“In the Stack, but no Admin Privs:
Value Streams, Metadata,  Inflection Points and Missed Opportunities in AI, Software Engineering and Standardization in Support of Sustainability”

with Mark Underwood, Senior InfoSec & AI Consultant at Krypton Brothers

Date/Time: Tuesday, March 18, 2025; 6:00-7:00 pm PST, 9-10 pm EST

Register: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/470125

Abstract:

Software’s near ubiquity in most systems would suggest that its practitioners are in the lead when it comes to sustainability initiatives. No doubt there are courageous exceptions, but generally speaking software engineers follow, not lead where sustainability and climate are concerned.

Generative AI has added a heavy hammer to the toolbox, but the leadership of sustainability teams remains unchanged. This discussion surveys several mostly disjunct initiatives to meet the challenge of a dangerously warming planet. The survey includes a brief overview of these initiatives and their potential promise. They include:  (1)  current and proposed efforts by professional associations to tackle the problem as a cross functional initiative leveraging competencies within a profession; (2) value stream analysis and supply chain management; (3) DevOps; (4) metadata and observability; (5) agile methodologies; (6) model based systems engineering and complexity; (7) human factors; (8) AI; and (9) the role of standardization. The survey concludes with a short inventory of missed opportunities, but identifies several inflection points on the horizon that could result in software engineers moving up the stack – perhaps gaining the privilege of bending the curve on the way to the control room.

Biography:

Now  a Senior InfoSec & AI Consultant at Krypton Brothers, Mark Underwood recently ended a seven year stint as AVP, Information Security Strategic Initiatives Advisor at a Fortune 200 financial services firm. Interests include Big Data security & privacy, knowledge graphs, ontologies for model-based software engineering, DevSecOps, DevOps for Ops and domain-specific frameworks. He has promoted the use of ontology-based systems to support cybersecurity and published two chapters in software engineering; they cover the use of social media in intranets and complex event processing for cybersecurity in IoT. Previously Underwood has served as lead engineer or principal investigator on artificial intelligence projects for DARPA, Army and Air Force research laboratories. He served as co-chair of the 2015 Ontology Summit focused on the Internet of Things.

Underwood holds several certifications: ASQ CSQE (Certified Software Quality Engineer), ISACA security/privacy certifications CRISC (Risk and Information Systems Control) and CDPSE (Data Privacy Solutions Engineer)

He is an occasional electric violinist and poet.

Standards collaboration activities encompass information assurance, AI, transparency and algorithmic ethics for autonomous systems. He is current Chair of IEEE P2957 Big Data Governance and Metadata Management and IEEE P3396 Recommended Practice for Defining and Evaluating Artificial Intelligence (AI) Risk, Safety, Trustworthiness, and Responsibility working groups. From 2013-2018, Underwood served as co-chair of the NIST Big Data Public Working Group’s security and privacy subgroup, . He also contributed to IEEE/ISO 2675 (DevOps), IEEE 7001 (Standard for Transparency of Autonomous Systems, IEEE 7010 (Recommended Practice for Assessing the Impact of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems on Human Well-Being) and IEEE 7000 Model Process for Addressing Ethical Concerns during System Design.