Technology

NASA Remembers Long-Time Civil Servant John Boyd

Published

1 year ago

February 26, 2025

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — John Boyd, known to many as Jack and whose career spanned more than seven decades in a multitude of roles across NASA as well as its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), died Feb. 20. He was 99. Born in 1925, and raised in Danville, Virginia, he was a long-time resident of Saratoga, California.

Boyd is being remembered by many across the agency, including Dr. Eugene Tu, director, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, where Boyd spent most of his career.

“Jack brought an energy, optimism, and team-based approach to solving some of the greatest technological challenges humanity has ever faced, which remains part of our culture to this day,” said Tu. “There are few careers as wide-ranging and impactful as Jack’s.”

In 1947, Boyd began his career at the then-called Ames Aeronautical Laboratory in Moffett Field, California, as an aeronautical engineer working to design and test various wing shapes using the center’s 1-by-3-foot supersonic wind tunnel. Boyd continued conducting research in wind tunnels, testing designs that led to dramatic increases in the efficiency of the supersonic B-58 bomber, as well as the F-102 and F-106 fighters.

In 1958, just before Ames became part of a newly established NASA, Boyd recalled thinking, “Maybe someday we’ll go out into the far blue yonder, and if we do, what are we going to fly? How are we going to bring it back into the atmosphere safely?” He and a team of engineers turned their attention to studying the dynamics of high-speed projectiles in hypervelocity ranges, filled with different mixtures of gases to mimic the atmospheres of Mars and Venus, in preparation for sending spacecraft out into space and safely back again or to the surface of other worlds.

By the mid-60s, Boyd was promoted into leadership and tapped to become deputy director for Aeronautics and Flight Systems at NASA Ames. In the late 1960s, as America was redefining its space exploration goals and sending humans to the Moon, Boyd served as the center’s lead to assist NASA Headquarters in Washington consolidate and create new research programs.

In 1979, Boyd served as the deputy director at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center (now known as NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center) in Edwards, California, and prepared the center for its role as a landing site for the space shuttle. He briefly returned to Ames before heading to NASA Headquarters to be associate administrator for management under James M. Beggs. Boyd left government service in 1985, taking a position as chancellor for research and an adjunct professor of aerodynamics, engineering, and the history of spaceflight for the University of Texas System.

Boyd returned to NASA and California’s Silicon Valley in 1993, inspiring students through educational outreach initiatives, and serving as the senior advisor to the director, senior advisor for history, and the center ombudsman until his retirement in 2020.

Boyd credits his interest in airplanes to a cousin who was a paratrooper and gave him a ride in a biplane in the 1940s. In 1943, he enrolled and became the first in his family to earn a degree with a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. He was a recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Award, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Award, the NASA Equal Employment Opportunity Medal, the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Command Medal, and the NASA Headquarters History Award. He also was a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Sloan Fellow at Stanford University.

“The agency and the nation thank and honor Jack as a member of the NASA family and the highest exemplar of a public servant who believed investing in others is the greatest contribution one can make,” added Tu. “He will be deeply missed.”

For more information about NASA Ames, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/ames

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SOURCE NASA

Technology

Wondershare to Showcase AI-Powered Business Workflows with PDFelement at Microsoft AI Tour Hong Kong

Published

8 minutes ago

April 21, 2026

HONG KONG, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Wondershare, a global leader in productivity and creativity software, will participate in the Microsoft AI Tour Hong Kong on April 22, 2026, at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. At Booth E10, the company will showcase its AI-powered business workflow solutions across its product portfolio, highlighting Wondershare PDFelement as a key focus, and inviting attendees to experience how intelligent workflows can transform modern business operations.

As Microsoft’s flagship global AI event, the Microsoft AI Tour brings together industry leaders, partners, and innovators to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping business landscapes. At the Hong Kong stop, Wondershare will highlight its deepening collaboration with Microsoft, showcasing how its product ecosystem works seamlessly within Microsoft’s AI and cloud technologies to enable more efficient, secure, and scalable workflows.

This collaboration comes at a pivotal time for Hong Kong’s rapidly evolving AI landscape. Hong Kong is rapidly emerging as a key AI innovation hub, driven by strong policy support and accelerating enterprise adoption. Despite this momentum, many organizations still face challenges such as fragmented AI adoption, integration complexity, and data security concerns. In collaboration with Microsoft, Wondershare addresses these challenges by enabling connected, end-to-end AI workflows that deliver practical and measurable productivity gains.

Under the theme “Streamline Workflows. Power Content with AI.”, Wondershare presents a unified approach to AI-driven productivity. At the center of this ecosystem is Wondershare PDFelement, enabling smarter and more efficient document workflows within enterprise environments and helping businesses adopt AI in practical, everyday scenarios. Supporting this vision, Wondershare’s broader product portfolio—including EdrawMax, EdrawMind, Filmora, and Reelmate—extends AI-powered capabilities across diagramming, mind mapping, video creation, and premium comic content creation, forming a connected, end-to-end workflow, all of which will also be showcased on-site at the event.

Through live, interactive demonstrations, attendees visiting Booth E10 will be able to explore Wondershare’s full product ecosystem and gain hands-on insight into how AI can enhance productivity across a wide range of business scenarios.

Wondershare warmly invites all participants to visit the booth and discover how AI-powered workflows can unlock new possibilities for business growth.

About Wondershare:

Wondershare is a globally recognized software company founded in 2003, known for its innovative solutions in creativity and productivity. Driven by the mission “Creativity Simplified”, Wondershare offers a range of tools, including PDFelement for document management; EdrawMax, EdrawMind for diagraming, Filmora and SelfyzAI for video editing. With over 2 billion cumulative active users across all products and a presence in over 200 countries and regions, Wondershare empowers the next generation of creators with intuitive software and trendy creative resources, continually expanding the possibilities of creativity worldwide.

