Unleashing the Power of AI - What to Expect at DevFest Florida AI Conference Track

DevFest Florida is a community-driven one-day conference that brings together technologists, developers, students, tech companies, and speakers in Central Florida. The event focuses on cutting-edge technologies, including Machine Learning, Mobile, Web, Cloud, AI, and career development. Attendees can learn, discuss, and experiment with these technologies. The conference features 30+ speakers from top tech companies and development experts, covering various tool stacks and industry insights. It’s an inclusive environment that fosters learning and networking among local talent and global experts. Plus, there’s awesome swag and magical moments!

Dmitry Lyalin

Product Lead at Google working on Firebase

Introducing Firebase Genkit, an open-source framework empowering developers to create AI-driven applications and features, built natively for Node.js and Go. This session introduces Genkit and demonstrates how to build AI-powered backends using Google Gemini models and beyond with community-contributed plugins. We’ll explore the framework’s powerful built-in tools for testing and debugging LLM prompts, RAG scenarios, and tool calling. We’ll also delve into advanced use cases, including how Genkit enables Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), works with self-hosted models via Ollama, and strategies for deploying and monitoring applications in production environments.

About Dmitry Lyalin: I’ve been in the software industry for over 20 years, starting from my early days as a software engineer. I’ve worked at startups, big banks, and big tech companies like Microsoft. I am now a product lead at Google, managing a team of product managers focused on Firebase serverless products

Home city: Boca Raton, FL

Multimodal and Multiagent LLM for Personalized Application

Rahatara Ferdousi

GDG Organizer|WTM Ambassador|Research Assistant,uOttawa|Faculty, St. Lawrence college

While LLMs have become a cornerstone in the field of artificial intelligence, we are now stepping into a new era marked by the emergence of multimodal and multi-agent LLMs. In this session, we will cover:

• Understanding LLMs: Refresh your knowledge on the basics and explore the recent advancements in LLM technology.

• Fine-Tuning LLMs: Learn how to customize LLMs for specific tasks and datasets to enhance performance and relevance.

• Exploring RAG Options: Dive into Retrieval-Augmented Generation, understanding its mechanism and applications.

• Building Customized Applications: Get hands-on experience with the Gemini API to create your own multimodal, multi-agent applications.

Join us as we explore how these advanced technologies can be integrated and utilized to push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI.

About Rahatara Ferdousi: Rahatara is a PhD scholar in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Ottawa, Canada and working in collaboration with the National Research Council Canada. Her research focuses on advancing Generative AI techniques for railway defect inspection within the Digital Twin paradigm. Rahatara holds a Master of Computer Science degree concentrating in the Digital Twin for health and well-being. She has demonstrated her field expertise through publications in reputable conferences and journals. She has received various awards and nominations, including the UN Women Innovator Championship, nomination for the best thesis award, and merit scholarships. As a Women Techmakers (WTM) Ambassador, she fosters the diversity and inclusion in the STEM. Rahatara’s teaching experience, coupled with her role as a Google Developer Group (GDG) community lead, allows her to contribute to knowledge sharing and community building in the field of technology.

Home city: Ottawa, Ontario

Spend a Day in the Life of a Data Scientist

David Elgueta

AWS Data Analytics - Specialty Certified | AWS Champion Instructor

In this lecture, we’ll explore the building and deploying machine learning models using Amazon SageMaker, a cloud-based platform offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

By the end of this session, you’ll gain an understanding of the entire data science workflow.

• Understanding the different stages of a Machine Learning project like data preparation, analysis, and model training.

• Familiarize yourself with Amazon SageMaker’s features that can streamline this process, saving you time and resources.

• Learning how to train, evaluate, and deploy your machine learning models using SageMaker’s tools.

This lecture is designed for anyone interested in leveraging the power of machine learning for practical applications. Whether you’re a data scientist, developer, or simply curious about AI, this session will equip you with the foundational knowledge to start with SageMaker.

