Okay, good morning, everybody. Glad to see you all here today. I want to start with we have a couple of new people. You're going to hear from our presenters in a little bit. So I'm not going to ask them to introduce themselves right now. But we do have a few other new people, I believe. And so I wanted to Tina, would you like to introduce yourself?
Hi, I'm Tina. I'm a public and I am working with the Common Sense Media for the next 10 months. Nice media.
Cool. glad. Glad to have you. Glad you could join us today. Thank you. You bet. Anybody else that's new today?
Yeah. I think Bob did a nice job. But my name is James Roxburgh. I go by Jim. And I'm a global strategic advisor. I retired last year, I was the CEO for banner telehealth for the Banner system. And thank you, Ed, for inviting me. And thank you for Steve for allowing me in.
Sure. Glad to have you. Well, I look forward to hearing from you in just a couple of minutes. And so anybody else that's new today? If not, let's let's move on to the agenda this morning. And excuse me. So we have a great contingent from the broadband office today. And so Karen, you want to just introduce your crew? And then we'll, we'll jump into I believe Perla is going to do the update this morning?
Yeah, sure. And I think Sandip introduced Perla last week. But Perla is the Broadband Program Manager for the Arizona commerce authority. And she's, you know, responsible for assisting the broadband office and getting all of these planning documents and then executing those documents to distribute nearly a billion dollars in Arizona for broadband infrastructure. And so that I think is Krystal Saverse on I'm looking through, so it was also on? Yes. And then Krystal, I believe she was on last week as well. Krystal is the broadband data and GIS analyst and hopefully, Krystal, I got that title. Right. It's a mouthful. But she is our data person and is responsible for compiling all of this data and mapping, you know, to ensure that we distribute that nearly $1 billion appropriately across the state.
Right. We're glad to have you and you guys are doing some great work. I know it's a lot of work and not enough people to do it all. We'd really appreciate all the hard work you guys are doing. So moving on. Let's let's start Perla, if you would like to take a few minutes to give it kind of give us an update on what's happening.
Yeah, thank you so much, Steve. We're really excited because the initial proposal Volume One has been posted on our website for public comment. The volume one is serves as the first document of two submissions within the initial proposal, the first volume response to four of the 19 requirements within the initial proposal. As per the NOFO. The requirements touched upon the initial proposal Volume One would be existing broadband funding, where we identify the efforts funded by the federal government to deploy broadband and close the digital divide in Arizona. We also again to unserved and underserved locations, you can find location ideas within the documents attached on the website. We identify these locations within the state of Arizona using the most recently published National Broadband Map. We also have the a list of community anchor institutions where we describe and identify how Arizona has applied the definition and the term of community anchor institution and identify the eligible community anchor institutions in the state and as well as eligible CAIs in applicable tribal lands. I know, Steve, that you had asked me yesterday on how we can continue to send more CAIs and if you want to just email them over to me, I think that's going to be the most effective way so I can get them over to Krystal, me or Krystal or Karen. Honestly you guys can email them over and we will take those and add them. We heard the NOFO we are to first identify and serve the unserved and underserved locations and with anyone eligible funds leftover we can address the CIA's. The next requirement we also address is the challenge process. It's a detailed plan on how the Arizona Commerce Authority will conduct a challenge process for eligible locations and community anchor institutions as per the NOFA. The Arizona commerce authority as well includes DSL modification and provides guidance provided by NTIA, the Arizona Commerce Authority will treat the locations where the National Broadband Map shows to have available qualifying broadband service. And once the challenge process is posted, we will then begin to see locations that either were qualifying as not served or underserved. And we will address those as well. I know some locations will show Oh, I have Wi Fi here. But when you do a speed test, we'll show that it's different. It's a different story. So you can challenge that once we have that available. But you're able to read our plan as to how we're going to do that in the initial proposal volume. When the particles live again, like like I said, everyone will have that chance to register those entities. And in March, we will begin a deduplication process. We are just calling we've dealt with on a little bit. I don't know there's a question.
That was somebody.
