Water is a precious resource which we are especially reminded of in times of drought and water shortage. As we all depend on water for life, it is incumbent upon us to conserve water by utilizing it efficiently.
This meetup has two parts: The first part is a series of 3 talks on water related technologies. The second part is a hands-on lab with Arduino and appropriate sensors in which well be able to prototype solutions to address issues with water and moisture detection.
DIY Water Turbidity meter (pictures): See below pictures for examples of devices that measure water turbidity (cloudiness of a fluid due to foreign particles, which is an instrumental test for water quality.)
We encourage anyone interested in this topic to attend the event, as there will be a mix of technical and non-technical people.
Speakers & Program Agenda
About Vlada Kenniff
Vlada is a Managing Director of the Demand Management and Resiliency group in the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. She manages a portfolio of sustainability and resiliency projects that cover a Water Demand Management Program, Climate Resiliency Program, and Green Infrastructure Projects. In the last five years with the agency, Vlada worked on the Sustainable Storm Water Management Plan, Managed the NYC Green Infrastructure Plan, and the Water Demand Management Plan.
About Ely Greenberg
Ely is an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Samsung Accelerator, where his team, Lotik Labs is developing clip-on water sensors to monitor water flow. These small devices clip on to toilets, sinks, showers, and other water consuming appliances in a home to increase water transparency and reduce water costs. Previously, he founded Erg Process Energy, a consulting company that provided full energy and data solutions to water and wastewater utilities. Before founding Erg Process Energy, he was a principal engineer at Hazen and Sawyer where he designed and managed a variety of wastewater treatment infrastructure projects. These included being the design services manager for construction of New York City's largest wastewater pump station and a member of the energy management team. Ely started in the water sector as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras. In 2014, he completed WEF's Water Leadership Institute.
About Stefania Druga
Stefania is currently leading the R&D efforts for Lotik Labs as part of the Samsung Accelerator and has also created the offices digital fabrication lab. She is also a former Googler and graduated from an international Erasmus Mundus master of Media Engineering for Education (France, Spain, Portugal). In the summer of 2012 she was also the Education Teaching Fellow at Singularity University where she advised and coached 80 students from 36 countries. She is the founder of Hackidemia organization (mobile lab for Maker Education present in 40 countries), Afrimakers (community of Maker projects in 10 Africa countries) and MakerCamp (global camps for learning how to build and run makerspaces) Stefania is also an an ambassador for global MakerFaire in Berlin and Shenzhen, and mentor for NodeBots NYC, NYC Javascript.
To participate in this event there is a nominal $10 charge (through April 28) for the event. After April 28, the price will go up to $18.
Agenda
6:00pm Networking
6:30pm Welcome & Introduction
Mitchell Golner, IoT Central
Stefania Druga, Samsung Accelerator
6:40pm Global Water Challenges
Vlada Kenniff, Managing Director | Demand Management + Resiliency at New York City Department of Environmental Protection
6:50pm Point-of-Use Water Monitoring Technology & its Impact
Ely Greenberg, CTO, Lotik
7:00pm <TBA>
7:15pm IoT & Water Lab
We will group into teams of 5 people each and be given a challenge relating to water usage measurement. Each group will be given Arduino (or similar) hardware and relevant sensors to use at the event.
8:15pm IoT & Water Lab Demos
Teams will present their findings and demo their IoT & Water creations.
8:30pm Member Announcements
8:35pm Networking
9:00pm End of event
