Susann Keohane           

Susann Keohane is the IBM Global Research Leader for the Aging Initiative. In her role, she heads a worldwide community of researchers, technologists, and academics who help governments, industries, and companies around the world as they seek to develop solutions and technology enabled services for consumers in the new ‘longevity economy'.

Her current research focus is on AI for Healthy Aging and  IoT Sensor Systems for Eldercare; applying advanced analytics and machine learning techniques to model a person activities of daily living and generate new insights that reduce risk, reduce cost of care and significantly improve the Elder’s quality of life. She founded and runs the IBM Aging-in-Place Research Lab which is designed to demonstrate IBM’s IoT-based AI solutions to support aging and create an environment to co-develop solutions with clients.

She served as the technical lead to launch the UCSD collaboration on AI for Healthy Aging. She also served as a principle investigator for IBM’s collaboration with Rice University on cognitive sensor systems which lead to the development of the IBM Multi-purpose Eldercare Robot Assistant (IBM MERA). IBM MERA is a first of a kind Watson-enabled robot prototype designed to help assist the elderly and their caregivers.

Previously, Susann she lead the technical direction for the accessibility enablement team which is responsible for developing IBM's global strategy and implementation mechanism for accessibility tooling, education, and compliance to emerging accessibility standards.

For over 10 years, Susann has focused her research on accessible technology for people with disabilities and the aging population.  Susann is an expert in enabling human ability through emerging technologies with a strategic focus on accessibility research, aging-in-place IoT technology, and cognitive systems to deliver personalized insights and adaptive interfaces.  Her expertise is utilized as a member of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Cognitive Accessibility Task Force where she contributes to the guidelines that help ensure the Web is accessible to all.

Her writing and research appear in publications such as Time Magazine, The Australian, Investor's Business Daily, Business Insider, and PC World. She is an international speaker who has spoken at the BBC World Changing Ideas Summit, MIT Future Innovators Forum, IBM World of Watson, and SXSW Interactive.

Susann’s passion for innovation drives her exploration of future accessible technology to help bridge the digital divide and improve the quality of life of the aging population. She is an IBM Master Inventor with over 175 patents world-wide. She is a member of the prestigious IBM Academy of Technology. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from University of Florida and a Master of Science in Software Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Susann is activity in her community and volunteers at the local senior care facility, shares her expertise with Knowbility (nonprofit organization with the mission of improving technology access to all) and recently nominated for an AGE of Central Texas “Bert Kruger Smith Vision Award”.

She resides in Austin, Texas with her husband and two daughters.

Keep up to date on latest activity via twitter: @skeohane1