Service
The Gateway Podcast
Meet the Rest of the Team
Russell Devereaux
Russ Devereaux is the Project Manager for NIU STEAM in the Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development. Russ oversees multiple adventures within the division including NIU’s STEM Fest. Russ holds a graduate degree in psychology and an undergraduate degree in applied behavior sciences, both from National-Louis University. Russ’ career in higher education began at 18, when he became an orientation leader during his first year at Elgin Community College. Russ is the author of multiple poetry collections including his most recent, Firefly Conspiracies. As a playwright, Russ has written and directed four world premieres. Russ is a National Poetry Slam poet and 2019 Rockford Certified Poetry Slam Champion. Russ is the creator and co-host of The Gateway, a podcast exploring innovation, technology and humanity.
Dr. Amin Vahedian
Amin Vahedian is an Assistant Professor at Northern Illinois University. His expertise is Data Analytics and Machine Learning. With an endless desire to learn, he joined the Gateway podcast with fellow Huskies, Dr. Biagio Palese and Russ Devereaux, where they can’t stop talking about what technology means to business, and life in general. In his research, Dr. Vahedian believes Machine Learning is not an ambitious enough goal. The ultimate goal should be for the machines to teach us what they learn from the data. This research trend is broadly known as Interpretable Machine Learning. In his spare time, he likes to brag about home improvement projects he completes and his woodworking. He aspires to regularly cycle but hasn’t succeeded yet. He also has a peculiar fascination with transportation technology.
OMIS Department - NIU Business Olimpics - AI Superhuman Competition
OMIS Department - HAVI Data Viz Competition