• Company website: https://aktivgroup.us

About David Elgueta: With 25+ years of experience architecting high-performance applications. Passionate about knowledge sharing, I’ve trained hundreds of IT architects and administrators on Oracle and AWS for 10 years. Achieving AWS Champion Instructor status and Subject Matter Expert for the AWS Data Engineer Exam Prep program. I am fascinated with all the opportunities that AI/ML has to leverage the company’s knowledge. Now, I’m driven by the potential of AI/ML to leverage the company’s knowledge and build intelligent assistants that can boost employee productivity and streamline workflows.

Home city: Oviedo

CyberSecurity in the world of AI

Tatiana Montenegro

Palo Alto Networks - Named Account Manager EDU

Discover how Cybercriminals are also using AI to be better at their craft. We discuss AI increasing security risks, Governance, standards, and regulations

• Company website: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com

About Tatiana Montenegro: I was born in Colombia, raised in Miami, self-funded my education at the University of Miami by teaching Pilates and Personal Training. I’m passionate about technology, fitness, and my beautiful family. Today I am blessed to have the opportunity to work with customers in the technology industry at Palo Alto Networks as Named Account Manager for Education in South Florida. My 12+ year tech career at Citrix, Cisco, VMWare, and Palo Alto Networks has taken me to California, Sydney, Australia, Chicago, and back home to Miami. I love what I do, seek never to stop learning, and try my best to give back to my community by encouraging women-LatinX youth to consider engineering careers. I’m eager to support anyone interested in learning more about technology, especially Palo Alto Networks technology. My forte includes cybersecurity, cloud computing, multi-cloud, cloud networking, routing, and switching.

As for the amazing company I work for, at Palo Alto Networks our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before.

Home city: Miami, FL.

AI and ML Project Development for Everyone

Krish Veera

AI Research Student at USF

A hands-on workshop designed to demystify ML project development using accessible tools such as Google AI Studio and Teachable Machine that streamline the entire process. Whether you’re a beginner or an enthusiast looking to enhance your skills, this workshop will guide you through practical steps to kickstart your ML/AI projects involving computer vision, sound detection, pose detection effortlessly. Exploring user-friendly platforms and frameworks that simplify data handling, model training, and deployment. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a project that you can be proud of and gain the confidence and skills needed to embark on your ML journey with ease.

About Krish Veera: I am a Computer Science and Physics student at the University of South Florida. Passionate about the intersection of technology and human experience, I have dedicated my academic journey to exploring cutting-edge fields like Artificial Intelligence, Brain-Computer Interfaces, and Machine Learning. As an undergraduate researcher, I have delved into natural language processing, building systems for analyzing language models and even contributing to research on modeling cognitive traits using AI. I have also worked on developing a system for multi-drone racing controlled by brainwaves, honing my skills in hardware-software integration and data processing. Beyond the research labs, I have served as President of the Google Developer Student Club at USF for over 2 years, expanding the organization’s community reach and impact. I am a firm believer in sharing knowledge and empowering others. I love the idea of fostering a collaborative learning environment through the passion for technology, research, and community building and sharing insights to inspire the next generation of innovators.

Home city: Tampa, Florida

Real-Time Query Magic: Leveraging Vector Indexing for Lightnig quick Analytics

Barkha Herman

Speaker, Developer Advocate, Technologist, Podcaster, WiT Advocate and mentor.

K nearest what?

Vector indexes have been used find unstructured data such as images for a while now. In this session, learn how vector embedding techinques can be applied to text data to find accurate data at speed.

Learn what an vector embedding is, how it evolved as an accurate and fast method for retrieving search data and how it can be used to index text data and create lightining fast results for Real-time Analytics usecases.

• Check out their blog at https://www.barkhaherman.com/

• Company website: https://startree.ai

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/barkhah

About Barkha Herman: Barkha Herman is a technologist, experienced developer advocate, and the founder of WiTVoices and South Florida Women in Tech. With a deep understanding of technology and a love for fostering inclusive and diverse tech communities, Barkha is dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations to thrive in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Currently, Barkha is thriving as a Developer Advocate at StarTree.ai, where she collaborate with developers, engineers, and product teams to create innovative solutions that streamline development processes and enhance user experiences.

