International RFIDba Education Advisory Board
Dr. Daniel Engels, Former Research Director
Auto-ID Labs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Engels is the former Research Director of the Auto-ID Labs of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Engels spearheaded the Auto-ID Labs’ transition from the Auto-ID Center to the Auto-ID Labs and EPCglobal, Inc., a non-profit organization. He is one of the principle architects of the EPC System, a system designed to connect physical objects to the Internet, and the principle product from the Auto-ID Center. The EPC System was licensed to EPCglobal Inc. in 2003. The EPC System is currently being adopted and deployed by the retail industry and the U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. Engels was the first Chairman of the Hardware Action Group under EPCglobal, Inc. and was a member of EPCglobal’s Technical Steering Committee (TSC) from its inception in 2003 until May 2005. The Hardware Action Group is the technical action group charged with developing the hardware standards, including radio frequency identification protocols, used within the EPC System. The TSC guides the work of all the technical action groups that develop EPCglobal’s standards and recommends avenues of EPC System related research to the Auto-ID Labs.
Dr. Gisele Bennett, Director, Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory, Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Georgia Tech Research Institute / Georgia Tech
Dr. Gisele Bennett is the director of the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory, founder of the Logistics and Maintenance Applied Research Center (LandMARC) with the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and a Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. As a member of the scientific cadré with Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Laboratoire Optique (CNRS), she collaborated between researchers at CNRS and Georgia Tech Lorraine in the area of optical encryption. Her research interests include coherence theory applications to optical imaging systems, atmospheric turbulence and propagation, and RFID. She is a topical editor for Applied Optics and associate editor for International Journal of RF Technologies: Research and Applications. She holds a Patent on Integrated Sensor Radio Frequency Identification (ISRFID) with Location, has numerous patents pending, and a Copyright on a computer model for Wave Propagation through the atmosphere. She has numerous patents pending on Container Security and led the development of the Advanced Container Security Device, a key cargo R&D initiative sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate. She has served as a reviewer for the National Institute of Health and National Science Foundation proposals and a reviewer for numerous referred journals. She is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and a member of the Optical Society of America (OSA), SPIE (International Society for Optics And Photonics), Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Eta kappa Nu and is currently on the Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility (AIM) RFID Experts Advisory Group (REG). She is one of ten fellows chosen for Georgia Tech’s University Leadership program. She has over 85 publications in books or book chapters, refereed journals, technical reports, and workshops. She has a PhD in Electrical Engineering and a certificate in Management of Technology from Georgia Tech.
Dr. Kevin Berisso, Director of the AIDC Lab
Ohio University
Dr. Kevin Berisso is the Director of the AIDC Lab at Ohio University as well as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial Technology. He received his BS in Industrial Technology from Ohio University and a MS in Industrial Technology from Indiana State University before taking a position with Applied Tactical Systems, a warehouse management software company. While at ATS, Dr. Berisso worked as a project engineer with companies such as Colgate-Palmolive and TRW. He then went to work for Delphi Automotive as a manufacturing engineer in the automotive battery division. In 2003 Dr. Berisso received his PhD in Technology Management from Indiana State University. He then proceeded to teach at Central Missouri State University before returning to OU in the summer of 2005. Included in Dr. Berisso's research interests are RFID, direct part marking and the integration of AIDC with manufacturing processes and automation. While at Ohio University, Dr. Berisso has been involved in RFID research, bar code symbology robustness testing and 2D bar code verification.
Alfio Grasso, Deputy Director of the Auto-ID Laboratory
University of Adelaide
Alfio Grasso received a Bachelor of Mathematical Science degree in 1979 and Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Hons) degree in 1980 from the University of Adelaide. Mr Grasso has over 31 years experience in RFID systems, covering all ISM bands from 13.56 MHz to 2.45GHz. While his early work was in Surface Acoustic Wave RFID systems at 915 MHz, for the past 20 years he has worked with microelectronic, modulated backscatter RFID systems, managing Engineering Research and Development, Production, Installation and Commissioning, and Customer Support. Mr Grasso is currently the Senior Advisor EPC Standards Development at GS1 Australia, and also the Deputy Director of the Auto-ID Laboratory at the University of Adelaide. He specialises on the activities of the all EPCglobal workgroups. Mr Grasso is also GS1 Australia’s and the University of Adelaide’s representative on IT-034, Standards Australia’s Information Technology committee for Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques. Mr Grasso was also the project editor of ISO/IEC 18000-6:2004, the UHF RFID air interface standard.
