IEEE WaterHCI / Mersivity 2023 Symposium

Tue. Aug. 15, 10am, Michael Hough Beach, Ontario Place, West Island

Rain location: Transpod, 159 Dufferin St, Suite 100. Toronto, Ontario, M6K 1Y9 Canada; see map in venue.htm.

• Host: Steve Mann, MIT '97, P. Eng. Ontario, widely regarded as the father of wearable computing, inventor of HDR, co-inventor of XR (eXtended Reality), co-founder of InteraXon, makers of the Muse brain-sensing headband.
  
• Host: Yu Yuan, President of the IEEE Standards Association.
  
• Scientific Advisor: Kim Vandiver, MIT Professor of Ocean Engineering and certified flight instructor.
  
• Photographer: Reid Godshaw, American actor, filmmaker, Grammy Awards.
  (Unedited photograph taken at Meta headquarters 2017)
• Local-arrangements Chair and Press Liaison: Calum Preyra-Leaver, 4-time national lacross champion, and founder of the Mersivity club at McGill University
  
• 10am Olivia Chow, Mayor, City of Toronto, arriving by paddleboard to give introductory remarks (To be confirmed)
  
• Musical Performances of original song by SwimOP member Keith Rich, "I Love You".
  
• 10:10am Mike Schreiner, Party leader of the Green Party of Ontario, will speak on environmental issues surrounding Ontario Place development plans.
  
• 10:25am Charles Rishor, Yachting Director, Boulevard Yacht Club will speak on water as public space.
  
• 1pm Chloe Brown, "The Great Lakes Institute at Ontario Place".
  
• (speaking time TBD) Caitlin Fisher, Professor and Director of the Immersive Storytelling lab will show an XR portal that takes attendees on a virtual journey through the proposed U_oOP.
  
• Ryan Janzen, founder of Transpod (secured $500 million in funds) will present groundbreaking work on new forms of public transportation for waterfront cities.
  
• 1:15pm Jeff Archbold, B.Eng., M.A.Sc., Walters Forensic Engineering, will speak on compliance issues and actions of Ontario Place management.
  
• (speaking time TBD) Scott Williams, Founder, Mechanical Equipment Technologies (see example of 3D capture and integrated cloud computing applications for smart beachesa>).
  
• (speaking time TBD) David Shellnutt, "The Biking Lawyer" will speak on why Ontario Place needs to be wheel-friendly.
  
• Speakers arriving by kayak:
  
• 2:30pm Ed Hore, Founder, Waterfront for All will arrive by kayak and speak on water access rights for Toronto as the most paddle-friendly city.
  
• 2:40pm Niv Froehlich, Owner/Founder of Toronto SUP & Kayak, a City of Toronto Licensed SUP & Kayak Rental Operator and a Registered Paddle Canada School. "Creating a Paddle-Friendly City"