MITRE's Tech Futures Podcast

How Kaitlyn Raub, an early career researcher at MITRE, has been focusing on the study and tracking of objects in the Cislunar space, and the benefits of her work to MITRE and our sponsors. ​

Host: Dr. Marcie Zaharee
Guests: Kaitlyn Raub, Dr. Gabrielle Hedrick,  Derek Ho, Dr Lesley Weitz

This episode explores current research into the combining of two statistical methods – Bayesian Models and Conformal Prediction.  When used in tandem, this is called Bayesian Conformal Sets, which is helping stakeholders in high risk/safety critical scenarios evaluate risk and uncertainty when modeling. 

Host: Patrick Hinson

Guests: Paul Scemama and Dr. Geoff Warner

In November of 2022 Chat GPT was released to the public. Since then its popularity has increased dramatically and it has about a hundred million users. This natural language processing tool has been hailed for its intelligence and usefulness by users. If a natural language processing tool could have such an amazing impact on how we learn, what would happen if we applied it to other types of data? 

Host: Courtney Clark

Guests: Dr. Liya Wang, Dr. Alex Tien, Eliza Mace

The field of 3D rendering has come a long way from pure trigonometry, key point matching, and simple raytracing. A new family of algorithms called Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) combines classical rendering techniques with powerful Neural Networks to revolutionize missions in the fields of medicine, disaster relief, robotics, and beyond. 

In March of 2020 millions of Americans went home on a Friday and didn't return to the office Monday morning. What followed was months of figuring out society's new normal. But what happened to critical industries like healthcare? Today, we're going to talk about the TRUSTS Framework and hear real life examples in the healthcare and defense industry.

Want to dive even further into the details of quantum software engineering? In this follow-on to Episode 14, we delve into the principles of superposition, entanglement, and interference – all from the perspective of software engineering. Tune in and then check out guest speaker Richard Preston’s online course on quantum software development at stem.mitre.org/quantum 

Looking for a way to infuse domain expertise into your big data analysis? Need a fresh way to look at a tricky problem? Give graph theory a try! Tune in to hear what kinds of problems graphs can help solve and how to induce a graph on your own dataset. As an added bonus, we’ll take a peek into graph neural networks (GNNs). Check out not just one, but TWO recent MITRE papers on graph theory and GNNs at techfutures.mitre.org. 

Many believe we are on the precipice of building the world's first scalable Quantum computer. But once they're here, how will we write software for them?

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Richard Preston and Jen Orr

Many of us are familiar with the so-called “macro-scale” effects of climate change. But how will climate change impact individual neighborhoods, streets, or your own backyard?

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Mike Robinson, Dr. Thijs Broer and Dr. Brian Pettegrew

How do humans learn new or complicated tasks? One possible way is by following a demonstration. What if we could train autonomous agents in the same way?

By Eliza Mace

Guests: Amanda Vu, Alex Tapley and Guido Zarella

With the democratization of space travel underway, how will we balance the health risks of Space with our species’ existential need to explore what lies beyond our little blue planet?

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Valerie Gawron, Linda Fischetti, Dr. Kris Rosfjord, and Dr. Sybil Russell

Back in 2020, there was a quiet breakthrough in cryptography. For computer scientists, Indistinguishability Obfuscation is a game changer. But what will it mean for you and me?

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Moses Liskov, Dr. Stan Barr, and Dr. George Roelke

The sudden appearance of ride share e-scooters ignited what some call a transportation revolution and what others call a disastrous experiment in unregulated mobility. So what’s behind our love hate relationship with the (in)famous e-scooter?

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Tracy Sanders, Dr. Craig Wanke and Elizabeth Karpinski

As our cellular networks struggle to keep up with increasing demand, two researchers investigate a potential solution to this traffic congestion problem.

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Garry Jacyna, Dr. Bindu Chandna, and Kevin Burke

Just after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its sixth report detailing the dire threats of a warming climate, two MITRE engineers decide it’s time to clarify what a “greener” future will mean.

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Casey Corrado, Dr. Kris Rosfjord and Emily Holt

With the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9, we gained the ability to precisely alter the human genome overnight. But how close are we to using CRISPR to cure diseases like sickle cell anemia and HIV?

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Heath Farris, Dr. Sybil Russell and Dr. Shmona Simpson

How do we go about designing personalities for machines? We asked the experts and their answers may surprise you.

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Beth Elson, Dr. Ozgur Eris, Jeff Stanley, and Dr. Sarah Corley

Mechanical Metamaterials may one day be used to create more resilient body armor, space vehicles, and invisibility cloaks. What will it take to bring metamaterials out of science fiction and into reality?

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Dave Hurley, Casey Corrado, Dr. DJ Shim, and Dr. Kris Rosfjord

As the worldwide rollout of 5th Generation cellular networks picks up pace, a team of researchers is already looking towards 6G.

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Curtis Watson, Dr. Kelvin Woods, and Jim Houchens

With fast, cheap and universally accessible full genome sequencing on the horizon, the race is on to secure our genomes—but is it possible that our insatiable appetite for information might hinder our ability to protect our most intimate datasets?

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Alex Perez, Frank Vasquez and Dr. Alice Isenberg

Fresh off his Ph.D., a gifted engineer harnesses the power of Edge Computing to bring NASA onto the web.

By Brinley Macnamara

Guests: Dr. Nitin Naik, Mark Ambrefe and Mike Vincent