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SOURCE Wondershare Technology

Technology

Cohesity Appoints Nigel Lee as Technical Sales Leader, Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ)

Published

8 minutes ago

April 21, 2026

SINGAPORE, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Cohesity, today announced Nigel Lee as Technical Sales Leader for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ). Based in Singapore, Lee will lead the company’s technical sales strategy, pre-sales organisation, and solution engineering execution across the region, reporting to Mark Nutt, SVP & GM, International at Cohesity, and reflects Cohesity’s increased investment in the region as a strategic priority.

In this newly created role, Lee will strengthen technical engagement with customers and partners, and drive adoption of Cohesity’s AI-driven data security and cyber resilience platform across APJ.

Lee brings 29 years of experience leading pre-sales, sales engineering, and go-to-market changes across Asia Pacific. He has a strong record of building high-performing teams, driving enterprise growth, and engaging C-level stakeholders in complex markets.

“APJ is a strategically important region for Cohesity, and Nigel’s leadership, passion and deep expertise make him exceptionally well positioned to lead our technical sales organisation,” said Mark Nutt, SVP & GM, International, Cohesity. “As we continue to invest in the region, his ability to align technical strategy with the rapidly developing customer requirements caused by the ever-changing threat and compliance landscape will be critical to accelerating our growth and ensuring our customers’ ongoing business resilience.”

Previously, Lee was Director of Data Storage Solutions, Asia Pacific at Lenovo, where he led the regional business and transformed the go-to-market to drive growth. He also held senior regional and global roles at NetApp.

“Across the region, organisations are under increasing pressure to secure, manage, and unlock value from their data as AI adoption accelerates and cyber threats evolve. Cohesity is uniquely positioned to simplify this complexity through a unified, AI-driven data security platform,” said Nigel Lee, Technical Sales Leader, Asia Pacific and Japan at Cohesity. “Having spent my career scaling organisations and embedding solution expertise early in the customer journey, I’m excited to join at this pivotal time and look forward to working with our teams, partners, and customers to drive meaningful, outcome-led growth.”

Lee holds an Executive MBA from Kellogg-HKUST and a Bachelor of Computer Science.

About Cohesity

Cohesity protects, secures, and provides insights into the world’s data. As the leader in AI-powered data security, Cohesity helps organisations strengthen resilience, accelerate recovery, and reduce IT costs. With Zero Trust security and advanced AI/ML, Cohesity Data Cloud is trusted by customers in more than 140 countries, including 70% of the Global 500. Cohesity is also backed by industry leaders such as NVIDIA, Amazon, Google, IBM, Cisco, and HPE.

Cohesity is certified as a Great Place to Work in multiple countries. Follow Cohesity on LinkedIn and visit www.cohesity.com to learn more.

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SOURCE Cohesity

Technology

EcoMatcher Unveils Tree Personas

Published

8 minutes ago

April 21, 2026

A New Nature Interface for Engaging with Your Trees, in Any Language

HONG KONG, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — EcoMatcher, a Certified B Corporation that enables companies to plant and track trees transparently, today announced Tree Personas, a new Nature Interface designed to make tree gifting and sustainability engagement more personal, interactive, and memorable.

With Tree Personas, companies can assign a distinct digital personality to each gifted tree, enabling recipients to virtually visit their tree in TreeTracker 3D, chat with it through TreeChat+ in their own language, and learn about its growth, local environment, and real-world impact.

Tree Personas build on EcoMatcher’s earlier TreeChat, which introduced chatbot-powered conversations with trees, only in English. While TreeChat enabled interaction, Tree Personas shape how a tree communicates in any language – from curious and playful to calm and reflective – while all environmental data, location, and impact metrics remain authentic and unchanged.

EcoMatcher describes Tree Personas as a Nature Interface — a new category of digital interface that allows people to interact with real ecosystems through digital companions connected to living trees. The company believes Nature Interfaces can help reconnect people with nature in an increasingly digital world.

Rather than passively receiving information about a planted tree, users can build an ongoing relationship with it — asking questions, learning about its ecosystem, and following its growth over time. Even when users are away, Tree Personas continue to evolve digitally, encouraging people to return and discover new reflections, observations, and updates.

“Trees are essential for life on Earth, yet most people rarely have a personal connection with them,” said Bas Fransen, CEO of EcoMatcher. “Tree Personas turn planted trees into interactive companions that help people learn about nature and build deeper connections with the ecosystems that support us.”

Meet the First Tree Personas

EcoMatcher introduces three Tree Personas available to companies gifting trees, all inspired by real ecological stages and behaviours of trees:

Twiggles: A young, curious tree highlighting small discoveries in nature.Oakly: A grounded, thoughtful tree sharing ecosystems insights.Seren: A calm, reflective tree encouraging deeper connections with nature.

Companies can also collaborate with EcoMatcher to create custom Tree Personas aligned with their brand values, sustainability goals, or storytelling needs.

EcoMatcher will share more about the background and opportunities of Tree Personas during its upcoming Demo Day on April 27. To sign up, visit www.ecomatcher.com/demo.

About EcoMatcher

EcoMatcher is a Certified B Corporation that enables companies to integrate transparent tree planting into their business. Through its technology platform, organizations can plant trees, track them digitally, and engage employees and customers in sustainability. EcoMatcher’s customers include Dubai Islamic Bank, Grab, Infosys, and Singlife.

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SOURCE EcoMatcher