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Published: 29 Jan 2021 9:29

Apple and IBM are among the handful of IT firms to emerge as inaugural members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys (MIT) climate change-tackling consortium.

The companies have joined the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC), a cross-industry initiative geared towards accelerating the development pace of climate change-tackling technologies and innovations.

Featuring input from students, faculty members and researchers from across MIT, the MCSC said it has sought to recruit companies to join the initiative from a wide range of industries spanning aviation, agriculture, technology chemical product and textiles to aid its efforts to arrest the onset of climate change across the world.

The consortium will see Apple and IBM working alongside other tech-focused firms including aerospace company Boeing, professional IT services provider Accenture and telco giant Verizon, to deliver on its goals.

A total of 13 companies are joining the consortium at launch, including representatives from the world of fashion retail, construction, manufacturing and food production, including PepsiCo.

The inaugural members of the MCSC are companies with intricate supply chains that are among the best positioned to help lead the mission to solve the climate crisis, said MIT in a statement.

The inaugural member companies of the MCSC recognise the responsibility industry has in the rapid deployment of social and technology solutions. They represent the heart of global industry and have made a commitment to not only work with MIT but with one another, to tackle the climate challenge with the urgency required to realise their goals.

The MCSC said the consortiums aim is to foster an environment of collaboration between these firms, so that they combine their resources to bring to market products and services that will help the fight against climate change.

The organisation said it hopes the firms will also work together to drive down costs, lower barriers to adoption of best-available technology and processes, speed retirement of carbon-intensive power generating and materials-producing equipment within their respective industries.

If we hope to decarbonise the economy, we must work with the companies that make the economy run, said MIT president L Rafael Reif. Drawing its members from a broad range of industries, the MCSC will convene an alliance of influential corporations motivated to work with MIT, and with each other, to pilot and deploy the solutions necessary to reach their own ambitious decarbonisation commitments.

The cross-industry element of the consortium will play a vital role in helping the MCSC to achieve its goals, while also supporting MIT to deliver on its pre-existing climate change-mitigating initiatives.

Reif added: By sharing solutions across companies and sectors, the consortium has the potential to vastly accelerate the implementation of large-scale, real-world solutions to help meet the global climate emergency.

In a blog post confirming its involvement in the initiative, IBM Research Future of Climate Strategy leads Solomon Assefa and Marina Rakhlin revealed further details of the benefits it hopes its involvement in the MCSC will bring.

The company said it plans to draw on its experience from operating its hybrid cloud platform to help proactively address the challenge that datacentre energy consumption is expected to grow to more than 10% of the worlds technology by 2030.

IBM Research is also working on technologies designed to improve the energy efficiency and resource utilisation of IT infrastructures by enabling the coordinated placement of containers, the blog post said.

By drawing on its own portfolio of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and hybrid cloud tools, the company said it is also committed to doing its bit to accelerate the development of carbon capture technologies.

On average, it takes at least 10 years to discover a new material and bring it to market, but we simply cant wait a decade for new materials for carbon capture to tackle the climate crisis, said the IBM Research blog post.

Thankfully, we can now combine artificial intelligence, quantum computing and hybrid cloud to accelerate discovery. By applying deep search, AI- and quantum- enriched simulation, generative models and cloud-based, AI-driven autonomous labs, we are super-charging the scientific method to accelerate the discovery of new materials, including complex polymers and materials for carbon CO2 capture and separation.

In September 2020, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank, our panel of information and cyber security experts, considered the challenges inherent in decentralising the datacentre, and set out to answer the question, how can security professionals ensure such setups are just as secure as the traditional centralised model? Read more in this e-guide.

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IBM, Apple and Accenture join MIT cross-industry climate change-tackling consortium - ComputerWeekly.com

DUBLIN, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "High Performance Computing Market by Component, Infrastructure, Services, Price Band, HPC Applications, Deployment Types, Industry Verticals, and Regions 2021 - 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The High Performance Computing market includes computation solutions provided either by supercomputers or via parallel processing techniques such as leveraging clusters of computers to aggregate computing power. HPC is well-suited for applications that require high performance data computation and analysis such as high frequency trading, autonomous vehicles, genomics-based personalized medicine, computer-aided design, deep learning, and more. Specific examples include computational fluid dynamics, simulation, modeling, and seismic tomography.

This report evaluates the HPC market including companies, solutions, use cases, and applications. Analysis includes HPC by organizational size, software and system type, server type, and price band, and industry verticals. The report also assesses the market for integration of various artificial intelligence technologies in HPC. It also evaluates the exascale-level HPC market including analysis by component, hardware type, service type, and industry vertical.

Select Report Findings:

The market is currently dominated on the demand side by large corporations, universities, and government institutions by way of capabilities that are often used to solve very specific problems for large institutions. Examples include financial services organizations, government R&D facilities, universities research, etc.

However, the cloud-computing based "as a Service" model allows HPC market offerings to be extended via HPC-as-a-Service (HPCaaS) to a much wider range of industry verticals and companies, thereby providing computational services to solve a much broader array of problems. Industry use cases are increasingly emerging that benefit from HPC-level computing, many of which benefit from split processing between localized devices/platforms and HPCaaS.

In fact, HPCaaS is poised to become much more commonly available, partially due to new on-demand supercomputer service offerings, and in part as a result of emerging AI-based tools for engineers. Accordingly, up to 52% of revenue will be directly attributable to the cloud-based business model via HPCaaS, which makes High-Performance Computing solutions available to a much wider range of industry verticals and companies, thereby providing computational services to solve a much broader array of problems.

In a 2020 study, we conducted interviews with major players in the market as well as smaller, lesser known companies that are believed to be influential in terms of innovative solutions that are likely to drive adoption and usage of both cluster-based HPC and supercomputing. In an effort to identify growth opportunities for the HPC market, we investigated market gaps including unserved and underserved markets and submarkets. The research and advisory firm uncovered a market situation in which HPC currently suffers from an accessibility problem as well as inefficiencies and supercomputer skill gaps.

Stated differently, the market for HPC as a Service (e.g. access to high-performance computing services) currently suffers from problems related to the utilization, scheduling, and set-up time to run jobs on a supercomputer. We identified start-ups and small companies working to solve these problems.

One of the challenge areas identified is low utilization but (ironically) also high wait times for most supercomputers. Scheduling can be a challenge in terms of workload time estimation. About 23% of jobs are computationally heavy and 37% of jobs cannot be defined very well in terms of how long jobs will take (within a 3-minute window at best). In many instances, users request substantive resources and don't actually use computing time.

