H2O.ai Wildfire & Bushfire Challenge

Dr. Tohidi is a fire and fluid dynamicist. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a Co-PI of the newly established NSF-IUCRC Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC) at San Jose State University (SJSU). His research and development interests are at the nexus of experimental, data-driven, and mathematical modeling of complex systems across a wide range of spatiotemporal scales, in particular fire behavior and its effects on different ecosystems. His current efforts are focused on understanding the physics of wildfire spread and developing new models to better describe fire behavior throughout the landscape. Before joining SJSU, Dr. Tohidi worked as a Data Scientist in Silicon Valley startups to provide data-driven and data-centric solutions to some of the challenges in different verticals.

Celina Lee is the co-founder CEO of Zindi an online platform that hosts the largest data science community in Africa. Celina has a passion for unleashing the power of data for social good. Celina played central roles in launching global platforms including the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, insight2impact, and now Zindi. Celina's work in Data for Good has touched on various areas including financial inclusion, micro and small enterprise development, gender, climate change, and public health. She has lived and worked in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Celina holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Applied Mathematics and a Master’s of International Affairs, both from Columbia University in New York.

Dan Jermyn is an experienced leader in both technology and analytics, with an established record of building award-winning, global teams in digital, big data and customer decisioning. Dan joined the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in 2017, where he has responsibility for ensuring they harness specialisms in AI data science, experimentation, analytics, technology and data to drive decisions that help improve the financial wellbeing of CBA’s customers and communities.

After gaining master’s degrees from both Oxford University and Cardiff University, Dan first plied his trade as a strategy consultant and then Head of Analytics for an agency in the UK, where he led engagements with a host of major corporate and governmental organizations. He followed this up by co-founding a successful digital technology startup. Dan joined CBA from the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he held various roles including Head of Digital Analytics and Head of Big Data & Innovation.

Julian is a product marketer with experience in both high-growth startups and established enterprise software and infrastructure providers. Prior to Snowflake, Julian was part of Confluent during the fast-growth journey to IPO. He began his career at IBM where as a consultant, he advised large enterprises on their machine learning and analytics strategy. Julian holds an aerospace engineering undergraduate degree from Georgia Tech and an MBA from The University of Chicago. During his free time, Julian enjoys road biking around the San Francisco bay area.

A selection of H2O.ai Kaggle Grandmasters will be part of the judges panel.

Dr. Mario Miguel Valero is an Assistant Professor at San Jose State University (San Jose, CA, USA). He is a research member of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC), the only Industry-University Cooperative Research Center devoted to wildfire interdisciplinary research in the United States. Supported by the National Science Foundation, WIRC promotes efficient collaboration between public and private stakeholders to develop the next generation of wildfire management tools. Dr. Valero’s research focuses on the characterization of wildfire behavior using remote sensing techniques and the improvement of existing fire models from a data-driven perspective. Before joining SJSU, Dr. Valero worked as a data scientist in the AI industry in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Marta Yebra is an Assoiciate Professor with the Fenner School of Environment and Society and the Research School of Engineering. Her research focuses on using remote sensing data to monitor, quantify and forecast natural resources, natural hazards, and landscape function and health at local, regional, and global scales. This has included large multidisciplinary projects that integrated the main fire risk factors, and analysed fire risk trends, considering potential changes in socio-economic factors as well as foreseen impacts of global climate change. She has served on several advisory government bodies including the Australian Space Agency’s Bushfire Earth Observation Taskforce (Feb-May 2020), Australian Space Agency’s Earth Observation Technical Advisory Group (Since 2019) and the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s Scientific Reference Panel (Since 2019) and ACT Bushfire Council (Since 2021). Dr Yebra has been awarded several awards for her contributions to bushfire management, including the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC's Outstanding Achievement in Research Utilization award in 2019 and the Academy of Science Max Day award (2017).

Sri Ambati is the founder and CEO of H2O.ai. A product visionary who has assembled world-class teams throughout his career, Sri founded H2O.ai in 2012 with a mission to democratize AI for anyone, anywhere, creating a movement of the world’s top data scientists, physicists, academics and technologists at more than 20,000 organizations worldwide. Sri also regularly partners with global business leaders to fund AI projects designed to solve compelling business, environmental and societal challenges. Most recently, Sri led the initiative o2forindia.org, sourcing O2 concentrators for more than 200 public health organizations in Tier 2 cities and rural communities in India during the Delta wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to save thousands of lives. His strong “AI for Good” ethos for the responsible and fair use of AI to make the world a better place drives H2O.ai’s business model and corporate direction.

A sought-after speaker and thought-leader, Sri has presented at industry events including Ai4, Money2020, Red Hat Summit and more, is a frequent university guest speaker, and has been featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, IDG and the World Economic Forum and has been named a Datanami Person to Watch.

Before founding H2O.ai, Sri co-founded Platfora, a big data analytics company (acquired by Workday) and was director of engineering at DataStax and Azul Systems. His academic background includes sabbaticals focused on Theoretical Neuroscience at Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley, and he holds a master’s degree in Math and Computer Science from the University of Memphis. Sri is inspired by his two daughters and genius.