Dr. David Grau
University of Alabama
David Grau currently holds an Assistant Professor position at The University of Alabama. Recently, his work has focused on combining lean principles and advanced sensing and information technologies to improve craft labor productivity for construction processes. Work in this area has resulted in the timely automation of asset tracking processes on the job sites by combining sensing devices and localization techniques, a work that has received a widespread attention from capital investors, contractors, and media. Prior to his academic career, David has worked as a corporate manager for more than seven years both leading an engineering department and managing a diversity of projects in South and Central America, and Europe. David is a registered Industrial Engineer in Spain and holds both a M.S. and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Mohammed Maghazil
Dr. Maghazil is the head of application services in the Information Technology Affairs of King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center (Saudi Arabia). He worked as the clinical computing manager and the project executive for the integrated clinical information system. He has M.Sc. and D.Sc in Engineering Management & Systems Engineering from George Washington University. He is now the project director for the "Building a Smart Hospital using Smart Technology" project as it is one of the strategic projects for the hospital that is using RFID and similar technologies.
Dr. Pedro M. Reyes, Associate Professor
Hankamer School of Business
Dr. Pedro M. Reyes is an Associate Professor in the Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University and teaches the introductory course in operations management and an advanced course in global supply chain management. He received his Ph.D. in Operations Management, an MBA in Operations Management, an MS in Information Systems, and a BS in Mathematics from The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Dr. Reyes received the Hankamer School of Business Young Researcher Award, recognized by UTA College of Business as a Lawrence Schkade Research Fellow, and is an affiliate of the Sloan Industry Studies. He is the Director for the Center for Excellence in Supply Chain Management (CESCM) and has been actively researching the use of RFID (radio frequency identification) as an information communication technology for the integration of supply chain operations. Dr. Reyes' interests consist of Supply Chain and Logistics Operations Planning and Control Systems.
Dr. Elliot B. Sloane, clinical engineer, information scientist
Villanova University
Dr. Sloane originally worked at the Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI) for 15 years, where, as vice president of laboratory operations he was responsible for medical device evaluations, accident investigations, and all information systems design and development. He then spent 10 years as a vice president for MEDIQ/PRN Life Support Services, where he was responsible for nationwide medical equipment service, support, regulatory compliance, and quality assurance. Since 2000, he has been a faculty member Villanova University, teaching healthcare informatics, database management, eCommerce, and telecommunications. Dr. Sloane’s research and publication activities are in the medical informatics area, including medical decision support systems, wireless medical device networks simulation and validation, and healthcare information system security and reliability. He was the founder and has been the faculty advisor for Villanova’s national Business Ethics case competition team since its inception in 2004, as well Dr. Sloane has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization since 1984. He has been a frequent international guest clinical engineering and healthcare information technology faculty member for government agency training programs in regions including Australia, Latin America, the Caribbean, both Western and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Dr. Sloane is an invited presenter, session chair, and track chair at numerous international clinical engineering and information technology conferences, including AAMI, AMCIS, HIMSS, and IEEE EMBS. Dr. Sloane serves on an NIH SBIR grant review committee for elder-care technologies, and he advises the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership on Pennsylvania’s regional business investments for biomedical technology companies. He has had an active role in the information systems industry, and served two separate times as president of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP/DPMA - Montgomery County, PA Chapter). Dr. Sloane is also a past president of the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE), founded the ACCE Patient Safety/Medical Errors taskforce, the joint ACCE/HIMSS IHE Patient Care Device Domain Task Force, and the ACCE Healthcare Technology Foundation. Dr. Sloane is a Senior Member of IEEE, is on the Board of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, chairs the IEEE Membership Development Task Force for the Healthcare industry segment, and is the IEEE EMB Board representative to the IEEE Systems Council and the IEEE RFID Technical Committee. He is also a very active HIMSS leader, and chairs the Privacy and Security Steering Committee, co-chairs the IHE International Board of Directors as the HIMSS delegate, and has twice been elected to represent IHE on the Board of the ANSI Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel. Dr. Sloane also provides professional and legal consulting services on medical information systems design, healthcare regulatory assurance, and clinical engineering projects to the medical and pharmaceutical industries and to the US Air Force, and is the founder and president of the Center for Healthcare Information Research and Policy.