In addition to the scheduling challenge, we also identified a company focused on solving additional problems such as computational planning and engineering. We spoke with the principal of a little-known company called Microsurgeonbot, Inc. (doing business as MSB.ai), which is developing a tool for setting up computing jobs for supercomputers.

The company is working to solve major obstacles in accessibility and usability for HPC resources. The company focuses on solving a very important problem in HPC: Supercomputer job set-up and skills gap. Their solution known as "Guru" is poised to make supercomputing much more accessible, especially to engineers in small to medium-sized businesses that do not have the same resources or expertise as large corporate entities.

Target Audience:

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

2 Introduction 2.1 Next Generation Computing 2.2 High Performance Computing 2.2.1 HPC Technology 2.2.2 Exascale Computation 2.2.3 High Performance Technical Computing 2.2.4 Market Segmentation Considerations 2.2.5 Regulatory Framework 2.2.6 Value Chain Analysis 2.2.7 AI to Drive HPC Performance and Adoption

3 High Performance Computing Market Dynamics 3.1 HPC Market Drivers 3.2 HPC Market Challenges

4 High Performance Computing Market Analysis and Forecasts 4.1 Global High Performance Computing Market 2021 - 2026 4.1.1 Total High Performance Computing Market 4.1.2 High Performance Computing Market by Component 4.1.3 High Performance Computing Market by Deployment Type 4.1.4 High Performance Computing Market by Organization Size 4.1.5 High Performance Computing Market by Server Price Band 4.1.6 High Performance Computing Market by Application Type 4.1.7 High Performance Computing Deployment Options: Supercomputer vs. Clustering 4.1.8 High Performance Computing as a Service (HPCaaS) 4.1.9 AI Powered High Performance Computing Market 4.2 Regional High Performance Computing Market 2021 - 2026 4.2.1 High Performance Computing Market by Region 4.2.2 North America High Performance Computing Market by Component, Deployment, Organization, Server Price Band, Application, Industry Vertical, and Country 4.2.3 Europe High Performance Computing Market by Component, Deployment, Organization, Server Price Band, Application, Industry Vertical, and Country 4.2.4 APAC High Performance Computing Market by Component, Deployment, Organization, Server Price Band, Application, Industry Vertical, and Country 4.2.5 MEA High Performance Computing Market by Component, Deployment, Organization, Server Price Band, Application, Industry Vertical, and Country 4.2.6 Latin America High Performance Computing Market by Component, Deployment, Organization, Server Price Band, Application, Industry Vertical, and Country 4.2.7 High Performance Computing Market by Top Ten Country 4.3 Exascale Computing Market 2021 - 2026 4.3.1 Exascale Computing Driven HPC Market by Component 4.3.2 Exascale Computing Driven HPC Market by Hardware Type 4.3.3 Exascale Computing Driven HPC Market by Service Type 4.3.4 Exascale Computing Driven HPC Market by Industry Vertical 4.3.1 Exascale Computing as a Service

5 High Performance Computing Company Analysis 5.1 HPC Vendor Ecosystem 5.2 Leading HPC Companies 5.2.1 Amazon Web Services Inc. 5.2.2 Atos SE 5.2.3 Advanced Micro Devices Inc. 5.2.4 Cisco Systems 5.2.5 DELL Technologies Inc. 5.2.6 Fujitsu Ltd 5.2.7 Hewlett Packard Enterprise 5.2.8 IBM Corporation 5.2.9 Intel Corporation 5.2.10 Microsoft Corporation 5.2.11 NEC Corporation 5.2.12 Nvidia 5.2.13 Rackspace Inc.

6 High Performance Computing Market Use Cases 6.1 Fraud Detection in the Financial Industry 6.2 Healthcare and Clinical Research 6.3 Manufacturing 6.4 Energy Exploration and Extraction 6.5 Scientific Research 6.6 Electronic Design Automation 6.7 Government 6.8 Computer Aided Engineering 6.9 Education and Research 6.10 Earth Science

7 Conclusions and Recommendations

8 Appendix: Future of Computing 8.1 Quantum Computing 8.1.1 Quantum Computing Technology 8.1.2 Quantum Computing Considerations 8.1.3 Market Challenges and Opportunities 8.1.4 Recent Developments 8.1.5 Quantum Computing Value Chain 8.1.6 Quantum Computing Applications 8.1.7 Competitive Landscape 8.1.8 Government Investment in Quantum Computing 8.1.9 Quantum Computing Stakeholders by Country 8.1.10 Other Future Computing Technologies 8.1.11 Market Drivers for Future Computing Technologies 8.2 Future Computing Market Challenges 8.2.1 Data Security Concerns in Virtualized and Distributed Cloud 8.2.2 Funding Constrains R&D Activities 8.2.3 Lack of Skilled Professionals across the Sector 8.2.4 Absence of Uniformity among NGC Branches including Data Format

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/iedkoq

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [emailprotected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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Worldwide High Performance Computing Industry to 2026 - The Market is Driven Largely by Simulations, Engineering and Design Solutions - PRNewswire

The Milford Daily News

From the cotton gin to the mobile phone, the U.S. has produced some of the most useful inventions of the past three centuries. Yet by several measures, its traditional leadership in science and technology is now under threat. As Joe Bidens administration gets underway, reviving American ingenuity should be among his top priorities.

As a start, Biden should push to raise government investment in research and development. Federally funded research has been a crucial component of Americas scientific success, helping to produce everything from GPS to search engines to the internet itself. In recent years, almost one-third of patents granted have relied on it. Yet federal R&D spending as a share of GDP has stagnated at about 0.7% over the past three years, down from a historical average of 1.1%.

Reversing this worrying trend will cost a lot about $240 billion annually, up from $164 billion last year. But few steps are more essential for boosting innovation, productivity and competitiveness. Innovation also has a vital role to play in shifting the economy to clean energy, which Biden has rightly emphasized. His plan for a cross-agency research team, dubbed ARPA-C, to investigate far-out energy technologies is on the right track. Pairing such investment with better incentives for private-sector R&D (using subsidies or more generous tax credits) would help boost jobs, incomes and economic growth. Prioritizing breakthrough technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, meanwhile, would go a long way toward sustaining American leadership in the industries of the future.

Another priority should be improving digital literacy across the government. Expanding successful programs such as the 18F office and the U.S. Digital Service, which act as in-house tech consultancies for federal agencies, would help. Biden should also consider adding an office within the White House to evaluate how proposed regulations would affect innovation. Such efforts should help rationalize government tech policy, lure more talented workers into public service, and ensure that promising businesses arent burdened by misguided new rules.

