We are excited to be offering education addressing a wide range of topics, including the Fire & Life Safety Ecosystem™; code compliance; emergency preparedness and response; emerging technologies; global issues; public education; building and life safety and construction; fire protection systems; industrial hazards; informed public; electrical safety; and many more.
In today’s fast-paced world, we often see the unimaginable, such as inspiring new technologies that are now part of our everyday lives. But we also see that new technology can sometimes lead to fire, electrical, and life safety tragedies. Innovations are exciting yet they can bring unseen risks and can come on top of problems we have yet to fully solve. Together we can work to meet these challenges in ways that are unimaginable as well. NFPA is on a digital transformation journey to help address this and to influence safety in more places for more people. NFPA CEO and President Jim Pauley will share how NFPA is investing for the future to provide the latest information and knowledge faster and easier so all those who rely on NFPA anywhere around the world can effectively combat persistent and emerging threats in this dynamic environment.
Keynote Speaker
Albert Manero
Engineer and Co-Founder of Limbitless Solutions
“We want to make an impact on a global level. When you find that intersection of creativity, inclusion, and empathy, it will resonate with others in whatever field you’re in.” — Dr. Albert Manero
Harnessing the power of cross-team collaboration and using the power of STEAM to change children’s lives, Dr. Manero is a visionary social entrepreneur, educator, humanitarian, engineer, and superhero to hundreds of “bionic kids” who have benefited from his mission to make 3-D printed bionic prosthetic limbs accessible to all. Teaming engineers with artists, marketers with game designers, and more, Limbitless Solutions has become a case study in innovative and interdisciplinary design. Using empathy as a guide, Dr. Manero brings a hearttouching story of the difference that one person with vision can make in the world, while championing the art—and highly human impact—of science, technology, engineering, and math.
When Dr. Albert Manero was growing up, his parents taught him the importance of making the world a better place. That inspiration has taken form in Limbitless Solutions, a nonprofit devoted to bringing 3-D printed bionic arms and hands to children at no cost to their families. Ever-evolving, the company has since expanded its mission to create bionic arms for adults, prioritizing veterans and first responders. Manero’s vision pairs innovation with compassion and design with scientific purpose, reminding all of us of what technology can achieve through singular vision and charitable spirit.
A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Manero was a graduate student at the University of Central Florida when he heard a radio interview with the man who invented the first 3-D printed artificial hand and learned of the exorbitant cost of prosthetic limbs, which placed them out of reach for most families. Inspired to change the system and disrupt an industry to benefit children in need, he and his colleagues founded Limbitless Solutions.
Only a year later, his company developed and donated its first prosthetic arm. Dr. Manero’s work quickly captured the attention of the media, Microsoft’s The Collective Project, and even actor Robert Downey Jr. In a viral video that has been seen by billions, Downey presented a Limbitless-designed Ironman-themed prosthetic to a 7-year-old boy with a congenital deformity, who dreamed of having a bionic arm like the Marvel superhero. A Spiderman-inspired arm followed for an 8-year-old boy, as well as a flower arm for a young girl who aspires to be a marine biologist. Dr. Manero also worked with UCF’s School of Visual Arts students and faculty to develop training video games, which help kids hone the skills necessary to use their bionic prosthetics.
Leveraging students’ creativity and a small, but innovative staff, Limbitless is funded primarily through partnerships and private donations. The team is also working with the Mayo Clinic to test a wheelchair for those diagnosed with ALS, quadriplegia, and spinal cord injuries that can be driven and controlled by clenching one’s jaw and facial muscles. Other projects include developing video game technology for use in stroke rehabilitation. Through this lifechanging work, Dr. Manero aims to reshape the perception of science by infusing art, humanity, and aesthetics into an area typically viewed as “cold” or dehumanizing.