In addition to her work at StarTree.ai, she takes great pride in founding and leading WiTVoices and South Florida Women in Tech. These organizations are committed to empowering women in technology and creating a supportive environment for their professional growth. Through mentorship programs, networking events, and educational initiatives, they strive to break barriers and foster inclusivity in the tech industry.

Home city: Pompano Beach

Unmatched by AI: Leveraging Your Innate Strengths & Boosting Your Impact to Shape the Future of Tech

Kimberly Morrow

Multi-disciplinary UX polymath geeking out on tech while admiring, studying, and nurturing the unique awesomeness inherent in each of us complicated humans.

In this fun, interactive session, you’ll get your neurons firing and experiment with popular AI tools as you learn the basics of cognitive neuroscience (how we think, learn, and problem-solve), see how AI tries to do these same things (with varying degrees of success), and walk away with concrete ways to improve how your brain functions.

• Check out their blog at https://www.kimberlymorrow.com/thought-leadership

• Company website: https://www.kimberlymorrow.com/

About Kimberly Morrow: Kim has been in tech for 20+ years as a front-end developer, UX and content designer, mentor, facilitator, thought leader, and teacher (including at MIT Sloan). She holds a Graduate Certificate in Design from Harvard (where she deciphered the Boston accent well enough to ride the T and frantically order a sub at Al’s like a local) and a BA in Professional Writing from the University of New Mexico (where she grew up a bonified country girl in the Rocky Mountains between Albuquerque and Santa Fe).

Equal parts pragmatic-techy-science-geek and idealistic-artsy-fartsy-creator, Kim combines her expertise in human-centered design and emerging technology with cognitive neuroscience, adult development, and organizational psychology to help designers and developers improve their critical thinking, creativity, decision-making, communication, and leadership skills.

Home city: Ovideo, FL

Beyond Accuracy: Ensuring Quality in AI Applications

Lenar Mukhamadiev

Idelsoft, CEO

Explore essential strategies for testing the intelligence of AI applications. From ethical considerations to regulatory compliance, uncover how to maintain quality and fairness in AI-driven solutions.

• Check out their blog at https://idelsoft.com/blog

• Company website: https://idelsoft.com

• X/Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/baltachtan

About Lenar Mukhamadiev: A technical generalist, software developer, and founder @ idelsoft.com. 10+ years of experience developing innovative solutions for Fortune 500 companies, enterprises, and startups.

Home city: Tampa, FL

Build With AI, Fine Tuning Gemini

Roya Kandalan

Research Scientist

In this session, we dive deeper into the capabilities of Gemini beyond mere API calls. Our focus is on customizing and fine-tuning Gemini to cater to specific use cases. Finetuning enables Gemini to transform into a domain expert. We’ll explore the methods and best practices for fine-tuning Gemini on AI-Studio and Vertex AI. By the end of this session, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of how to fully leverage Gemini’s potential, creating a highly specialized and efficient tool tailored to your specific needs.

About Roya Kandalan: Roya is a research scientist working on advancing artificial intelligence technologies. She has a PhD in Electrical Engineering, is a US patent holder, and has multiple publications in primary journals on electrical engineering, mathematics, and artificial intelligence. Her primary research interests are generative AI, computer vision, and pattern recognition. Roya has developed machine learning solutions for various applications, including healthcare, assistive technologies, and security.

She is enthusiastic about advancing science and passionate about women’s rights. She is a Google Developer Expert in AI/ML, a Google Cloud Champion, a Google Woman’s Techmaker Ambassador, and a Google Developer Group co-organizer (Cloud Boston). She uses these platforms to enhance women’s confidence in the workplace and advocate for women’s and non-binary individuals’ rights.

Home city: Boston, MA