Finally, a critical ingredient in Silicon Valleys success over the years has been openness to immigration. Yet the country is squandering its traditional advantages in this regard. Although foreign-born students now make up half or more of U.S. doctoral graduates in critical fields such as engineering, math and computer science, the government offers no permanent visa for them and the previous administration spent four years devising new ways to antagonize them.

Promisingly, Biden has pledged an immigration overhaul starting on his first day. But the details and his commitment to them will prove decisive. To boost U.S. competitiveness, he should increase visas for skilled workers and prioritize applicants with in-demand STEM skills; exempt international graduates of U.S. schools with advanced science degrees from the cap on green-card allotments; and offer a startup visa for entrepreneurs who create new jobs. Taken together, such steps would help America remain a beacon for the worlds best scientists, engineers and technologists.

Innovation has powered the American economy for decades, but it doesnt occur by magic. As Thomas Edison, inventor extraordinaire, famously held, its mostly hard work. Bidens administration should keep that in mind, and get to it.

Bloomberg Opinion

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Biden needs an innovation agenda - Milford Daily News

Exponentials are often cited, oft explained, but seldom fathomed in full. Its just not how the human brain is trained to think, since most of the real world phenomena that matter to us are linear. We age linearly, skyscrapers go up roughly linearly, and the progress of many of our older technologiessuch as legacy carshas been linear. But as technologies are digitalized, they ride exponential curves of improvement. Take cars, for example. During their analog stage, mechanical steering and acceleration control technology barely changed over a hundred years. But now that cars are being digitalized, software-based autonomous driving capabilities have gone from speed-only cruise control to automated emergency breaks to automated distance maintenance, lane control, and autonomous parking, and now are at the cusp of self-driving. All within the span of 15 years.

The 2020s will be a decade when many exponential technologies will break out into mass use. The high rate of performance improvement, logarithmic reductions in price and faster rate of product releases will make prediction a difficult business. But for now, Ill take my chances and dive into what I think may be the most interesting technologies of 2021.

Bitcoin has been the best performing asset of the last decade and is now attracting significant institutional funds. Hedge funds, multi-billion dollar corporations like MicroStrategy, and perhaps even Teslas Elon Musk are all investing in the cryptocurrency. What makes bitcoin so attractive is its low-cost, trustless, no-middle-man architecture combined with fast transaction settlements and hard limits on supply. With cryptocurrency market caps now hovering at roughly $1T, it is safe to say crypto has crossed the threshold and is implanted in the public consciousness as a real asset.

After all, we believe in the dollar not because a piece of paper is useful in and of itself, but because it represents a promise of value backed by the state. And why do we believe in the state? Ultimately, because it is an ideaa dreamshared by a large number of people. If a dollar is merely an idea that people collectively believe has value, then bitcoin is no different. It has evolved into a monetary network that now connects a very large number of people with shared belief in its value. And while the supply of fiat currencies continues to increase (25% of all USD currency in circulation was printed in the last year), the bitcoin pool forever remains limited to 21 million coins. While some fear regulation, I welcome it. Enforcing KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti Money Laundering) protections can help bitcoin by ending the fear, uncertainty and doubt once and for all. Lets see what 2021 holds, but I am long BTC! HODL!

Chinese aerospace developments are accelerating at a frenetic pace. China launched 29 satellites to the USs 27 during the first nine months of 2020. Their drone industry has grown by leaps and bounds. The Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has already operationalized its J-20 stealth fighter bomber aircraft, but the upcoming H-20 stealth bomber represents a particularly important evolution of Chinese air power and technological capacity. The aircraft was rumored to be a potential exhibit at the November 2020 Zhuhai airshow, but did not ultimately make an appearance. It is all but certain that the platform will be unveiled in 2021.

According to some reports, the H-20 stealth bomber bears a resemblance to the B2 and B21 flying wing designs and can carry a payload of anywhere from 20 to 45 tons. The latter figure is unlikely but even the former would be significant. Its own range combined with stand-off weapon systems would allow the aircraft to reach deep within North America. I dont believe the H-20 is a harbinger of conflict, but it does represent a significant qualitative evolution of Chinese aviation capability and a credible conventional strike platform that could alter strategic calculations over time.

Concept image of new generation bomber - Wikipedia

There are two schools of thought on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that took place earlier in 2020 between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The first group proposes that drones were effective in the conflict only because Armenia lacked a suitable air defense capability. The latter school of thought believes that it was the drones that neutralized Armenias otherwise modern defense capability and degraded their advantage to the point where Armenia was forced into capitulation and defeat.

While drones have been employed for decades, this conflict was different. Low-cost Turkish drones were combined with loitering munitions, electronic warfare and swarm strategies to wreak havoc on the Armenian military. An analysis of the conflict published in AirForces Monthly suggested that the result would not have been significantly different if the Turkish Azerbaijani onslaught was directed not at Armenia but at a European military instead. Not many armed forces would have been able to deal with the combined effect created by low-cost drones and swarm strategies. Expect a flurry of activity on this front in 2021 as air arms the world over recognize shortcomings, acquire low-cost drones and build new command, control and communications systems to enable swarm warfare. The Hyperwar thesis General Allen and I presented years ago is coming true in all its dimensions.

Will trains one day exceed the speed of most commercial aircraft? If tests that took place in South Korea late in 2020 are to be projected into the future, that is certainly the conclusion to which one arrives. The Korean Railroad Research Institute (KORAIL) announced that its Hyper-Tube train achieved a speed over 1,000 kph in tests conducted in December. Underground high-speed tunnels and so-called hyper loop technologies being developed both in the United States and in Asian countries such as China and South Korea promise to revolutionize rail transport. South Korea will continue high-speed rail tests in 2021 with the ultimate goal of reducing the three and a half hour long journey between Seoul and the southern part of the country to a mere 30 minutes. Urban mobility is attracting massive investments, whether in the form of The Line, a Saudi project that aims to build an optimally laid out city along a single 170 km long corridor; aerial urban mobility solutions; autonomous cars; and yes, high-speed hyper trains.

