Fix This

Farming employs nearly 60 percent of the African population, but farming equipment can be hard to access across the country. Hello Tractor is a startup determined to bridge this gap by serving over 500,000 farmers via a mobile application built on Amazon Web Services (AWS). By using the Internet of Things (IoT), data, and the cloud, Hello Tractor facilitates equipment rentals and notifies users of tractor availability giving farmers the access to the equipment they need to be successful and independent. To learn more about how Hello Tractor is connecting farmers to equipment and in turn opening new financial opportunities, the Fix This team spoke to Jehiel Oliver, founder and chief executive officer at Hello Tractor.

Historically, sports have acted as a glue bringing communities together from around the world. In June, the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games hopes to do just that in Orlando, Florida. By building a new serverless application on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the organization is connecting athletes and attendees like never before. The Fix This team chatted with Lonnie Snyder, chief information officer of the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, to hear how the app is changing the games. From providing virtual cheers to hosting up-to-date schedules and more, the application will act as the single source of truth to help remote or in-person attendees navigate and celebrate the athletes during the 2022 USA Games.

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is collaborating with the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) from the Medical College of Wisconsin to speed the time to clinical decisions and ultimately save lives of people seeking transplants. The organization, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) IMAGINE Grant winner, turned to AWS to power the Data Transformation Initiative (DTI) to connect transplant centers, data coordinators, and patient data. To learn more, the Fix This team chatted with Dr. Jeffery Auletta, senior vice president of patient outcomes and experience at NMDP and chief scientific director of CIBMTR Be the Match. Dr. Auletta shares how using the cloud will help clinical decision makers and patients alike.

The New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, and it has over a century’s worth of archives including artifacts from performance history to images. To keep pace with online demand and to better serve the public, the New York Philharmonic turned to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to modernize its digital archives. To understand how the New York Philharmonic began its journey with AWS, the Fix This team sat down with Gabryel Smith, director of archives and exhibitions, and his colleague, Bill Levay, digital archivist at the New York Philharmonic. Gabryel and Bill share how the organization uses the cloud to preserve history, further engage with visitors, and more. Dive into the archives at: archives.nyphil.org, and listen to the opening music—a New York Philharmonic performance of Beethoven 9 with Kurt Masur, former music director, conducting.

Buildings are one of the leading generators of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. But using new technologies, organizations can reduce a new building’s carbon footprint and build for a sustainable future. To learn more about how the cloud is being used to help pave the way for a greener world, the Fix This team chatted with Brad Vickers, senior director of engineering digital technologies at CarbonCure. Brad shares how CarbonCure aims to reimagine the way corporations around the world create and source concrete, a necessary building material. By using Amazon Web Services (AWS), CarbonCure helps customers use data analytics to discover insights to build more sustainably. CarbonCure is a signatory of The Climate Pledge and has been invested in by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund. It is also involved in the buildout of Amazon HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia.

Sharks play a critical role in maintaining the delicate ecosystem in the ocean and on land. Discover the importance of these apex predators—from biomedical research impacting humans to ensuring the food chain remains in balance. OCEARCH, a global nonprofit organization, is on a mission to help scientists collect previously unattainable data in the ocean and educate the public with its Shark Tracker app. By using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and data, OCEARCH connects experts, fisheries, and academics from around the world. To learn more, the Fix This team chatted with Chris Fischer, founder and expedition leader and Dr. Robert Hueter, chief scientist at OCEARCH. OCEARCH is part of the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative.

As more and more species become endangered, researchers are finding ways to protect and conserve animals and their habitats. The Elephant Listening Project from Cornell University in New York captures audio data from across the rainforest in northern Republic of Congo to track the sounds of the elusive African elephants. These recordings help researchers dive deep into the patterns and habits of the largest animals on Earth. The dataset, Sounds of Central African Landscapes, is made available in the cloud via the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Open Data Sponsorship Program. By gathering millions of on-the-ground recordings and data, the team hopes to discover insights leading to the safety and preservation of the species and the land they inhabit. To learn more, the Fix This team sat down with Dr. Daniela Hedwig, a behavioral conversation biologist and research associate at the Center for Conservation Bioacoustics and lead for The Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University.

Adverse drug reactions are one of the leading causes of death in the US. While healthcare costs and medication-related mistakes rise, pharmacogenomics—a field of research that studies how an individual’s genes affect how he or she responds to specific medications—is becoming more accessible. Coriell Life Sciences, a precision medicine company, uses genetic science and research to improve lives, reduce healthcare costs, and speed the time to clinical decisions with its tool, GeneDose LIVE powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The Fix This team chatted with Scott Megill, president and chief executive officer at Coriell Life Sciences. Scott explains how GenDose LIVE impacts healthcare providers and patients.

Founded in 2015 amid the Chennai water crisis, WEGoT Utility Solutions aims to help people optimize their water consumption habits to live more sustainably. Today, the company has over 200 customers and has saved more than three billion liters of water. To understand how WEGoT built its water management platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Fix This team sat down with Abilash Haridass, cofounder and chief executive officer of WeGOT, and VijayRam Harinathan, head of product at WEGoT. Abilash and VijayRam describe their internet of things (IoT) solution, the WEGoT Smart Water Meter, and discuss how it turns data into insights that can help users understand and optimize their water consumption. Download the episode to hear how the solution achieves 98 percent accuracy on a drop-by-drop level.

As the world faces a shortage of pilots, the need for cost-effective training and upskilling tools increases. To learn more, the Fix This team chatted with Mikhail Klassen, chief technology officer of Paladin AI. Paladin AI is a technology startup focused on training the next generation of pilots with data, machine learning, and human expertise with its training tool, InstructIQ. Listen in to discover how Paladin AI builds on Amazon Web Services (AWS), how machine learning and data can be used to deliver personalized, adaptable trainings, and why the cloud is an integral piece of the puzzle.