Join the Google Developer Groups Charlotte in Center City (Charlotte) for the first part of our "Build with AI" event series! Whether you're just starting out or an experienced pro, connect with fellow developers and learn practical AI skills in an inclusive environment. All tech enthusiasts are welcome!

Agenda: 

Networking: 5pm - 5:30pm est

Earl Gay: 5:45pm - 6:30pm est

Earl Gay is a Principal Architect at Google Cloud, where he has worked for the past 5 years. Based out of Charlotte, NC, Earl is a proud alumnus of UNC Charlotte, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Day-to-day, Earl works closely with enterprise companies headquartered in the Carolinas to help design solutions around the entire Google Cloud Platform portfolio from Generative AI to Application Development and all things in between

Building Generative AI Agents with Google

Discover how to build intelligent generative AI agents that can interact, create, and solve problems using tools and services. We will walk through the practical steps and key Google Cloud AI services needed to design, develop, and deploy your own agents, including real world examples from the field.

Oscar Barzuna-Hidalgo, DBA: 6:30pm - 7:15pm est

Dr. Oscar Barzuna-Hidalgo is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Business Analytics at Queens University of Charlotte. He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where his research focused on entrepreneurial resilience and venture performance. With a background in accounting from the University of Costa Rica and an MBA from Gardner-Webb University, Dr. Barzuna combines analytical expertise with a passion for entrepreneurship.

Bridging AI and Entrepreneurship: Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Business Strategy for Real-World Impact

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize industries, entrepreneurs must adapt and leverage its potential to maintain competitiveness. This keynote explores the integration of AI-driven tools into entrepreneurship education through a live case study model, where students collaborate with local businesses to address real-world challenges.

By incorporating AI technologies such as Gemini for market analysis, Google Analytics AI for consumer insights, and Tableau for data visualization, students and entrepreneurs develop actionable business strategies that enhance operational efficiency, customer engagement, and growth opportunities. This hands-on approach empowers entrepreneurs with cutting-edge skills, bridging the gap between AI capabilities and strategic business planning.

The keynote will outline the structure and impact of this initiative, emphasizing the practical benefits for students, businesses, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Attendees will gain insights into how AI can be seamlessly integrated into business education, fostering a new generation of innovative, technologically proficient entrepreneurs.

Break: 7:15pm - 7:30pm est

Annika Marie Schoene, PhD: 7:30pm - 8:00pm est

Dr. Annika Marie Schoene is a Research Scientist at the Institute of Experiential AI (EAI) in the AI + Health Team and Responsible AI Practice. Her work investigates how social, economic, political, and physical factors drive health inequalities through the use of AI. More specifically, she focuses on the social determinants of health using natural language processing and examines their impact on the onset and progression of mental health conditions and substance use disorders. She also gathers evidence for non-technical stakeholders and policymakers to help them make informed decisions that reduce algorithmic harm in healthcare settings.

To this end, she collaborates with interdisciplinary research teams and has been appointed as a Faculty Fellow to the Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research, as well as a Visiting Scientist at MaineHealth and the University of Southampton (UK). Before joining EAI, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Manchester in the National Centre for Text Mining (NaCTeM), where she worked on NLP for mental health and on named entity recognition for both social media text and health science domains. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Hull (UK). During her graduate studies, she focused on (i) the accurate classification of sentiment/emotion in social media data and (ii) the detection of suicide notes and suicidal ideation, drawing on her expertise in deep learning, machine learning, and linguistics.

Closing remarks and networking: 8:00pm - 8:30pm est