In the waning days of 2020, when prodded by self-driving company comma.AI, Elon Musk tweeted that he was highly confident Tesla would have level five, fully autonomous capabilities completed by the end of the year. Significant upgrades were made to Teslas self-driving software in the second half of 2020 and a flurry of YouTube videos appeared with many reviewers excitedly demonstrating the impressive new capabilities. What has been demonstrated thus far is far from level five, but well give Tesla the rest of this year to thrill us with their autonomy innovation. Of course, level five autonomy has been the holy grail thats been promised by the autonomous vehicle industry for several years. If Musks tweet is to be believed, it is finally within grasp. By his own admission, sometimes Musks claims take a bit longer to materialize, but he has a pretty good track record of delivering on promises. I, for one, cant wait to have my car drive me around!

metamorworks - shutterstock.com

Back in 2013 when I founded SparkCognition, many in the software industry doubted whether artificial intelligence would have much relevance to the tools and platforms they used. AI-powered code generation for any meaningful task seemed like the distant future. Beyond the software vertical, other industries were not quite sure whether artificial intelligence would deliver any real benefit. But six and a half years later, all of that has changed. Artificial intelligence represents one of the most profound shifts in digital technologies and now, most savvy executives and forward-thinking companies understand that AI adoption is not something to ignore or delay.

In 2021, the widespread use of AI will be spurred on at an even faster rate with broader availability of no-code AI application development tools. Applications like SparkCognitions DarwinTM product can help users build sophisticated deep-learning powered models without knowing anything at all about neural network design or programming. Individuals with knowledge of applications such as Microsoft Excel can trivially export data, train sophisticated machine learning algorithms and create applications very quickly. As the rate of model development accelerates with the use of such tools, an increasing percentage of enterprise workflows will be automated through high-performance neural networks, ultimately achieving a transition to what I have previously called the model-driven enterprise. This transition is coming in 2021.

Three dimensional volumetric displays have been a staple of science fiction for many years. Remember that scene in Star Wars where the rebel alliance is planning an attack on the Starkiller Base? The holographic projections into open space are an example of a volumetric display. But now, this technology is migrating from the world of science fiction into our real world. Australias Voxon Photonics is one example of a company that is working to commercialize volumetric display technology. The Voxon VX 1 is already up and running and can project up to 500 volumetric pixels or voxels. It is available for purchase today, but the $10,000 price prevents high-volume purchase, and hence, volume-driven cost reduction.

Volumetric displays represent the future evolution of workstation imaging technology, and as soon as these become practical they will be a preference for 3D designers, mechanical engineers and many other types of technical professionals.

immimagery - stock.adobe.com

Although 2020 was a difficult year, some good did come from it! For one, the FAA issued new guidelines around the use of drones operating in urban environments at night and over crowds. They also mandated remote ID broadcast technology for small unmanned aerial systems. While remote ID does post an additional reporting responsibility on the users of drones, the scope of drone operations can now be expanded considerably, driving useful applications at scale.

Companies like SkyGrid are developing platforms to enable the deployment, tracking, cybersecurity, maintenance and safe integration of drones into national airspace. SkyGrid even recently demonstrated the first test of an autonomous cybersecurity protection system on a drone. Between the FAAs new ID requirements and commercial developments in the field, such as improved cybersecurity, drone operations in urban areas can finally become more routine in 2021.

For many years quantum computing has been heralded as one of the most exciting and profound innovations in computer science. The computational power of a quantum computer can be thousands and even millions of times greater than a conventional computer. While not every computation that is possible to execute on a traditional, classical computer is doable on a quantum system, there are many exciting applications that quantum computers can enable almost immediately. One such area is cryptography, where traditionally secured cryptographic messages can be decoded in a small amount of time compared to a classical computer. This potential shortcoming of traditional cryptography has given rise to the field of quantum-safe cryptographic algorithms.

Another very exciting application of quantum computers is modeling chemical and biological processes. Quantum computers can simulate such phenomena much faster than a classical computer can. This gives them a massive advantage at predicting what molecular interactions will actually look like in the real world, leading to all sorts of valuable outcomes ranging from drug discovery to materials science. In fact, the potential of quantum computers to bring to life materials with never-before-seen properties may be their killer application.

IBM is likely to release a 127-qubit quantum computer in 2021, which would be the largest such system yet. Google may not be far behind. A vast array of smaller companies, such as IonQ, DWave and Rigetti are hard at work developing both hardware and software for the quantum stack. Expect new announcements from each of them through 2021.

5G cellular communications technology, when deployed at full capacity and scale, promises to revolutionize human-to-human communications by delivering smooth, high-resolution video, low-latency near-life like video conferencing and VR-capable gaming. But 5G is about more than human-to-human communications. It also holds the potential to enable reliable, low-latency control of physical semi-autonomous systems such as cars, trucks and urban aerial mobility drones; the machine-to-machine network!

5Gs theoretical maximum data rate is 20 GBps and, on average, the spec can deliver 100+ Mbps consistently. However, most implementations of 5G in the US can only deliver 35-50 Mbps average speeds. And while we hear a lot about 5G in the press, as of 2020, some of the largest US carriers had only extended 5G capability to one percent of their network.

This might change in 2021. Expect significant expansion of the 5G footprint and a much greater penetration of 5G-capable phones. The new Apple iPhone released in September 2020 now natively supports 5G. As it is inevitably adopted, a large percentage of US smartphones will be 5G-ready. The additional volume of users will also encourage software and services developers to begin incorporating 5G-enabled features, from better video quality and higher frame rates to new modes of interaction.

Undoubtedly, many of the most exciting developments in 2021 will be in areas we havent focused on in this article; the surprise exponential technologies can generate is tremendous. As time marches on, the exponential curve leaps higher and higher and the surprise it creates increases too! Will we see significant advances on AI algorithms and learning capabilities? Will we make advancements in general purpose learning? Explainability? A fusion of symbolic and connectionist approaches to enable more robust and transparent AI? The answers to all of these is quite likely, yes, yes, yes and yes. Just what these enhancements will be and how profound their effects are remains to be seen. Whats for sure, though, is that 2021 is going to be an action-packed year full of technological innovation and advancement!

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Ten Technologies To Watch In 2021 - Forbes

Spending 2020 under the shadow of a pandemic has affected what we need and expect from technology. For many, COVID-19 accelerated the rate of digital transformation: as employees worked from home, companies needed AI systems that facilitated remote work and the computing power to support them.

The question is, how should companies focus their resources in 2021 to prepare for this changed reality and the new technologies on the horizon? Here are three trends that I predict will see massive attention in 2021 and beyond.

Progress in AI has already reached a point where it can add significant value to practically any business. COVID-19 triggered a massive sense of urgency around digital transformations with the need for remote solutions. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, more than 80% of companies plan to accelerate their digital transformation, but only 30% of digital transformations have met or exceeded their target value.

