2025 IEEE Evolution Conference
Technology, Applications, and Contributions
Greater Boston, MA, USA | 11 – 13 June 2025
Learning never stops: Join us for a three-day event specially curated
for technology influencers, innovators, and pioneers of all ages.
June 9 & 10: IEEE AgeTech Workshop
2025 Evolution Conference Welcome Videos
Feel the Magic with Disney’s Daniel Joseph
Daniel Joseph, Executive Illusions and Effects Development at Walt Disney Imagineering, is an innovative figure in special effects and interactive experiences. During his keynote address at the Evolution Conference powered by IEEE Life Members, Joseph will share behind-the-scenes illusion development technologies that are involved in creating unique experiences at Disney attractions around the world.
Who Attending the 2025 Evolution Conference
Open to all interested technology enthusiasts, the second IEEE Evolution Conference (developed by the IEEE Life Members) will focus on the evolution of technology, applications, services, systems, and contributions. Network with industry-based luminaries and technical professionals, learn about emerging technologies, and appreciate the influence IEEE members have on the profession.
Conference Areas of Interest
From thought-provoking keynote speeches delivered by industry pioneers, topical sessions from knowledge leaders, engaging workshops, and panel discussions featuring experts from various fields—this event will have something for everyone. The 2025 IEEE Life Members Evolution Conference will be organized around three types of technological evolution:
- Technology that creates product opportunities
- Applications that impact the lives of seniors and the aging population
- Contributions of IEEE members that are made by seniors and experienced professionals
Why Attend?
With experts from a wide range of technology fields and accomplished IEEE professionals, this conference will provide ample opportunities to:
- Explore new ideas: Learn more about new and emerging technologies in selected IEEE fields of interest.
- Boost your network: Meet technical professionals and experts from around the world and exchange views on shared challenges.
- Acquire the latest industry knowledge: Meet the corporations and engineers responsible for creating new and innovative consumer products directed at aging populations and the Life member audience.
- Get to know IEEE better: Learn more about IEEE volunteer operations and resources
- Have fun and travel. Boston makes history. The spark that fueled the fight for American independence burns just as brightly today and inspires our food, beer, and culture.
Important Dates
AgeTech Workshop:
June 9-10, 2025Conference Dates:
June 11-13, 2025Early Bird Registration:
Until May 1, 2025Standard Registration:
Until June 10, 2025Paper Submission Deadline:
February 3, 2025Notification of Acceptance:
March 10, 2025Publication-Ready Submission:
April 21, 2025
Welcome to the Evolution Conference developed by IEEE Life Members information series, showing you key features and highlights of the conference.
Read more →
Speakers
Kendra Cook
Space System Security Subject Matter Expert
Science Applications International Corporation
Kendra Cook
Kendra Cook
Space System Security Subject Matter Expert
Science Applications International Corporation
Kendra Cook is a Space System Security Subject Matter Expert at (SAIC), a Fortune 500 technology company that provides IT services to the US government. She works with NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Program Office to perform security assessments on NASA missions. Prior to her current role, she worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where she held numerous positions including working for the Mission Protection Office. Prior to joining NASA, Cook spent 15 years working for the U.S. Government on various satellite and technology programs and served seven years as an Officer in the United States Air Force.
Daniel Joseph
Walt Disney Imagineering, Inventing the Magic with Illusion Development
Daniel Joseph
Daniel JosephWalt Disney Imagineering, Inventing the Magic with Illusion Development
Daniel Joseph is Executive Illusions and Effects Development at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he helps to conceive, design, and install a range of special effects and illusions for Disney Parks around the world. Daniel is listed as an inventor on over 45 Disney patents.
Last year, Daniel had the high honor of being inducted into the 2023 Florida Inventor Hall of Fame. He was one of the key team members who brought to life the Hatbox Ghost for the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary. The late Disney Legend Marty Sklar wrote about Daniel in all three of his books; Dream it! Do it! My Half-Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms, One Little Spark! Mickey’s 10 Commandments and the Road to Imagineering, and Travels with Figment on the Road in Search of Disney Dreams.
Daniel has been an inventor and tinkerer his whole life. From a very young age, he would take things apart and create new inventions, a hobby that eventually turned into elaborate haunted houses in his parents’ basement each year that featured homemade fog machines, mirror effects, and other original inventions. Daniel is from Wilmington, DE and attended The University of the Arts, where he majored in Industrial Design. He won first prize in Walt Disney Imagineering’s Imaginations Design Competition in 2006. From there, Daniel has enjoyed over 18 years with Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale.
8 years ago, he relocated from California to Orlando, where he leads a team of designers and the “Illusion Development Lab” at Walt Disney Imagineering Florida. Daniel enjoys his magical Florida life with his wife Marina, his 10-year-old and 5-year-old boys, and of course, his floppy-eared Basset Hound!
Dean Kamen
Founder of DEKA R&D and FIRST®
Dean Kamen
Dean KamenFounder of DEKA R&D and FIRST®
Dean Kamen is an inventor, entrepreneur, and tireless advocate for science and technology. His roles as inventor and advocate are intertwined— with his own passion for technology and its practical uses driving his personal determination to engage young people in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Dean is the founder of DEKA Research & Development Corporation, FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), FIRST Global, and the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute.
