USDIITA Careers in Tech Read the Math with Role Models
USDIITA Workshop Read the Math Making Equations Speak, Think, and Connect Us All with Role Models
IEEE ISAIA Montclair State University 9 October 2026
USDIITA Event together with Careers in Tech, Workshop: Read the Math:
Making Equations Speak, Think, and Connect Us All with Role Models
150 years of the Telephone Patent, Alexander Graham Bell, Lewis H Latimer HKN Honorary Eminent Members
We also gather in celebration of the 150-year arc of innovation sparked by the telephone patent, honoring the spirit of communication breakthroughs that continue to shape how we connect ideas, systems, and people.
This workshop launches the first USDIITA forum, aligned with the spirit of INDIITA and AUDIITA, creating a shared space for Dignity, Inclusion, Identity, Trust, and Agency in Technology. Together, we explore how mathematical communication can become more human-centered, machine-ready, and globally inclusive.
“Read the Math” proposes a joyful shift remembering our Role Models:
Equations that can be read, spoken, understood, and computed as one shared language between people and machines.
Yet Mathematical content, subtly altered, can completely change a system's behavior.
Why This Workshop Matters
Mathematical expression is at the heart of engineering, science, AI, ML, Generative, Quantum, Optical and communication systems but today it often feels locked in formats that are:
- Hard to speak consistently across disciplines and languages
- Difficult for machines to interpret reliably
- Challenging for learners entering STEM fields
- Inaccessible to many who rely on assistive technologies
AI/ML/Generative/Quantum/Optical systems are ready for something new: structured, expressive, and semantically rich mathematical communication that can be shared, reasoned about, and built upon collaboratively.
In our modern society, many people feel pressure to keep up with the rapid pace of AI, and some worry about being displaced or left behind by it. This can create emotional stress as individuals navigate constant technological change, evolving healthcare systems, and the need to prepare themselves and their families for an uncertain future. There is also growing concern about what it means to be “on the wrong side” of AI/ML/Generative/Quantum systems whether in access, opportunity, or understanding rather than fully participating in their benefits.
The Telephone Patent is an innovation that transformed and continues to shape our world, how we connect ideas, systems, and people. The organizations founded as a result, and their innovations, produced a significant body of work, classic papers, publications, and patents. What if mathematics could be read aloud as naturally as a story, understood clearly by humans everywhere, and directly interpreted by machines without friction or ambiguity?
“Read the Math” is a lively, hands-on workshop designed to bring together researchers, students, educators, role models, and innovators who believe that equations, formulas, and technical expressions should be as accessible as spoken language and as powerful as computation itself.
Date and Time
Location
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- Montclair State University
- 1 Normal Avenue
- Montclair, New Jersey
- United States 07043
Agenda
90 minutes (includes “The Idea Factory” documentary Sizzle about the innovators of Bell Labs and classical papers to “Read the Math,” and “The First Call,” 150th year, the Telephone from Alexander Graham Bell to the present, and on to the future, and the premier of “Reclaiming the Light,” the documentary of Lewis H Latimer Patent Draftsman of the telephone patent, recognized in 2026 as HKN Honorary Eminent Member. )
Structure
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Talk and discussion with exercises.
This Workshop will have three sections: one begins with “The Idea Factory,” sizzle and introduction by panelists, describing classical papers in the tradition of Bell Labs Role Models that play a significant part in our modern world integrating achievements with AI/ML/Agentic Technologies/Quantum, followed with free discussion led by the Moderators. The second section will discuss the 150th of the Telephone Patent, with a video of “The First Call,” followed by discussion by expert panelists, mapping the first patent through the future of the field, connecting the unconnected and advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. The third section premiers “Reclaiming the Light” documentary about Lewis H Latimer HKN Honorary Eminent Member recognized this year in the 150th of the Telephone Patent where he served as Draftsman.
Organizers and Panelists Include but are not limited to:
Katherine Grace August, PhD New Jersey
Jelena Komitas Manalapan School District, Jersey Shore STEM Ecosystem
Thomas M Willis III, PhD Principal Member of the Technical Staff AT&T Labs New Jersey
Paula Muller, PhD Founder MyCareLink360
Eamon J Wall, Esq Patent Attorney Partner Meagher Emanuel Laks Goldberg & Liao, LLP
Dov Kruger, PhD Professor Rutgers University New Jersey
Theodore Sizer, PhD Nokia Bell Labs EVP Optical Research
J Jenny Li, PhD Kean University Professor
Demetrios Lambropoulos, PhD Professor Rutgers University
Fariha Abedin Rutgers University Graduate Student
USDIITA Careers in Tech