Many AI projects are small scale less than a quarter of companies in McKinseys 2020 State of AI reported significant bottom-line impact. This is especially true in industries that have a physical-digital element. For example: There is a great need for remotely operated, autonomous manufacturing facilities, refineries, or even, in the days of COVID-19, office buildings. While the underlying technology is there, achieving scalability remains a concern and digital leaders will have to overcome that barrier in 2021. Scalability barriers include a lack of disciplined approach, enterprise-wide mindset, credible partners, data liquidity, and change management.

Part of the solution here is to create solutions that will be operated by someone who is not necessarily a data scientist, so more people who are domain experts can manage the programs they need. If Tesla invented an autonomous car that only data scientists can drive, whats the point?

Technology needs to empower the end user so they can interact with and manipulate models without having to trudge through the finer points of datasets or code in other words, the AI will do the heavy lifting on the back end, but a user-friendly explanation and UI empowers the end user. For instance, a facilities management executive can manage their global portfolio of buildings from a tablet sitting at a Starbucks. They can have full visibility into operations, occupant experience, and spend, with the ability to intervene in what otherwise would be an autonomous operation.

Deep learning pioneer Dr. Geoffrey Hinton recently told MIT Technology Review that deep learning will be able to do everything i.e. replicate all human intelligence. Deep neural networks have demonstrated extraordinary capabilities to approximate the most relevant subset of mathematical functions and promise to overcome reasoning challenges.

However, I believe there is a step to full autonomy that we must first conquer: what Dr. Manuela Veloso at Carnegie Mellon calls symbiotic autonomy. With symbiotic autonomy, feedback and correction mechanisms are incorporated into the AI such that humans and machines pass information to each other fluidly.

For example, instead of hard feedback (like thumbs up and thumbs down powering your Netflix queue), symbiotic autonomy could look like a discussion with your phones virtual assistant to determine the best route to a destination. Interactions with these forms of AI would be more natural and conversational, with the program able to explain why it recommended or performed certain actions.

With deep learning, neural networks approximate complex mathematical functions with simpler ones, and the ability to consider a growing number of factors and make smarter decisions with fewer computing resources gives them the ability to become autonomous. I anticipate heavy investment in research of these abilities of deep neural networks across the board, from startups to top tech companies to universities.

This step toward fully autonomous solutions will be a critical step towards implementing AI at scale. Imagine an enterprise performance management system that can give you a single pane of visibility and control across a global enterprise that is operating multiple facilities, workers, and supply chains autonomously. It runs and learns on its own but you can intervene and teach when it makes a mistake.

(The question of ethics in autonomous systems will come into play here, but that is a subject for another article.)

Quantum computers have the computational power to handle complex algorithms due to their abilities to process solutions in parallel, rather than sequentially. Lets think of how this could affect development and delivery of vaccines.

First, during drug discovery, researchers must simulate a new molecule. This is tremendously challenging to do with todays high-performance computers, but is a problem that lends itself to something at which quantum computers will eventually excel. The quantum computer could eventually be mapped to the quantum system that is the molecule, and simulate binding energies and chemical transition strengths before anyone ever even had to make a drug.

However, AI and quantum computing have even more to offer beyond creating the vaccine. The logistics of manufacturing and delivering the vaccine are massive computational challenges which of course makes them ripe for a solution that combines quantum computing and AI.

Quantum machine learning is an extremely new field with so much promise, but breakthroughs are needed to make it catch investors attention. Tech visionaries can already start to see how its going to impact our future, especially with respect to understanding nanoparticles, creating new materials through molecular and atomic maps, and glimpsing the deeper makeup of the human body.

The area of growth I am most excited about is the intersection of research in these systems, which I believe will start to combine and produce results more than the sum of their parts. While there have been some connections of AI and quantum computing, or 5G and AI, all of these technologies working together can produce exponential results.

Im particularly excited to see how AI, quantum, and other tech will influence biotechnology as that might be the secret to superhuman capabilities and what could be more exciting than that?

Usman Shuja is VP, General Manager, Connected Buildings, at Honeywell Connected Enterprise.

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3 tech trends that COVID-19 will accelerate in 2021 - VentureBeat

The Face of Youth Life Coaching Nick Petro | Live MPWRD

As a dual college athlete himself, Nick brings a level of energy and motivation that connects with youth of today. With a background serving schools, youth organizations, and nonprofits, it was always clear that his passion was with impacting youth. As a youth pastor creating meaningful, entertaining experiences for youth, Nick had provided a unique place for youth in the organization to feel known, connected, and have fun.

Parents began asking Nick for time with their kids in additional settings, as they noticed changes in their kids from being part of his groups. As parents continued to ask Nick to work with their kids, the Nick Petro Coaching Company was formed in order to connect more personally with youth to enact change.

Find your purpose, live on passion, live life with powerful communication are words that Nick lives by. This motto fueled his book, The 7 Pillars that Bridge Communication, which he wrote in order to provide ways for parents to connect with their kids and work through the barriers that arise between adolescents and parents. This workbook is also utilized by the youth life coaches Nick trains across the world to more effectively coach the youth with proven methodologies and proven results.

He has spoken to more than 50,000 students nationwide, inspiring them to find the things for which they can live passionately and on purpose. One of the students he worked with experienced such a transformation that Disney+ noticed and picked up her story. After being around Coach Nick, a fire was ignited in Daniella. On a school trip to Tijuana, she saw the poverty that the local residents, who she spent time with, lived in. Daniella went on to raise enough money to fund building a home in Tijuana. She did this again, which is when Disney+ heard about her. Dynamic Daniella was featured as a comic book character through the Marvel Superhero Project. Nick seeks to bring more youth to finding their places of purpose in life to create more superheroes.

From this passion, Nick co-founded Live MPWRD in order to create a better tomorrow for the next generation. By providing an experience-based, effective coaching curriculum to train more future youth life coaches, Live MPWRD is providing a change that is missing from current leadership for students. Nick and Live MPWRD are working to empower youth to live life in passion, on purpose, to create positive change through the MPWRD Youth Life Coaches.

The more coaches we can train, the bigger lasting impact we can have for the next generation.

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Faces of North County 2021 | Youth Life Coaching - Coast News

AP Published 6:39 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2021 | Updated 6:43 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2021

Reaction from the sports world to the death of former Temple basketball coach John Chaney:

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Coach Chaney was like a father to me. He taught not just me, but all of his players more than just how to succeed in basketball. He taught us life lessons to make us better individuals off the court. I owe so much to him. He made me the man I am today. Aaron McKie, former Temple star and current coach.

