Registration for the Workshop

Workshop on the role of AI for sustainable water resources management and development

29 October 2022, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia2022

OBJECTIVES

The workshop objective is to share research findings as well as knowledge and experience sharing among professional experts, the national AI Center, graduate students and research scientists on the current and future opportunities of applying AI in water resources management. The workshop will also discuss the future research directions and propose appropriate strategies to apply Ai and machine learning in sustainable water management in Sub Saharan Africa.

TARGET AUDIENCE AND NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS

The workshop is a combination of both virtual and physical. The expected participants are graduate students, post-docs, academics, researchers, decision-makers, and practitioners in the field of sustainable water resources management in Africa and outside Africa. Any participant outside Ethiopia will attend virtually.

A maximum of 8 presenters and two Keynote speakers from Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia, AI4D project partners, and institutions across the world will be invited to participate in the workshop. Research scientists from scientific research institutes, experts and consultants in water resources management will also be considered.

Contact Us

• Dr. Seifu Admasu - satadm86@gmail.com>
• Dr. Esubalew Alemneh - esubalew@gmail.com

Book of Abstract

Download From Here

keynote speakers

Keynote Speech One

Title of Speech: Machine Learning Applications for Water Resources Management: Challenges and Opportunities

Keynote speaker: DR. HAIMANOTE BAYABIL
Short bio: Dr. Haimanote Bayabil is an Assistant Professor of Water Resources in the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. He conducts his research and extension program at the Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) in Homestead, Florida. Dr. Bayabil holds a Ph.D. in Biological and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University with specializations in hydrology, and soil and water management.

His previous research has focused on topics that include irrigation scheduling; hydrologic and water quality modeling; field monitoring and modeling of hillslope runoff and erosion processes, and soil moisture dynamics; evaluating and developing best land and water management practices; climate change impact modeling; and greenhouse gas flux monitoring.

Dr. Bayabil’s research and extension program at UF/IFAS TREC primarily focuses on developing practical and sustainable water management practices that conserve freshwater resources while at the same time enhancing plant yield and water quality.

Keynote Speech Two

Title: Building Our Sustainable Future Through Science and Computing
Short bio:
Kommy Weldemariam, Distinguished Engineer, Chief Architect for Discovery Science and Applications, IBM Research

Dr. Weldemariam is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Chief Architect for Accelerated Discovery strategy at IBM Research. He is responsible for innovative architectures (Data, AI systems, models, cloud, etc.), architectural specialization, augmentation, and integration of accelerated discovery technologies and early products validation across Climate and Sustainability, Healthcare and Life Sciences, and Computing and Nanotechnology at IBM Research in Accelerated Discovery strategy. Dr. Weldemariam is a globally recognized leader and innovator who has made key contributions across IBM's Environmental Intelligence Suite (EIS) offering with differentiated AI-enabled climate and carbon acceleration technologies, the TradeLens platform, and cloud and AI tools for agriculture. He holds more than 300 patents and applications in the fields of software technologies, artificial intelligence, Data, Blockchains, IoT, and application domains such as Agriculture, Healthcare, Climate and Sustainability, Supply Chains, etc. He is the author of over 90 peer-reviewed scientific publications as well as several articles in the media. Dr. Weldemariam has received numerous awards such as an elected member of the IBM Industry Academy (2021), IBM Master Inventor (since 2017), won the Kifra Prize Award (2020), Fellow of the Next Einstein Forum (2016), and the Young Scientist World Economic Forum (2015). His primary research interests currently include advancing technologies that matter and maximizing beneficial impacts for users and society. Dr. Weldemariam received his Ph.D. in Information Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Trento (Italy).

Picture: https://research.ibm.com/haifa/tech-sci-sustain/images/Kommy-Weldemariam...

Web: https://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=ibm-kommy