Emily Sopensky, Business Consultant
Iris Company
A business consultant, Emily Sopensky is the sole proprietor of The Iris Company, a communications business, specializing in strategies for startups. Her involvement with radio frequency identification began in 1996 with Texas Instruments, where she was a consultant for six years with the RFID group (then called TIRIS). After twenty years working with technology companies in Central Texas, she became the second IEEE-USA Fellow to the U.S. State Department, and relocated to Arlington, Virginia. In March 2007, Ms. Sopensky co-founded The RFID Educational Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable educational organization, to provide educational resources. Ms. Sopensky is an active member of IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.), a worldwide organization of 370,000 professional members. One of three members of the IEEE-USA board of directors elected nationally, her interests are in technology policy and radio frequency identification. She chaired the IEEE-USA Committee on Communications Policy, whose charter includes broadband policy. She was the General Chair of the IEEE RFID 2007 and 2008 technical conferences, and the Publications Chair for the 2009 conference. Additionally, she has been instrumental in IEEE forming a Technical Committee on RFID. Ms. Sopensky represents IEEE on the RFID Technology Council, an ad hoc group that supports the U.S. Senate RFID Caucus formed in July 2006. She has been an officer in several capacities with the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society. In response to the growing demands for RFID and wireless technology in healthcare, Ms. Sopensky cofounded the RFID in Healthcare Consortium, and currently serves as the Vice President and Corporate Secretary. Ms. Sopensky received her M.B.A. from The Wharton School (Philadelphia, Penna.) and her B.A. from Lycoming College (Williamsport, Penna.).
Dr. Ben Zoghi, Director
RFID/Sensor Laboratory Texas A&M University
Dr. Ben Zoghi is a full professor and founding director of RFID Oil & Gas Solution Group Consortium in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. He is a Motorola Fellow and has extensive technical and managerial experience with the electronic, telecommunication and semiconductor industries. Dr. Zoghi has led teams in the design and implementation of over 25 RFID projects. Dr. Zoghi has published over 140 articles in academic and practitioner journals and conferences, seven books and been awarded over $3.5 million in funded research projects and gifts. He is a frequent speaker for the associations and private firms on topics ranging from leadership development, and RFID technology process improvement. He has served on Board of Directors of multiple electronics companies. Dr. Zoghi holds a bachelor's degree from Seattle University and a master's degree from The Ohio State University, both in electrical engineering. He also holds a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas.
Dr Samuel Fosso Wamba, Associate Professor, NEOMA Business School, France
Dr Samuel Fosso Wamba is Associate Professor at NEOMA Business School, France. Prior, he was Senior lecturer (with tenured) at the School of Information Systems & Technology (SISAT), University of Wollongong, Australia. He earned his Ph.D. in industrial engineering (Major: Management of Innovation and Information Systems) for his work on RFID-enabled supply chain optimization, at the Polytechnic School of Montreal, Canada. He also holds two Masters degrees: one MSc in mathematics, from the University of Sherbrooke in Canada and another MSc in electronic commerce (major: computer science) from HEC Montreal, Canada. His current research focuses on business value of IT, inter-organisational system (e.g., RFID technology) adoption and use, supply chain management, electronic commerce, mobile commerce, Electronic Government, IT-enabled government transparency, Social medial, Business Analytics, Big Data and Open Data. He has published papers in a number of international conferences and journals including European Journal of Information Systems, International Journal of Production Economics, Production Planning & Control, Information Systems Frontiers, Business Process Management Journal, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, Proceedings of the IEEE, Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS), Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) and International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). Dr Wamba is organizing special issues on RFID/IT-enabled SCM/Organization for the top journals including: Business Process Management Journal (2 times: in 2010 and for 2015-2016), Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Journal of Medical Systems. Production Planning & Control, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Annals of Operations Research, Electronic Markets – The International Journal on Networked Business, and Computers and Industrial Engineering. He has been (or will) served as mini-track organizer or co-organizer and chair for top conferences including: Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), and The Workshops on e-Business. He is CompTIA RFID+ Certified Professional.