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He's probably been the one person that I consistently talked to. That watched the games, that gave insight. He's one that I truly love. He gave me all that I had and I didn't have to ask for it. He knew. He knew what I needed when I started coaching. He just fostered that and allowed me to grow and allowed me to make mistakes and was there to pick me up when things weren't working out as I thought they should. Everybody in their lives, whether they're in coaching, outside of coaching, or whatever profession, needs a person like coach Chaney in their life. South Carolina coach and former Temple coach (2000-2008) Dawn Staley.

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Coach Chaneys ability to coach hard, yet build trust and teach life lessons, is unmatched in our profession, in my opinion. Although we were competitors, its what I admired most about him. Coach Chaney and I fought every game we competed as everyone knows, sometimes literally but in the end, he was my friend. Throughout my career, we would talk about basketball and life. I will miss those talks and I will my friend. Rest in peace, Coach! Kentucky coach John Calipari.

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We have lost a true Philadelphia jewel. Coach Chaneys enormous impact on our game has been felt across the nation and the respect for him reflects that. He has been an inspiration to players and coaches for generations. Villanova coach Jay Wright.

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I'm just grateful for my time with him. All those years I coached against him, many of those obviously resulted in a not-successful outcome. He won many, many games. The people that he touched and the lives that he influenced; I think that's what's so great about the profession that we have. John Chaney impacted all of these players that he had and then he became their friend. They see him in a totally different light and appreciate him even more than when they played for him." former Penn coach and Chaney's successor, Fran Dunphy.

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"RIP Coach John Chaney! A true legend in coaching. I learned so much about coaching & life from you. I will always be grateful my time at Temple and our friendship." former Temple football coach (1983-1988) and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians.

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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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Reaction to the death of Hall of Fame coach John Chaney - USA TODAY

As the Kernels attempted to maintain a second-half lead against Brandon Valley on Jan. 19, Neuendorf turned to his assistants and asked a question about personnel as they looked to stop Lynx standout Jackson Hilton. They responded, and moments later, a substitution was made.

The coaching staff has been reshaped during the last two seasons and it now features a former head coach that has seen every scenario imaginable and a young assistant that aspires to be a head coach in the future.

Longtime Mitchell girls coach Wes Morgan stepped down from his post following the season in 2019 essentially trading places with current girls coach Cole Knippling citing a desire to coach his son Steele, who is now a sophomore. Meanwhile, Ryker Kreutzfeldt was hired days before Neuendorfs first season. He was a former Kernel, but unknown, unproven and still a student at Dakota Wesleyan University.

Morgan, the 1987 South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year, has mentored standout post players Caden Hinker and Zane Alm, who total more than half of the points this season. Kreutzfeldt has also found a niche as the scouting guru for the Kernels, helping devise game plans and providing tendencies for each opposing player.

With the input from his two top assistants, Neuendorf is able to call offensive sets and adjust his defense accordingly, which has been a key to Mitchells 10-1 start.

I dont have all the answers and I dont pretend to, Neuendorf said. I like to have my assistants be part of where were going and give their advice. I might not always take it, but more often than not, if they have something Ill take it and use it. I want them to have a voice, I dont want them to just sit there.

Morgan has been blunt about his desire to shift from girls coach to help his son and was easier when Steele requested the move.

For Neuendorf, the move seemed logical. Morgan had plenty of success in 11 seasons with the girls team, which included six state tournament appearances, three trips to the finals and a state championship in 2012. He was also a standout player for DWU, scoring 1,429 points and was named all-conference twice.

But Morgan knew his new charges did not seem as enthralled with his presence. It took some time for them to get used to his style, but eventually the Kernel post players began to believe in his guidance.

Alm and Hinker have connected on 57.8% of shots in the paint during the last two seasons. While both players have put significant effort into improving during time with Mitchell and in AAU basketball, Morgan has helped Alm develop a jump hook that has become his signature shot. Alm went from scoring 15 points in 15 games the year prior to Morgans arrival, to averaging 16.2 points per game this year.

If you put the time in with the kids, they start trusting you, knowing who you are and knowing that youre not just a flash in the pan, said Morgan, who was roomates with Alms father Corey at DWU. When you go from a girls coach to a boys coach, the stigma is that youre a girls coach. In the end, you know basketball. When you know basketball, they start seeing where youre at and what you know. After a while, the stuff you tell them starts to stick.

Mitchell assistant coaches Wes Morgan, right, and Ryker Kreutzfeldt watch as head coach Todd Neuendorf calls a defense during a game against Brandon Valley on Jan. 19 at the Corn Palace. (Matt Gade / Republic)

Morgan often views the game similar to Neuendorf, but frequently offers tips or suggestions when warranted. After more than a decade of running every aspect of his program, Morgan sometimes misses developing game and practice plans, but he also enjoys not worrying about the administrative work, parental complaints and responsibilities that come with being a head coach.

When I came on, (Neuendorf) said, I want to know what you think. If theres a problem, deal with it, Morgan said. Im not here just to be a fixture on the bench and be the JV coach. He wants me to help get this team better. He gives me a lot of input.

Adding a former head coach to the staff may have been a no-brainer, but the addition of a college senior was a gamble.

Kreutzfeldt had never met Neuendorf when he wandered into his classroom a week before the start of the 2017-2018 season. He wanted to learn how to be a coach and figured he would essentially be a cheerleader, handling odd jobs for freshman coach Pat Larson.

But the encounter was familiar for Neuendorf. As a junior at Northern State University, Neuendorf went to then-Aberdeen Central coach Terry Small and made a similar request to learn how to coach.

I didnt learn basketball in a college classroom, I learned it by working with Coach Small, Neuendorf said. I did some background checking on him. Hes a guy I thought we wanted to be part of our program. I didnt know how much basketball he knew, but he was a good person and a person we wanted to work with the kids.

Kreutzfeldt eventually acquired a teaching position at Mitchell and remained on the coaching staff, attending every practice, scouting trip or fundraiser for the team. However, it took some time to realize his opinion was valued by the rest of the coaches.

Mitchell assistant coaches Wes Morgan, right, and Ryker Kreutzfeldt watch the action along with head coach Todd Neuendorf during a game against Brandon Valley on Jan. 19 at the Corn Palace. (Matt Gade / Republic)

One of the first realizations came when he learned to create scouting reports on Hudl, an online scouting site. He presented his idea to Neuendorf and the two have collaborated on the game plan for each game.

