Driving Disaster Management Innovation for Federal Agencies
The ability of technology to transform public services has always driven my work, and my time at Amazon Web Services (AWS) supporting Abt Associates stands out as a prime example of this innovation. One of our most forward-thinking projects explored how machine learning and precision geography could enhance disaster preparedness and response for agencies like the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
My role was to lead the collaboration between Abt’s IT managers and AWS technical teams, ensuring that all the key players worked together to turn this vision into reality. This involved coordinating between Abt’s leadership, AWS cloud experts, and machine learning specialists, ensuring that the proof-of-concept project had the necessary resources, technical guidance, and strategic alignment to move forward successfully.
Abt sought to merge satellite imagery, climatic and health data, and historical records with high-precision geospatial datasets like elevation models to generate actionable intelligence. The goal was to strengthen critical infrastructure and supply chains in disaster-prone regions, such as protecting key transportation routes in Africa from flooding that could disrupt humanitarian aid efforts.
To power this initiative, Amazon SageMaker played a key role in streamlining the machine learning model development process. It significantly improved data training and analysis workflows, accelerating the development of applications that could predict disease outbreaks, enhance targeted mosquito control efforts, and identify drought-affected communities in need of urgent assistance.
The potential impact of this work extends far beyond disaster response—it underscores how AI and machine learning can fundamentally improve public health and safety. This collaboration represented a new frontier in using cloud-based AI to ensure that federal initiatives are proactive, precise, and well-informed. I am proud to have played a pivotal role in bringing together the right teams to drive this initiative forward, and I look forward to seeing its ongoing impact on global resilience and humanitarian efforts.