Um, we're currently just in the beginning process of our analysis. And we have not yet chosen a vendor. But the initial proposal volume one is available. I shared it with Steve, I saw an email from Steve shared everybody. So everyone has access to that document and is able to provide feedback on our website. Thank you guys so much.
For the questions.
I'm just going to ask Perla you said I couldn't catch what you're saying was coming in March and the vendor you're choosing what was that about?
In March, we begin the deduplication process. So if any repeated addresses, we will begin that process in March. But we have not yet chosen a vendor for the challenge process. That's it. We're just in the analysis stages right now.
Oh, I see. Okay. Any other questions for Perla. Perla. Glad to have you. Thanks for for joining us again today. Really appreciate.
Thank you, Steve, thank you so much for having me. It's been awesome. Joining these group calls?
You bet. And so Nicole, I saw you're here this morning. I haven't seen you in a while on a kind of any updates for us. Take the call with you. Introduce yourself again. Please,
Good morning. I am the I'm Nicole Umayam. I'm the federal program officer with NTIA for the state of Arizona. So that means that I am the grant administrator for the Bead and the digital equity programs that are coming to Arizona. So that represents nearly a billion dollars in funding for broadband and broadband use and adoption efforts. So I get to work closely with the state broadband office here as well as other stakeholders in moving, moving Arizona's broadband initiatives along and of course, making sure everything is in compliance with federal standards and being the information link between the federal government and the state and all of our stakeholders. So it's it's good timing, because I'm going to be hosting a couple of information sessions on the initial proposal, which is the very document that it Perla mentioned, half of which is out for public comment right now. I apologize because I have it was originally scheduled as a webinar, but I'm changing it to an information session so that it's Zoom meeting format like this. But on October 24, I'm holding an info session on sort of the initial proposal 101 There are 19 different requirements separated into two volumes. Volume One is posted for public comment right now. Volume Two is has a lot of additional information that this gets into the weeds of how Arizona plans to open up project areas for bid which is to identify all of those locations that will need broadband service. So this session is really intended for all stakeholders to have a little bit of an understanding of what those federal program requirements are to make sure that you're equipped to participate in those states, states planning processes and to provide comments on volume one and then the forthcoming Volume Two once that's posted. There are special considerations for Tribal governments in the initial proposal, the the bead funding is essentially a formula grant that's awarded directly to states and territories. And tribes are eligible applicants to apply for funding. It's through the tribe. But in this program, unlike NTIA other broadband programs, it doesn't go directly to the tribes. But there's other there's other mechanisms within this one year planning period of of the initial proposal through the final proposal that has special consideration for tribes. So I have an information session, also on October 24. For tribal broadband stakeholders, I'm going to have to share the registration link at a later time with Steve so he can help distribute it. But I'm also happy to, you know, answer questions offline about the initial proposal and the state's press here. But looking forward to making sure everybody has the info that they need. We'll also, as the state broadband office is ready to start doing some public engagements around this. We'll be we'll be supporting them as well. For everyone's reminder, so we're in this one year planning period, some states have submitted those those plans for public comments, they're all listed by NTIA at this link here. So if you're curious about what other states have been putting in their initial proposals and their five year broadband action plans, or in their digital equity plans, they are posted here. Of course, I will have to say the caveat. Everything posted here with the exception of Louisiana's broadband plan has not officially been accepted or approved by NTIA. So these are just public posts publicly posted for comment at this period.
Okay, great, then Nicole when certainly when you're ready to publicize that, those sessions? Obviously, you'll send it to me, and I'll get it out to everybody.
Yeah, Steve, if I could just add, I just wanted to provide some timing for this for the broadband office. As we said, the volume one is posted now it was posted on October 2, and it will run the public comment period will run through November 1. And the goal is to get volume two posted either on the first or the second. And then that will run 30 days from the volume to public comment period. And then the official submission to NTIA the deadline is December 27. The goal is to have that done before the holiday but the official deadline is December 27.