After three seasons coaching freshmen, Kreutzfeldt was elevated to coach the sophomores this season, and because of his proficiency with the scouting report, he now makes most of the substitution decisions for the varsity team.

If you want to learn, you have to just get in and do it, Kreutzfeldt said. Coaching isnt easy and you just have to do it. You figure out what works and what doesnt. Hopefully seeing it work helps me down the line.

As Kreutzfeldts voice continues to grow within the Kernel program, the idea of being a head coach in the future becomes more attainable. Neuendorf understands he may eventually lose his protege, but Kreutzfeldt is content in his current role.

Having spent the duration of his life in Mitchell, moving away would be a life-changing decision. Plus, after being a part of Neuendorfs initial rebuilding phase that saw the Kernels go 10-52 in the first three seasons, Kreutzfeldt has enjoyed experiencing Mitchells revival this season.

Those first couple years we had some long bus rides and long nights in the back room at the Corn Palace trying to figure it out, Kreutzfeldt said. Now that weve got it rolling a little bit, hopefully we can keep it going. Its a lot of fun and the hard part is enjoying it. Youre always thinking about the next game, but you have to enjoy the wins because theyre hard to get.

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Diverse coaching backgrounds of Wes Morgan, Ryker Kreutzfeldt play crucial role in Kernel basketball rebirth - The Daily Republic

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Bob Wright of Summit Township holds up a baseball in front of his coaching plaques and pictures of his children and grandchildren in his basement. (Jackson Citizen Patriot file photo/Jeana-Dee Allen).BPN

JACKSON If youve picked up a baseball bat or tried on a mitt in Jackson County in the past 60 years, youve probably run into Bob Wright.

The coaching icon and beloved baseball aficionado spent 57 years in the profession, helping create countless opportunities for young student-athletes across southeast Michigan while shaping the lives of generations in the process.

Wright passed away at age 92 on Jan. 21, leaving behind a legacy that reaches far beyond the baseball diamond.

He was Mr. Baseball around Jackson, said current Jackson Northwest athletic director Chris Galloway, who also played baseball for Wright at Jackson High. He gave kids opportunities through the game of baseball, whether it was high school, summer league or fall ball. He gave me tremendous opportunities when I played for him at Jackson High, which helped me in my future career. I learned so much between my time playing for him and then when I came back and coached with him when he was coaching the (Jackson) Wendys (summer-league) team.

He was someone you could look up to, someone that you definitely respected. Just by his demeanor, he demanded respect and he made his players want to play harder for him and excel because they appreciated how much he cared and the opportunities he awarded them.

Over the course of his life, I couldnt imagine the amount of hours that hes committed to the sport and the amount of lives hes touched through his compassion for people and his love of the game.

Wright was inducted into the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1995. During his team at both Jackson High and Jackson Lumen Christi, Wright won 336 games as a varsity baseball coach. His 1988 squad at Jackson High set a school record with 26 victories and won the first Capital Area Conference championship in program history.

The 2006 recipient of the Jackson Citizen Patriots Al Cotton Award, which is given annually to an individual or individuals who have made significant contributions to the Jackson-area sporting community, knew the sport of baseball inside and out and used the athletic endeavor as a chance to give back whenever he could.

There wasnt a situation on a baseball field that Bob Wright hadnt seen, said Jackson Lumen Christi baseball coach Phil Clifford. I would say that he was instrumental in my development as a coach because he had a hand in everything that we do currently. He meant a lot to our program. He was obviously a great coach, but he was even better human being. I really appreciated his mentoring and just general advice.

I knew I could always pick his brain and talk to him about anything. We would spend hours talking about the kids in our program, winter hitting, how the team was developing, and how other teams in our league were looking.

He absolutely loved the game and you could really tell by his passion. He was who he was, and he was just a very kind man and a huge friend of our program. Hes going to be missed by everyone in the Jackson Lumen Christi community.

Wright graduated from Jackson High School in 1945 and served two years in the U.S. Army of Occupation in Kyoto, Japan. He later attended Jackson Community College and graduated from Western Michigan University.

After coaching and teaching at Wyoming Lee High School for eight years, Wright came back to the Jackson community to coach baseball and basketball at Jackson High. During his 29-year tenure with the Vikings, his teams won several district and regional championships in both baseball and basketball. He would retire from coaching varsity sports in 1988 but went on to coach two additional seasons at Jackson Lumen Christi from 2004-05.

Even when he initially retired, Wright couldnt refrain from continuing to apply his passion to the younger generations of athletes in his community. He helped form the Jackson Wendys summer-league team, which compiled the best high school baseball players in the Jackson area and helped promote those student-athletes to possible opportunities at the college level while traveling to tournaments across the Midwest.

Jackson Wendy's coach Bob Wright talks to his players from the third base coaching box, during action in the Tom Conway Baseball Tournament against Mel's Indians at Northwest High School Field. (Jackson Citizen Patriot File photo/Bob Keyes).CITIZEN PATRIOT

According to a 2009 interview with the Jackson Citizen Patriot, Wright coached nearly 180 players from 28 schools in the area during his 20 years with the program. Two-thirds of those athletes went on to play baseball in college, including 17 in Division I. Four of his former players were drafted into the major leagues.

One of the players who has gone to enjoy a professional career in baseball is Ryan LaMarre, who was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2010 MLB Draft and has enjoyed an 11-year career in the big leagues.

Bob was unbelievable, LaMarre told MLive. He was definitely a special man and he had such a huge impact on baseball in the Jackson area. Its a unique, niche community, but anyone whos ever played baseball in the Jackson area knows who Bob Wright is.

I got to play for him for one of his two seasons at Lumen Christi, and I felt like I got to know him pretty well. His knowledge of the game was insane, and he just cared for the players that competed at Lumen. There are some lessons that he taught us that I still think about and he kind of had a hand in shaping how I approached the game.

I remember how much work he put in just to make us better players. He would set up practices in the gym in the winter, organize practices during the fall, and I think just to see kind of that dedication to his craft was something that Ill never forget.

The little things often loomed large for Wright and some of those minor details are still entrenched in present-day major leaguers.

I remember to this day that he didnt like when outfielders took a knee during a pitching change, recalled LaMarre. He thought that made you look like you either didnt care about the game, you were too tired or you werent interested in playing anymore.

Even now, I could even be in the major leagues, and I dont think Ive ever taken a knee during a pitching change even when all my teammates are resting or trying to get off their feet. I think that was just ingrained in me by Bob and thats something I just kept me with all these years. Its small in the grand scheme of things, but its a lesson that I took to heart and something Ive used throughout my career.

