition, and reflects on his role as an academic and advisor. 

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