On 23 July 2020, IEEE BUET Student Branch arranged the 4th episode of the tech talk webinar series based on the theme “Research & Innovation Challenges during Covid-19“. It was jointly organized and co-hosted by IEEE IAS BUET Student Branch Chapter, IEEE SPS BUET Student Branch Chapter, IEEE RAS BUET Student Branch Chapter, IEEE EMBS BUET Student Branch Chapter, IEEE BUET Student Branch WIE Affinity Group, & IEEE Bangladesh Section. The purpose of this webinar was to share the ideas of research facilities and opportunities during the pandemic of COVID-19. It was attended by 70 passionate participants from different countries.
The webinar was initiated at 5.00 PM as Dr. Celia Shahnaz welcomed everyone and Suhee Sanjana Mehjabin, Chairperson, IEEE BUET Student Branch WIE Affinity Group commenced the official meeting by introducing the esteemed speakers Dr. Vydeki Vijayakumar and Koruthu P Varughese by reading out their short bios to familiarize the audience with their outstanding research and awards. Then she requested the moderator, Dr. Celia Shahnaz, to initiate the talk. Addressing the bios as the celebrations of contributions of the speakers to their respective fields, the moderator thanked both of them for joining the webinar and requested Dr. Vydeki to start her presentation. Her presentation was based on the topic titled “Knowing your Children during Covid-19”.
Firstly, she asked the audience to take part in a short survey. After that, she presented her current research work on Special Learning Disabilities(SLD) such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and dyspraxia. She then talked about some screening techniques for identifying such learning disabilities. Currently, she’s trying to develop a website to conduct dyslexia tests. She also discussed her future plan to operate such tests on a mobile app for easy access. Finally, her talk came to an end with a Q&A session where she answered inquisitive queries from the participants. There was one participant from the webinar who also shared his experience of working with blind and deaf people. Later, Dr. Celia thanked Dr. Vydeki for presenting her wonderful work and insightful talk. She also inspired the audience to do some research that can help and solve the problems of their local community. After that, Satyaki Banik, the Chairperson at IEEE BUET Student Branch took a screenshot of the group view of the participants on zoom which was considered as a group photo.
Dr. Celia then moved the session towards Mr. Koruthu’s presentation and requested him to share his experience. Mr. Koruthu first expressed his wish to visit Bangladesh. After that, he showed some practical examples of “Engineering Applications in Health care” like the digital stethoscope, telemedicine, wearable ECG device, etc. He also talked about the applications of robots and artificial intelligence in healthcare. Moreover, he discussed a specific disease named Parkinson Disease and its treatment method using modern engineering called Deep Brain Stimulation(DBS). He then briefly explained the Engineering Applications used in Deep Brain Stimulation surgery by showing a short video. Finally, he answered some questions from the participants and that brought his presentation to an end. Dr. Celia also shed some light on the uses of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning in health care and shared her involvement in such research.
The program finally came to an end when Satyaki Banik thanked everyone for joining and utilizing their time with a fruitful discussion. He provided a feedback form to the participants and ended the session.