And just a reminder that the email that I sent out, has the link and the information about how to provide your input. So encourage you to check it out. Okay. So before we move on, Sharon Mativa. If I can put you on the on the spot here, would you like to introduce yourself? If you're there Sharon, are you there? Well, we'll come back to her, Sharon least was if I'm not mistaken, with EDA. And we're really pleased you dropped in last week and is here today. So hopefully, she'll come back online. And we can get a little update from her about what's going on with with EDA. So with that, just a reminder. And Karen, if I can also put you on the spot where we've announced before that the governor has created an inter Interagency Council on broadband. And I have the information about it. I've sent that out. But Karen, could you just take a minute to talk about that?
Yes. So the inner agency and broadband Advisory Council was established by the governor's office. I see you have Maggie ferries contact information there. They held their first meeting last month. I believe the council is going to meet quarterly however, they are working on establishing the working groups that will encompass more than just the advisory board members and So they're reaching out to people to see if there's an interest in, in participating in those working groups. If Perla is still on, she may have a little bit more information, because I know she's working with Maggie on collecting that information. And off the top of my head, I'm gonna see if I can get all of them. Right. The working groups are going to be permitting and infrastructure. That thing
that's on the screen there.
You should have tested me. Yeah, so I think at this point, they're they're in the process of establishing those working groups and setting up the meetings. But the actual Advisory Council is going to be quarterly. So Perla Do you have anything else to add on that?
No, I was looking through my notes to see if there's more, but I think you've covered it all. Most working groups that to participate in the working groups will close on October 6, so tomorrow.
And I believe that those are virtual if I'm not mistaken.
Yes, those will be taking place virtually.
Okay. So I'm sorry, what's tomorrow?
The date to know, like if we're closing to sign up for a working group on October.
Got it. And again, reminder that that information is in the email that I sent out with the notice of the meeting. And it has the link on how you can sign up for a working group if you so choose. And somebody wants to add something. Or comment?
No, you actually answered it. I was gonna say the link does not the hyperlink doesn't work in this on the screen for
reasons, but no problem. Okay. So, anything else? Before we move on anything for Karen? Okay, if not, let's get into our presentation this morning. And I'm going to introduce EDD Thiele that is a longtime, longtime friend and participant in Greater Arizona E Learning Association. We met probably 20 or 30 years ago. And he is going to introduce Jim and, and Dr. Bob Roth, to us today. And to hear a little bit about the work that they're doing. As you all know, we've been very interested in telehealth and so both of them have pretty extensive experience and the telehealth space. So we invited them to join us today. So Edd, do you want to introduce Jim and Bob, please?
Well, thanks, Steve. Good morning, everybody. It's an honor to be able to introduce two of my colleagues today, Dr. Bob Roth, and Jim Roxburgh. together along with Dr. Patricia Ruiz, who is chief of Neurology at the Phoenix VA Hospital. We're forming a consulting company. We're going to collaborate with companies or groups who want to expand access to medical and psychosocial care by leveraging telehealth services to medically underserved patients. Bob is a marketing man's marketing man, a real strategist. He's collaborated with many Blue Ribbon companies and nonprofits. His resume includes reinvigorating the Grand Canyon Railway as president and CEO. He's also worked with the Frank Lloyd Wright foundation sit down on the Chamber of Commerce, the Navajo Nation and the Utah Navajo industries group. Jim has more than 40 years of healthcare experience in both operational and clinical roles. He's worked exclusively in telehealth leadership for more than a decade. Jim retired from Banner Health as CEO for telehealth in 2022. And prior to this, he was co founder and chief operations officer at Veemen, which is a telemedicine technology and services company. And currently, he's working in an advisory role to support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health with the development and implementation of their tele critical care program. So I'm going to turn things over to Bob to fill in the blanks. Bob Ross.
Oh, yeah.
Take your mute button. They go.
