College of Arts + Sciences Seminar SeriesAcademics, Inspiration, Loss, & Success

Academics, Inspiration, Loss, & Success
Mark Salamango, CTO Fifth Eye

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Problem: We are living in an interesting time. Technology is both creating and solving problems at an alarming rate. AI seems to be the silver bullet buzz word in the tech space right now. Is it the correct solution to the problem or are we reinforcing the old adage “when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail?“ As Simon Sinek says, we need to start with “Why” before we get to the “How” and “What”. Many times we get this backwards and it rarely ends well.

What you will hear: Mark follows his NABT (Never A Boring Talk) strategy to walk through several examples of projects where he was able to distill down the “why” of a problem, build a team, and create a solution that was adopted and deployed. You will hear about failures, successes, and how to discern the difference. Some project examples include Military Vehicle Analytics, Security at the “Big Game”, and FDA Cleared AI that predicts patient deterioration. You will also see a demo of Mark’s latest venture, an application called AHI.

Your takeaway: You will learn about where Mark went right and where he went wrong in zeroing in on the right problems to solve, how to build a team, and then driving to a solution.

About Mark

Mark Salamango has worked in technology since his first paid programming job when he was 17. Since then he has managed teams, products, and transformations in some of the most innovative places in the US. Mark received his BS in Computer Science from the University of Michigan and his MS in Computer Science from Lawrence Technological University where he studied software architecture and robotics.

Mark was selected as Crain’s 40 Under 40, has given a talk at TEDxDetroit on robotics, and won Professional of the Year at Michigan Medicine among other accolades. He has been the keynote speaker at several conferences and is passionate about using technology to solve problems.