Chapter Tackles Big Data

The chapter hosted a panel discussion on the topic of big data to educate and inform its members during its May luncheon at the Moffett Field Historical Society Museum. The five-person panel with a moderator discussed how big data impacts their respective fields: academia, law, research and development, and scientific research. The moderator and panel members were: Dr. Deven Kalra, vice president of engineering at AtHoc (moderator); Dr. Hsuanwei Michelle Chen, assistant professor, San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science; Satya Narayan, attorney with Royse Law; Charles Burgoyne, vice president of research and development at Mach 1 Development; and Dr. M. Windy McNerney, neuroscientist at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories. In the panel's opening remarks to the chapter, they pointed out that big data surrounds everything and companies are wrestling with a host of new issues new due to big data. Problem areas include: volume, analysis, storage of the data collected and security from unauthorized access to ensuring availability. There is an obvious cost associated with backing up big data to ensure availability when dealing with the volume and velocity of the data being collected. Burgoyne postulated as the world enters the age of unified big data and begins to more accurately model the word, there will be a lean toward a reduction in chaos. The panel also fielded questions from the audience, who tended to be concerned with the legal and privacy aspects of big data.

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