Ah, there we go. Hi, everyone. Thank you, Jim. I'm Bob Roth. And as you are aware, broadband internet is essential for most telehealth services, because providing those services relies on video conferencing, remote monitoring, and other electronic communication. In Arizona, about 2.8 million people 2.8 million people have limited and in many cases no access to medical care. 2.8 million people just in Arizona. So about 2.8 million people. Just the availability of telehealth care would make a tremendous difference. Simply defined telehealth care is the use of digital technology to to provide remote health care services. And telehealth can be used to provide a wide range of services including urgent care for common illnesses and injuries, monitoring and management of chronic diseases, mental health services, including counseling and therapy and connections for patients with specialists who are not in their local area. But there's one very big challenge one critical challenge to providing telehealth care. It requires internet connectivity, and generally high speed internet connectivity. Jim Roxburgh will share a little bit more about the nuts and bolts of our work. And then we would very much appreciate any and all questions and suggestions from you, ladies and gentlemen. So Jim, if I may, I'll hand it to you, sir. Thanks, Bob.
Appreciate it. And again, Steve, thank you for allowing us in myself to participate. And it's a pleasure to meet you all, virtually. I and I know probably all and most of you are very aware of the benefits of telehealth. I'll just talk a little bit about what what my burden is for the past 10 plus years. And Edie you, you made me feel very old and you said over 40 years of healthcare experience, but yeah, it's actually it's about 48. Long story short, my first job was as a, as an orderly, a nursing aide. And when I was a teenager in a skilled nursing facility, about three decades later, I actually set that facility up for telehealth, it was it was it was very interesting. And I remember I knew when I was walking there, 30 years later, I remembered all the places I used to sleep because I worked nights. But the the the challenge of that we face in this country, and then I as Bob said, I've been introduced and I've been working with the Saudi Ministry of Health and the National Guard and helping them with their programs in Saudi Arabia is connecting the provider to the patient, wherever the patient is. And the other burden that that I've literally from day one of being involved in telehealth that I felt is, is being able to go across the care continuum, and treating a patient in their home in an ambulance in the IDI and the clinic hospital, wherever the need is. And and that's not easy, and to do it in a sensible, simple way. Because I believe we have there are there are enough providers to provide the care the challenge is to get them to the patient or to the bedside. And the work that you all are doing is music to my ears because without connectivity and telehealth, you have nothing. So I'll just mention and I'll pause there, but I'll mention there. There are two critical things that I found in my I experienced with telehealth and, and it happened the first. Literally the first week, I started my career with the Mercy Telehealth Network, which became the Dignity Health Telemedicine Network. We started with four sites and in 2010, good as lovin. And when I left there in 2016, we had about 44 sites, and dignity now has been absorbed by common spirit. And the first first week on the job, I went to the neuro division meeting, because we started with telestroke. And one of the neurologists said, This doesn't work because the nurses at the partner side were this, folks, I don't know what they're doing. And I thought because we never told them. So that that led me to, to develop this idea that makes a lot of sense, I'm sure you'll agree that it's not only the technology, you'd have the best technology, it's the clinical workflows and how they're developed from the partner site, or the spoke site, and the hub site. And you need to make it as easy as if the doctor is walking into the room or going into the home virtually. So that's been my burden of developing programs around falling that model and getting to the provider to the bedside. So I'll pause there and see if there's any questions for myself, Bob, or
any questions? So one of the things that they're very interested in is finding partners to work with on the reservations. And so if any of you are, are so inclined, you might want to connect with them. Yeah,
I guess I would have a question to the group, anyone in the group? What do you see as the timeline for rolling out broadband availability in the state across the state? Is, is it a ubiquitous possibility that it will just be rolled out across the state? Or will it be rolled out to different areas, different regions? And what would you see as the timeline?
You want me to take that?
Karen, I was just gonna say, I think Karen would be good to answer that question.