As president of DEKA, he has developed category-defining, transformational innovations to include: revolutionary drug delivery systems – as with the twiist™ Automated Insulin Delivery System and the Remunity® pump which safely delivers stable doses of Remodulin; mobility systems that restore health and quality of life – as with the iBOT™ Mobility System, and the LUKE robotic arm; devices that change the healthcare paradigm – as with cardiac stents, the HomeChoice™ portable dialysis machine; and innovations that change what the world believes is possible – as with a new and improved Stirling engine.
In addition to DEKA, one of Dean’s proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST®, an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology – and to apply it for societal contribution. Founded in 1989, FIRST® serves more than 2,500,000 young people ages 6 to 18 annually. He expanded this initiative to create FIRST Global, which recently united teams from over 190 countries to its annual competition in Athens, Greece.
Dean Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000. Presented by President Clinton, this award was in recognition for inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide, and for innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the excitement of science and technology. He was also elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1997. He was awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, as well as many other national and international engineering organizations.
Karen Panetta
Dean of Graduate Education and Distinguished Professor at Tufts University School of Engineering
Karen Panetta
Karen PanettaDean of Graduate Education and Distinguished Professor at Tufts University School of Engineering
Karen Panetta is Dean of Graduate Education and Distinguished Professor at Tufts University School of Engineering, where her research focuses on developing efficient algorithms for simulation, modeling, and signal and image processing for security and biomedical applications. As the first female electrical engineer to be given tenure in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Tufts, Panetta continues to promote the interests of women in her field. From 2007 to 2009, she was the worldwide director for IEEE Women in Engineering, and she served as editor-in-chief of the IEEE Women in Engineering magazine. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the European Academy of Sciences and the Arts, the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was awarded the 2013 IEEE Award for Distinguished Ethical Practices for exemplary contributions and leadership in developing ethics and social responsibility in students. She has received several NASA and National Science Foundation research grants, including the NSF CAREER Award. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Panetta the Presidential Award for Science and Engineering Education and Mentoring. In 2023, she was inducted as a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
David Raften
IBM Senior Quantum Ambassador
David Raften
David RaftenIBM Parallel Sysplex Expert
David Raften has been with IBM since 1982. Currently on the Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex GDPS® team in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., David has worked with Parallel Sysplex since its inception and has helped many customers design their systems for availability. A Parallel Sysplex is a clustering technology for IBM z/OS mainframes that allows multiple systems to act as a single, highly available, and scalable computing environment, enabling data sharing and workload distribution. The Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex is a family of software offerings for IBM Z that provides disaster recovery and high availability solutions, automating the management of multi-site mainframe systems and data replication, and enabling failure recovery from a single point of control. David has written several Parallel Sysplex white papers and helped write and review many Redbooks™ on Parallel Sysplex and Performance.
Rick Robinson
Vice President and General Manager
AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative;
Vice President of Product Innovation
Rick Robinson
Rick Robinson
Vice President and General Manager
AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative;
Vice President of Product Innovation
For over 30 years Rick Robinson has innovated digital products and content for major media and tech companies like AOL, Sprint, Webs.com, National Geographic, and Politico. He has also co-founded several technology startups, one of which went public in 2023. He is currently the Vice President & General Manager of the AgeTech Collaborative™ from AARP, an innovation ecosystem leading the future of AgeTech by making aging easier, and also serves as AARP’s Vice President of Product Innovation. He believes technology is key to addressing aging’s challenges, as evidenced by the growing interest from entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders in the Collaborative. He is the current Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Georgetown University.
Julie Shah
Julie Shah
Julie Shah
Julie Shah is the head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also the H.N. Slater Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In addition to her role as a faculty member in AeroAstro, Shah served as associate dean of Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing from 2019 to 2022, helping launch a coordinated curriculum that engages more than 2,000 students a year at the Institute. She currently directs the Interactive Robotics Group in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), and MIT’s Industrial Performance Center. Shah and her team at the Interactive Robotics Group conduct research that aims to imagine the future of work by designing collaborative robot teammates that enhance human capability.
Wei Tao, Ph.D.
Director, Blavatnik Harvard Life Lab
Wei Tao, Ph.D.
Wei Tao, Ph.D.Director, Blavatnik Harvard Life Lab
Dr. Wei Tao is a distinguished educator, innovator, and leader in biotech entrepreneurship and venture investment. As the Inaugural Director of the Blavatnik Harvard Life Lab at Harvard Medical School, he fosters collaboration across the Harvard innovation ecosystem, building strategic partnerships to advance translational research and accelerate the growth of early-stage biotech startups developing novel therapeutics. Before transitioning to academia, Dr. Tao spent a decade as a venture investor in Silicon Valley, specializing in early-stage biotech, healthtech, and enterprise software. Prior to his investment career, he held key leadership roles in multiple successful biotech ventures, gaining invaluable operational experience in the industry.
