IEEE R8 Climate Challenge: Disaster-Resilient Communication

Abdullateef Aliyu

IEEE Region 8 Vice-Chair, Student Activities

Abdullateef is the General Manager of Projects at Phase 3 Telecom, a leading aerial fiber-optic network infrastructure provider in West Africa. He also serves as Senior Vice President of IEEE Smart Village and chairs the IEEE Region 8 Student Activities Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Bayero University Kano and a master’s in ICT from Northern University of Malaysia, He is a Fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers and a Professional Member of the Eta Chapter Board of Governors. An alumnus of the U.S. Telecommunication Training Institute, he joined Phase 3 Telecom in 2013, leading significant projects across Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. Notable achievements include implementing Phase 3 Telecom’s 100G transmission network in Nigeria, as a volunteer, he founded the IEEE Smart Village Africa Working Group in 2020 which now has over 1000 volunteers represented in 45 African countries. His accolades include the Leadership and Innovative Award and Best Creativity Award by Phase 3 Telecom in 2022 and 2023, IEEE Smart Village Excellence in Leadership Award 2022, and IEEE Nigeria Section Award of Excellence 2022. He has also received recognition from the NSE Maitama branch for Excellence in Leadership and Innovation in 2022, 2023, and 2024, the MGA Board YP Award, and the IEEE Nigeria Section for his contributions and volunteerism.

Mohamed Amin

Head of Private Wireless Networks Sales, Middle East at Nokia

Mohamed Amin has 15+ years of experience in the telecommunication industry. He is a strong believer in the role of technology in industrial transformation and strives to challenge the silos that prevent innovation and business success. His experience ranges from engineering to pre-sales, business development and sales with Alcatel-Lucent & Nokia in different roles covering Europe, Middle East & Africa region. Amin has received several awards in his professional career from Nokia & IEEE. He is also an active volunteer and IEEE member, serving currently as Industry Engagement committee member at IEEE and Careers Subcommittee Chair at IEEE R8 (EMEA). Mohamed Amin LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mohamedamin1

Vera Markovic

Vera Marković is a retired Full Professor from the Faculty of Electronic Engineering at the University of Niš, Serbia. From 2014 to 2022, she served as the head of the Department of Telecommunications. Her research interests include wireless communications, microwaves, artificial intelligence in telecommunications, etc. She has published over 300 research papers, with over 40 papers published in journals indexed in SCI. She conducted study visits at prestigious universities in Germany and UK and participated in many EU projects.
An IEEE member since 1992 and a senior member since 2015, Prof. Marković has held several leadership positions. Over the period 2007-2019, she served as the Secretary, Vice-chair, and Chair of the Serbia&Montenegro Section. Subsequently, she contributed as a member of the R8 Nominations&Appointment Subcommittee (2019–2020) and R8 Membership Development Subcommittee (2020). Since 2019, she has been a member of the R8 Student Paper Contest jury. Her involvement extends to various roles, such as being a member of the MGA Member Benefits Portfolio Advisory Committee (2020-2021) and an IEEE Global Public Policy Committee Member (2021-2022). Since 2021, she is member of the R8 Student Activities Committee (SAC) and holds the position of R8 Student Paper Contest coordinator. As of January 2023, she serves as the Chair of the R8 AdHoc Committee on Contests, Awards, and Recognitions within the framework of R8 SAC.

Martin Peter

Martin was previously general manager, transmission (later network) planning and design. He enjoys a stellar career graph of more than 17 years with academic/professional qualifications in engineering, IP/Optics networks and systems technologies on the telecommunications and information technology business turfs. He is a certified Agile Scrum Master and ardent business solutions architect who has held several network engineering and target account management roles at Direct On PC, Alcatel Lucent and Nokia respectively. The multitalented professional, and strategic driver’s career successes include; spearheading one of Nigeria’s foremost mobile network’s Multi-layer ASON resilient WDM national backbone between 2008 and 2014 as well as the delivery of a major cost-saving solution designed for clients in the energy sector – leading to reduction in resource requirements and network management infrastructure with annual TCO of almost 50%; championing a strategic plan for infrastructure exchange. This enabled rapid increase in national network footprint by more than 40% within half a year; anchoring major technical bids as a solution architect across Sub-Saharan Africa. At Phase3 Telecom, he leads an engineering and technical team of expert professionals with an unwavering focus on efficient service delivery, teamwork, technological savvy, and processes to service scale and maintain a strong edge over competition; meet the growing needs of clients, and the demands of a vibrant industry. Along with several certifications not limited to – IP & optics solution portfolio, service routing, WDM network and bid management by Alcatel-Lucent University, Villarceaux France; quantum mechanics for optical network applications by Stanford University; enterprise & target account selling certification by TAS Group and a CCWA by Cambridge International University; Martin also holds an MBA from University of Roehampton, London and a B.Eng. (Hons) in Electrical/Electronics Engineering from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria.

Lwanga Herbert

Chair, IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board

Lwanga Herbert, is a Technology promoter, innovator, researcher, entrepreneur and enthusiast best known for promoting technology, innovation and entrepreneurship for the benefit of communities and society as whole. Lwanga Herbert currently serves a Global chair of the IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board (HTB) that focuses on supporting impactful and ethically informed volunteer-led initiatives, programs and projects, and mutually beneficial partnerships, as well as to inform policy formulation that harness technology and innovation to address societal challenges in a responsive, effective, and sustainable way. Previously (2021 – 2022) he served as a Chair of IEEE SIGHT. He is also a co-founder of Logel Science Foundation, a non-profit organization which focuses on conducting research, development and innovation activities whose end results are aimed to benefit humanity. He also co-founded LOG`EL GROUP Ltd a technology company which emphasizes use of local talent to develop technology solutions that address locally based challenges and concerns. Previously, he has won different awards among others which includes the Ugandan Presidential Innovation Award 2005 – that focused on rewarding young innovators.

Mariela Machado Fantacchiotti

IEEE Humanitatian Technologies Senior Director

Mariela Machado is a skilled professional with nearly two decades of experience building, deploying, and scaling international humanitarian programs at the intersection of technology, social/environmental impact and public policy in the private sector, public sector and academia. As the Senior Director of Humanitarian Technology at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Mariela leads multiple programs at the intersection of social/environmental impact and technology for this engineering society worldwide. Prior to IEEE, she was the Director of Programs at Newlab, a social innovation hub focused on scaling transformative technologies through public-private partnerships; she was also the Senior Program Manager at the American Society of Mechanical Engineer (ASME) & Engineering for Change working to support technology for sustainable development across all continents. Mariela advises capstone projects at the intersection of digital technology and policy at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University and teaches a class on emerging digital technology for social and environmental impact. She is a Telecommunication Engineer with MSc in Information and Communication Technologies and a MPA in Sustainable Development from Columbia University. Mariela is fluent in 5 languages: Spanish, English, French, Swedish and Italian.