So Bob, let me first say, the work you guys are doing is so important. And, you know, I fully support what you guys are doing and understand that you have to have the connectivity to be able to be successful. So I think, you know, that's the foundation of everything that NTIA is doing with releasing all these funds to the states. And it's what our charge is to make sure that everyone has access to you know, affordable, you know, internet. So with that, the Arizona's getting $990 million, NTIA requires the state to fund or to provide access to internet to unserved, which are locations that receive less than 25 over three, you know, internet and then underserved, which are locations that receive under 100 over 20. So the requirement is that the state funds those first as a priority. And based on the initial data, Arizona has about 318,000 locations that fall into that category. So the state needs to use that 993 million to fund those locations. After that, if there's money left over, then the state goes to what Perla talked about earlier, the community anchor institutions. So if there are community anchor institutions out there that aren't really that don't have access to a gig service, then the state can use some money, you know, for those locations. You know, hospitals, public safety entities, there's a whole list of those that are part of that volume, one that Burleigh talked about this morning. So to answer your question, the the 318,000 will be addressed with the 993 million. Nicole said that we're in a one year planning period. So the the plan is to release the funding, probably the very end of 2024 or beginning of 2025, where they'll have this grant sub sub recipient grant selection process to address those 318,000 locations. And then there'll be obviously a build out period, you know, from there, you know, it will probably take a couple of years, you know, for them to build out those locations. So does that answer your question?
Yeah, it does. Thank you, Karen. I know, that was kind of difficult pulling together random pieces, but I really appreciate it.
Okay. Yeah. And it is statewide, you know, when we released the challenge process information, you'll be able to see Krystal, our data analyst is working on those maps. So you can kind of see those areas that are, you know, the what we call those hotspots that are going to be addressed with these, these dollars come into the state.
Very, very helpful. And, Steve, if I may, I guess you're probably the person to ask this of is the state Medicaid department access involved at all with your group or with this initiative? The reason I asked is that the majority of medically underserved people, coincidentally are also older people, not all but the majority. And a very large percentage of them are eligible for access, but they don't have care to utilize as a result of access. And so I would hope that that State Department becomes very much involved in this conversation.
So Randy Sinclair, I believe you're online, you want to answer that. Steve, if
I could just clarify, real quick. So. So what we've been talking about this morning is the bead infrastructure funding the 993 million, and that is to build out the actual infrastructure. There is a companion program that through NTIA called the digital equity program at the capacity program, that's going to provide funding to the state for digital equity and inclusion, which a big part of that is telehealth. So once the infrastructure is in, you know, how do we how do we get people, you know, to be able to participate now that, you know, the infrastructures there. And so you make a great point with the access recipients. So the digital equity plan, we are required to address what we call covered populations. And one of the covered populations is aging individuals, which falls into I think the category you were talking about veterans, you know, people in rural communities, people with English language, you know, English as a second language, basically incarcerated adults. Nicole, did I miss one URL? Where I said, Well, yes, I did say, Well, yeah. So so all of those, those what we call covered populations will be the priority addressing with these additional dollars that are going to be coming down the pike for digital equity capacity. Those funds have not been allocated at this point. And we don't know how much Arizona is going to get. But there, like I said is this companion program that we're working on this digital equity plan, that will also have a public comment period. We're anticipating that plan to be released for public comment the first of January.
Very helpful, Karen, thank you
for asking it by no contact, I will just check it around to see who had the ES would be working with Medicare and Medicaid and I will get that information to Dr. Roth.
So Andy, you want to introduce yourself real quickly? Yes,
I'm Andy Sinclair. I am with the Arizona department of economic security. And part of my role is to work with organizations that traditionally involve with reducing poverty, but that can help reduce poverty throughout Arizona. Thank you, Andy. You're thinking,
Oh, Andy has been a regular participant with us for a long time. So thank you, Andy. Really appreciate it. So moving on. So Elena, you asked about it. I announced digital equity weekend. And I did not so do you want to do that?
Yeah, sure. No, it's digital inclusion week. So happy. I'm just just reminding and people that there may be activities going on in your communities. And if there are, you know, social media posts from your organization that you can, you know, that you can do this week. I know this week ends tomorrow, but today or tomorrow, just uplifting the great work that everybody is doing in their communities. We just want to, you know, get the word out about what we're doing here in Arizona ndia. And I know I'm Steve and I have shared information, toolkits, things like that, including a social media toolkit. I also wanted to let you know that both Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, as well as our governor, have signed proclamations supporting and announcing that its digital inclusion week. So I just wanted to let you know I have copies of those if you're interested and want to use those in your social media posts or anything like that. So yeah, I just wanted to to say Happy Digital Inclusion week.