Wright often went the extra mile for his players and their families, as he tried to make travel baseball a more reasonable venture for anyone in his community with the same passion for the game.

He did everything within his power to make baseball an affordable sport for any kid in Jackson who was interested, said LaMarre. He would put on fundraisers to help lower the cost for players families and lessen the financial burden of uniforms, equipment and travel expenses and he just genuinely cared about his community.

It wasnt about wins and losses with him. It wasnt about whether or not you went on to play in college or not or played in the pros. All he cared about was what kind of person did you become after playing for him. I think thats what made him so special to a lot of people.

Jackson baseball coach Bob Wright. (Jackson Citizen Patriot file photo/Marcia Butterfield).CITIZEN PATRIOT

Building relationships was critical in Wrights eyes, which is why he spent most of his energy promoting young athletes he saw potential in.

Ill never forget the time he came over to my parents house my freshman year and met with me and my parents, said Galloway of his initial encounters with Wright. He talked with me and my parents about a plan he had for my baseball career and giving me opportunities to not only play in high school, but summer ball, and trying to get me to the next level, because he saw potential in me. Ill never forget that because coaches dont do that. Ive never heard of a coach coming to the house of a freshman and talking to him and his parents.

I dont think there are any former Jackson-area baseball players from ages 28 to 70 that dont know who Bob Wright was or what he stood for. Hes helped mold the lives of several generations of men and helped create memories for a lot of families.

If Wright did see potential in you, he was bound to push you in practice and demand a level of consistent effort that helped create a winning culture in the Jackson baseball community.

The first word that comes to mind when I think of Bob Wright is class, said Mick Kalahar, a former player and coach under Wright at Lumen Christi. He always did everything the right way, whether it was in relation to baseball or just treating people with class and respect. He was also a fiery competitor, but he wasnt someone who was going to scream at you or talk down to you.

He was going to push you hard during practice and maybe get after you a little bit if you were loafing or not giving your best effort to prepare for the next game, but he was never a big yeller during games. He always believed that how you play is a direct result of how well you prepared during the week at practice, so there was no need for him to yell and scream at you. He let your play do the talking.

Even when a player would hang up his cleats for good, Wright continued to keep an eye on what his former standouts accomplished off the diamond.

He took a lot of pride in what his players went on to do, said Kalahar. He took a lot of pride in what they were able to accomplish after their careers were over. He wanted all of his players to contribute to their community and a lot of them have become leaders in different ways.

Whether its a superintendent, a school administrator, leaders of companies or coaches, he wanted to create a generation of leaders. I think he really had a widespread impact on the whole community in Jackson and I think that reaches beyond sports in a lot of ways.

Wrights legacy will live on for generations to come due to his personal commitment to making his community a better place and the relationships he established, often from the backseat of the dugout.

You would think it would be difficult for a guy who was 87 years old to relate to a teenager, but Bob had a way of connecting with young people, said Clifford. He would talk to kids about baseball, but hed spend even more time talking about life. He would sit in the dugout and talk to kids about how school was going, how life at home was going and just really made everyone feel important and I think the players really respected him for that.

This will be my 11th year as a head coach at Lumen this spring. Weve won five district titles, a couple of regional titles, and a state championship, and I believe that a piece of all of those championships are Bob Wrights.

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Bob Wright remembered as coaching icon, molder of men in Jackson community - MLive.com

BARNEGAT, NJ - Barnegat High School Coach Sue Rogers induction as the first local coach into the New Jersey Coaches Hall of Fame deserves its share of accolades. However, Rogers personal commitment to Barnegat students puts her in an even higher class.

Rogers employs coaching into her daily routine as she interacts with students. December of 2019 found Rogers dipping into her toolbox of skills.

The story begins with a teenaged student who transferred from another district to Barnegat schools. The fact that he was an athlete and Rogers a coach perhaps contributed to their bond.

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The young man just made the Bengals football team when Rogers came into his life. Again, the Barnegat coach was not there to lead him in training exercises. Her role kicked in during what most would call her day job.

As a learning disabilities teacher consultant, Rogers serves as a member of Barnegats child study team. Even before COVID-19, she made her share of home visits.

No doubt the reason Rogers found herself stopping in to see the new transfer remains forever embedded in her mind. The student suffered from a terminal illness and ultimately passed away.

Rogers stayed on the young mans team even after his death. She was one of the worshipers at his beautiful funeral and helped the family organize the get together after the celebration of life.

Its one of those strange coincidences that makes people wonder. The Barnegat Board of Education honored Rogers at their meeting this week. The district also shared accolades about Michele Cucinotta, whose role as a school counselor just expanded.

Whats so interesting that the two were bothappreciated at the same meeting? Cucinotta also gave up a Saturday to attend the young mans funeral. The decedents little brother found his school counselors kind eyes in a sea of family members. It turns out that coaches and cheerleaders both resemble a place of comfort for Barnegat students.

I do believe teaching and coaching are integrally related, said Rogers. I love both.

Rogers came to the Barnegat Township School District in 2003, before the high school opened. She coached a number of sports at Pinelands Regional High School andled the girls tennis team upon its inception.

Barnegat High School claimed the titles for five girls tennis Shore Conference B-South division championships in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015. Rogers was not only the team leader for those games. She also began coaching varsity girls golf when the program started in 2008.

Several of Rogers students continued with tennis and golf competitions after they enrolled in college. As the coach sees it, both sports offer other opportunities.

Ive had students who told me how golf and tennis skills have worked to their benefit after they finished college and entered the workforce, Rogers shared. Its helped them in the corporate world to strengthen contacts.

As a learning specialist, it should not come as a surprise that Rogers has a special place in her heart for children who compete in Special Olympics. The Barnegat coach earned the distinction as the New Jersey Special Olympics Tennis Coach at the 2018 National Games in Seattle.

Barnegat Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Latwis presented Rogers with a challenge coin at the Board of Education meeting held earlier this week. The first challenge coin went to individuals who may have saved a Barnegat mans life.

Latwis said that the district made up a special Bengals jacket for Rogers. They intended to decorate it with all of the coachs accomplishments but ran out of room.

I had the pleasure of getting to know Sue when I first came to the district as the Director of Special Ed, said Latwis. There are so many things that shes done as a coach and for the community. Shes an even better person (than the coach award signifies).

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Barnegat Coach Inducted into State Hall of Fame: Honor Extends Further - TAPinto.net