The Tech Forum Planning Committee is excited to present a hybrid event via Zoom and at the International (Second Floor) Ballroom of the Iowa Memorial Union. You can add the event to your calendar and we will share the Zoom link with online attendees closer to the event.
Below you will find Tech Forum's schedule, “lightning” talks abstracts, details of the keynote presentation about Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Good Lab, information about Associate Vice President and CIO Steve Fleagle and Health Care Associate Vice President and CIO Lee Carmen.
For those who are able to attend in person, a light breakfast and a lunch will be served. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability and would like to request an accommodation, please contact us at 319-384-3423 or techforum@uiowa.edu.
Schedule
- 8:00 a.m.
Breakfast & Check-in
- 8:30 a.m.
Welcome and opening comments: Emcee
- 8:35 a.m.
CIO Presentations/Q&A: Steve Fleagle and Lee Carmen
- 9:35 a.m.
Lightning Talks–Part 1
- 10:15 a.m.
Break
- 10:30 a.m.
Lightning Talks–Part 2
- 11:10 a.m.
Keynote
- 12:00 p.m.
IT Leadership Award Presentation
- 12:15 p.m.
Lunch
Chief Information Officer presentations and Q&A
Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer Steve Fleagle
Health Care Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer Lee Carmen
Keynote: Harnessing the Power of AI for Good

Presenter: Meghana Kshirsagar, research scientist in the AI for Good lab at Microsoft
Meghana focuses on AI for Health problems involving proteomics, genomics and population health. Prior to joining Microsoft, she completed her postdoctoral studies at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She holds a PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University where her graduate studies were supported by the Richard King Mellon foundation fellowship for Life Sciences. She has previously worked in the machine-learning group at IBM Research and at Yahoo! Labs. Meghana has received the best paper award at COMAD 2010. She was also awarded the Ray Ozzie fellowship during her graduate studies.
Description: Advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have paved the way for transformative solutions in various domains. This talk aims to explore the promising frontier of AI for social good applications, with a specific focus on geospatial analysis, wildlife monitoring, and health applications. We will explore real-world success stories and look at some ongoing initiatives at Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab that utilize AI to address pressing societal issues, emphasizing the potential to create a positive impact on our environment, wildlife, and human well-being.
Lightning Talks
Information Security & Technology Ecosystems
Presenter: Zach Furst, Chief Information Security Officer
Description: This talk will explore the evolution of security & technology ecosystems within university IT environments. We'll discuss strategies for integrating advanced security tools and frameworks to protect sensitive data, safeguard digital resources, and counter cyber threats. The session will also delve into the benefits of fostering a culture of cybersecurity awareness, and how a holistic security ecosystem enhances the overall resilience of academic institutions.
A Voyage through Patient Reported Outcome Measures Optimization
Presenters: Matt Watson, MBA, RN, Senior Application Developer, Department of Orthopedics & Rehabilitation/Health Care Information Systems (HCIS) & Morgan Gulley, application developer, HCIS
Description: The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation is a pioneer for establishment and collection of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) from patients. Global PROMs are validated self-report questionnaires that can be used across disciplines and locations for assessment of patient health. PROMs give an individual score for each patient based on how they answer questions about their health condition. Starting in 2018, a multidisciplinary team in the orthopedics department set out to review the workflows in clinic as well as expectations providers had for PROMs. This allowed the team to identify opportunities for improvement and optimization of our PROM collection rates. The team’s first improvement was to utilize standardized PROMs available through Epic instead of legacy collection methods previously used. This included selecting PROMIS Global Health, a global PROM to collect across service specialties. The next step was to show improvements to our clinical staff and our patients. Reports of PROM capture rates and utilization rates of PROM score displays through Epic for patient accessibility were shared monthly with providers. The implementation resulted in standardization of PROMs in the department and across specialties, improved capture rates, and increased awareness of the importance of PROM collection for patient involvement in care.
The Iowa Health Data Resource (IHDR): an Innovative Framework for Transforming the Clinical Health Data Ecosystem at the UI
Presenter: Heath Davis, IHDR assistant director, UI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science
Description: Real-world data plays a critical role in advancing research across the broad spectrum of healthcare. With our Enterprise Data Warehouse for Research (EDW4R), we collect and curate a variety of patient data from diverse sources housed within the broader health sciences entity at the University of Iowa. However, access to data needed to drive research was limited because we lacked the infrastructure to gather, collate, fully protect, de-identify, and deliver data formats customized to the research question. This challenge was compounded by gaps in data literacy and understanding of data in the electronic health record (EHR). In addition, demand for services to work with these data exceeded capacity, putting a strain on both the data workforce and scientific teams to manage, understand, and analyze data in a secure, compliant way. In response, we developed a novel data ecosystem to mitigate these challenges. Informed by research focusing on EDW4R instances, we describe the Iowa Health Data Resource (IHDR) an innovative ecosystem to address this limitation in capacity through 1) creating an interdisciplinary team of “data liaisons,” 2) building a secure computational environment for analysis, and 3) establishing a series of innovative transformative datasets.
Cultivating Belonging Through Conversation
Presenters: OneIT Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and OneIT Belonging Committee
Description: Taking time for a conversation is important especially now that we have so many different work modalities to contend with. The OneIT DEI committee and OneIT Belonging are partnering to share a model conversation with you in two acts. We'll share with you two ways that we can continue to connect with each other.
Tippie College and The Metaverse: creating and implementing a digital twin of campus
Presenter: Jim Chaffee, Chief Operations Officer, Tippie College of Business, and adjunct instructor of business analytics
Description: A digital twin metaversity campus is a digital replication of a real-life institution’s physical grounds, buildings, and areas. These Metaversities allow students, faculty, and others to experience their campus grounds in virtual reality. The Tippie College of Business has partnered with VictoryXR to develop a virtual place to explore and learn. This short presentation will highlight what we have accomplished so far and what the vision for the future is.
Communication and Collaboration with Microsoft Teams: Present and Future Direction
Presenter: Tracy Scott, Senior IT Director, ITS Enterprise Services
Description: Microsoft Teams is the standard collaboration platform for OneIT. Learn about some of its features and capabilities, our technology roadmap and some of the new functionality coming in future.
Anatomy of a Cyber Attack
Presenter: Zach Furst, Chief Information Security Officer
Description: In this insightful presentation, we delve into the complex and rapidly evolving world of cyber threats to our institution. We will discuss the various stages of a cyber attack with real-world examples, and evaluate how attackers exploit vulnerabilities in systems and networks. We will also discuss social engineering and how it plays a crucial role in initiating attacks. The presentation aims to equip participants with a nuanced understanding of cyber attacks, allowing them to identify potential threats to strengthen their cyber resilience.
The New Tools of Podcasting
Presenter: Adam Kempenaar, adjunct instructor, Sport and Recreation Management
Description: From automated transcription with script editing to video capture and AI-generated overdubbing, new platforms are reinventing how podcasting – and teaching podcasting – is done. Adam Kempenaar will discuss his podcasting journey and highlight this new technology.
Tech Forum Committee Members

Nicole Dahya

Michael Espey

Tim Flynn

Barbara Newhall

Jessica Richardson

Bryan Ringen

Jehu Torres