So a good segue is Cindy, do you want to give us a quick update?
Sure. I'm Cindy Hogan, I chair the Arizona Digital Inclusion network, Adan. And we're sponsoring a couple of things today. I can put put the registration links in the chat. We have a fellow who's going to speak to us about the work he's done as a four h tech change maker. He's a nationally recognized fellow. He's done. He's done digital and digital literacy work with over 3000 people in the in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, we're gonna listen to his story and see see how maybe we can start using the four H program would in concert with the cooperative extensions to start teaching digital literacy? I think, yeah, so I'm really interested to hear his story and his, his boss and his assistants are going to be with him to share, and he did make the national state. So that's at 11 o'clock from 11 to 12. At 12 o'clock, the meeting rolls over into an open house for the Arizona Digital Inclusion network, and talks about what we're doing as a group. We're starting that conversation today with a woman named Mignon Hollis, who is leading the Arizona broad broadband for All Coalition here in the state of Arizona. I've been on their website, it's a little unclear to me what what the goal of that organization is. So we invited Mimi on to speak to us and let us know how we how we can get involved as as citizens in the state, and bringing Arizona broadband for all to fruition. So she's going to be sharing and then we're going to talk a little bit about what Arizona Digital Inclusion network is and how people can join. And that's from 12 to one and I'll put the registration link in the chat. Thank you very much.
And just a reminder that that information also is in the email and as a meeting announcement that I sent out with all the links, and all that kind of stuff. So you'll find that just Just an FYI. Sent me I'm glad you're having minion. And we also will be having her in the next couple of weeks probably. I have been in touch with her and looking for ways for us to be able to partner and collaborate with her. Exactly. So So moving on. So our library folks aren't here except for Holly, you're here. Aaron and Mala are I assume? busy with other things at the moment?
That's right, Steve. Um, Aaron is actually on annual wave this week. And I am not certain where Molly is. I don't
know why ye enjoying herself?
Or you had to go and tell us that, didn't you? Yeah,
I did. So I don't think we have anything new to report this week.
Okay. Well, certainly chamalla will listen to some of our recordings also, about the obviously the telehealth projects that you guys are working on. And unfortunately, Gannett also is not available today. She sent me a note and and some information she wanted me to share with a group. So go ahead, Dave.
Just just as an FYI, Marla and Erin are kind of transitioning and so Aaron is going to be taking over the the two telehealth work.
It's me. Oh, yeah. I forgot. Forgot to introduce our new person. And I figured you might know Anna's neck but I figured you might see her on.
She did introduce herself earlier.
Someone Okay, see I was late because I was giving blood so I had a good reason. Okay, great.
You got a good excuse. Okay, so Karina, with the State Department of Education is recovering from surgery. So she's not back with us yet. Rory, do you have any updates on what's happening with the final mile?
Are you there? Hello. Okay. Be that way. So, Sharon, are you back online? Sure, motiva.
Yes, I'm here. Hey, you are on second. I haven't
spent a long time since we've been in touch with you. And I think you joined last week. And I was gonna introduce you and then you had already been gone.
Yeah, I had to I had another meeting right after this one. It was just hold on one second. Let me get off mute. Oh, video warning. Hey, I am Jeremy Teva. I have I actually worked for the the Economic Development Administration. So when this working group was structured, we were part of it initially. And so periodically, I just listened in because we provide funding for different interest structure. Projects. It just depends. Arizona does have a field agent, Jeff Hayes. And he's excellent at this sort of thing. So I don't often sit in I periodically do just to catch up on the broadband activity, we funded a broadband project in Southeast Asia or is it or zona? It just wrapped up? It was very good feasibility study. So periodically, I check in to see how you guys are doing and it sells assistance working group is doing very, very well. That's the update for me. We're in a car at the moment. So I you know, it's time to, I don't know, availability. So
thank you. Sure. Can you tell people a little bit about EDA and kinds of programs you do fun? And particularly, since we're obviously interested in digital inclusion initiatives, are there any things that EDA funds from that space, even though the infrastructure is not a big piece of what you do?
Well, this is how to say, with the digital inclusion, and with the administration's priorities of it, we have to include all have to we're required to and it's only right, that we do so. But EDA funds, the programs that we do find, which is the planning Partnership, which is your economic development districts, university center programs, Your Honor, the economic adjustment program, there is the will the latest things, programs that are out there recompete, tech hubs, etc, if you guys are aware of that. And the the broadband infrastructure component is limited due in part that NTIA does fund the majority of it, but if there's any elements that VBA can can support, we will try to do so as the digital inclusion updates, I am going to do have to defer that to Jeff, who's probably underground a little bit more and I don't know if he's on this call, but EDA will be willing to support what we can under the auspices of of the of the network.
I don't believe we have Jeff on our list. But I don't see.
I will ask him to participate because he is the field agent that lives he resides in in northern Arizona. We're above,
if you could provide me his email also, that we can connect with him.
Okay, I'll send it to you specifically. Sounds good. Because I do have asked him to participate in quite a few of these, depending on what the events are. If I'm not able to attend, he's, he's local, and he can definitely travel and visit you all.
Sounds great. Thank you. Thank you for sharing. You're welcome. Okay. Excuse me, anybody have any other announcements that they'd like to share today? There are a ton of events coming up. And if you're seeing my screen, the air the Arizona telemedicine program, telehealth policy Summit, October 24, all of this information is in the email that I sent. So you don't have to be scrambling to write it down. I'm not going to put it all in the chat. But it will be included in that when I send out the updates. Hi, Carla.
Hi, good morning. My apologies. I am getting over a cold. And I'm going to do you all a favor and not turn on my camera. Because I don't want to scare you off. But I do want to take the opportunity to have joined to have you all join a few of us that are on the call today, on October 18. For the signature event for the tech sector in southern Arizona, which is the tech and business expo, we will have a phenomenal conversation about artificial intelligence, the 16 flavors of artificial intelligence. And I hope you will know that you guys are in the presence of a celebrity because one of our amazing panelists is on the call today. Mr. Ash Black will be joining us on the panel and discussing different aspects of artificial intelligence. We also have phenomenal innovator presentation presenters, including one of the lead researchers with OSIRIS REx, he will be sharing some of the findings that they have. So I encourage you all I will put it on the chat. I encourage you all to join us, Steve, your registration has been submitted and you should receive that in your email. But for the rest of you. Again, I encourage you to join us for this fantastic event. It's 11 years now that we've been putting this event every year, it gets better and better. So I encourage you to join us and don't miss out.
Thank you, Carla. And I think I've attended just about every year. And it is a great event, great presentations. They acknowledge a lot of people who were doing great work. And then they have the expo. We won't say anything a little more about the expo car.
Yeah, absolutely. We have about 65 companies in the expo joining us celebrating and showcasing their innovation. We have a lot of community partners joining us as well. We have an optics Valley pavilion, where many of the optics Valley, committee members, member companies will be showcasing their innovations. We will also have the University of Arizona pavilion, which is a section where the University of Arizona departments will have a corridor will there'll be also showcasing what's going on on campus. And they're each one of their departments. We expect to have about four to 500 people in attendance. And then we also have a robot that goes around serving drinks and snacks to our guests. So please come join us it's going to be fantastic.
Come on down and then we can all get to meet each other and face to face and in person. Absolutely. Great. Great.
There's not I mean, other than this topic that we talk about. Artificial Intelligence is something that you will hear about, and just about every conversation you have from now until the next 10 years. So I think it'll be really good. I've heard ash speak before and I'm really looking forward to hearing on the panel. And with the other panelists. Honeywell will be joining the conversation as well. So we'll be talking about ethics, public policy, application, and so many great things about the unknown, of artificial intelligence secrete a level of knowledge and comfort so that you're able to implement it into your everyday life, whether it's personal or professional, so it'd be a really good event. Looking forward for that presentation.
To check the two chairs of your Artificial Intelligence Committee going to be speaking,
Mary darling will be presenting as well. Alex will be joining us in the audience to support the the artificial intelligence committee
So I happen to Carla had an event down here recently, and I had a chance to speak with both of those co chairs who have many of both of them. I've known for many years. And we will be exploring some ways for us to partner with them at a good conversation about the issue of AI. Then, of course, as I mentioned to them, while they are speaking at high levels, and to a lot of big corporations, that reminded them that there's also people, many people who we deal with, who have no clue what AI is, and what the implications are. So we're gonna find some ways to partner with them.
Absolutely. And I think that's one of the things that I love about ashes presentation is that he does a really good job in presenting the information in a way that it is, it doesn't matter your your knowledge base, is you could be a subject matter expert or very entry level, and you become very comfortable and understand the concepts and understand the application and start minimizing that uncertainty that a lot of people feel about artificial intelligence. So look forward to seeing you all there and help us support Ashe have a fantastic panel presentation.
Nice. And you know, Ash just presented to us a couple of weeks ago.
I heard I heard a little bit of it in the recording. So I'm looking forward to seeing him live now.
Oh, sorry. I just want to say thank you so much for that feedback. It's it's really meaningful. Appreciate it.
Absolutely. I'm also a fan of yours because I'm I'm a diehard eller fan. So I'm on the mailer graduate, so you bring both of my worlds together. So I appreciate that as
well. Thanks. Great. Thanks, Carla. Shoot me an ash and I have chatted a little bit. And we'll be exploring some ways to collaborate more with the work he's doing, including the possibility of working with some of the students that are part of his program. So anything else that anybody has for today? going once going twice. I just want to say one more thing. We are working on getting the AC BSN, cyber safety and security team together. Excuse me, we're working on a draft and to explain what the team is what we're going to be focusing on, and the tentative plan, and then we'll be engaging other people in the process. Once we get rolling along, and John, you want to say anything?
Yeah, I just wanted to thank you, Steve. remind everyone that of course, this is what the 15th year of Arizona, October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month. And we talked about the elderly population before and they are the most targeted group because one, they have money and two, they sometimes don't make the best decisions. And so I put a link to the cysa information. And there's things for kids from K to 80. As I as I say it, where it's just common sense for some of us, but for a lot of people just like aI cyber, these words really don't have a lot of meaning. So there's resources out there for people, so remind them of it.
Oh, John, you want to introduce yourself while you're at it, please?
Sure. John has with Embry Riddle started the cyber intelligence and security. Now 10 years ago, believe it or not, and also center for the future where we're working with young companies, including telehealth over in Oak Creek village where they do have broadband but they have an elderly population that doesn't know how to use it yet. So we are trying to get training out to them using our students to train the trainer.
Right, thanks, John. And John is one of the leaders in trying to get this cybersecurity team off the ground. So anybody else have anything that they want to share this morning?
Steve Moore Goldstein I'll just mentioned we've talked about before that the Cytec Institute is having their all day science and STEM event at the Arizona science center on the 24th. I've just now seen an announcement from the tech council have a pre reception Monday the 23rd from five to seven is a kickoff reception now scheduled as kind of a networking event associated with that. So it's a suggested $20 donation to cover the costs. But no specific registration fee. Carla may have more to say about that. But I just saw that pop up today.
Okay. Any other announcements today? If not, I think we might be done for today. Those of you who have been on this call before know that we do our kept seeing with colleagues. After the meeting for a few minutes. It's informal, we stopped the recording, and just give people an opportunity to chat, get a little more acquainted, etc. It could be three people, it could be 10 people, it could last for five minutes. It could last for 45 minutes. So it just kind of depends on who's available and how much time they have. And so with that, I think we're done for today. We'll see you all, hopefully, next week and again, really encourage you to to attend the tech Council expo here in Tucson. Okay, got it. Thanks, everybody.
