Mathematics and Machine Learning for Earth System Simulation 2/2-6/2026
2026-02-02 00:00 - 2026-02-06 23:59 (America/New_York) | IPAM at UCLA, 460 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Modern scientific progress is often driven by numerical computations and simulations to represent large numbers of complex and interrelated physical processes. In recent years, machine learning (ML) applications in earth system simulation and prediction have promised to accelerate the accuracy and computational processing power of Earth system models including physics-constrained approaches, super ultra-high resolution, large language models for earth systems, and uncertainty quantification.

“Mathematics and Machine Learning for Earth System Simulation” is a week-long workshop that will bring together experts from diverse fields related to earth system simulation (e.g. computer science, mathematics, atmospheric science, earth system science, etc.) to explore the intersection of mathematics, traditional numerical methods, data assimilation, and cutting-edge machine learning techniques.
Topics that will be discussed include:

Integration of Numerical and Data-Driven Algorithms
Mathematical Operators and Inference
Scale Agnostic Forecasting
Foundation Models for Downstream Tasks

The workshop is hosted by the Institute for Pure & Applied Mathematics (IPAM), an NSF Math Institute. The workshop takes place Monday-Friday, February 2-6, 2026, at IPAM on the UCLA campus: 460 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, California, 90095.
Early Registration Rates
Faculty $75
Government/Military Participant $75
Graduate Student $25
Industry $100
Postdoc $50
Register Now
PLEASE NOTE: Registration fees must be received two weeks in advance of the first day of the workshop to qualify for the early registration fees listed above. After that date, registration fees increase by $10, except for remote participants. There are no refunds of registration fees, barring extenuating circumstances.
Speakers
The current speaker line-up includes:

Tapio Schneider (California Institute of Technology)
Pierre Gentine (Columbia University)
Michael Ghil (UCLA)
Pedram Hassanzadeh (University of Chicago)
David John Gagne (NCAR)
Katherine Breen (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Dimitrios Giannakis (Dartmouth College)
Po-Lun Ma (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Jill Johnson (University of Sheffield, UK)
Tom Beucler (University of Lausanne, Switzerland)
Gary Froyland (University of New South Wales, Australia)
Johan Mathé (Atmo AI)
Damian Rouson (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

As well as speakers from the University of Miami:

Mohamed Iskandarani (Department of Ocean Sciences)
Michael Fischer (Department of Ocean Sciences & IDSC Core Faculty)
Milan Curcic, Workshop Co-Organizer (Department of Ocean Sciences & IDSC Core Faculty)

Workshop organizers expect that it will result in a review/perspective paper on the state of the field and the imminent obstacles. Please apply for support and/or register if you’d like to attend.
Financial Support
Those requesting financial support to attend the workshop should apply early. Applications received by Friday, October 31, 2025 will receive fullest consideration. Questions and supporting documents should be sent to the email below. Successful applicants will be notified as soon as funding decisions are made. If you do not need or want to apply for funding, you may simply register. IPAM will close registration if they reach capacity; for this reason, they encourage you to register early.
Funding is available especially to support the attendance of recent PhDs, graduate students, and researchers in the early stages of their career; however, mathematicians and scientists at all levels who are interested in this area are encouraged to apply for funding. Encouraging the careers of women and minority mathematicians and scientists is an important component of IPAM’s mission and they welcome those applications.
Please send your questions and supporting documents to: wcs2026@ipam.ucla.edu
The deadline to apply is Friday, October 31, 2025.
Apply Here
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Organizing Committee
Katherine Breen, Chair (NASA)
Donifan Barahona (NASA)
Nico Caltabiano (University of Southampton)
Milan Curcic (University of Miami)
Adam Rupe (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Marcus van Lier-Walqui (Columbia University)

Miami XR 2026: Where Innovation Meets Imagination 2/12+13
2026-02-12 00:00 - 2026-02-13 23:59 | Shalala Student Center Complex, 1330 Miller Drive, Coral Gables, Florida, 33146, United States
Miami XR is back! Join us in Miami for two unforgettable days of discovery, connection, and creativity. Reconnect with the XR community while exploring groundbreaking research, inspiring talks, hands-on demos, interactive session, keynote speakers, and lively after-hours events.
Get ready for fresh ideas, new collaboration, and experiences that will spark creativity, shape careers, and change the future of immersive media.

Visit the website for more information.

Virtual AI Lecture Series Exploring Practical Applications—Andres Sawicki 2/20
2026-02-20 14:00 - 16:00 | Zoom (online)
Hosted by Joseph Johnson and Mitsunori Ogihara, this new webinar series promotes the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) among University of Miami faculty, staff, and students, and the surrounding community.
Each session explores practical applications of AI in research, business, and everyday life. The content of these lectures is tailored for a general, non-technical audience and concludes with a Question and Answer session. All lectures take place via ZOOM on Fridays from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, and are free and open to the public. Each session has a separate registration link. An email confirmation containing the ZOOM link will be sent upon completion of registration.
February 20 | Register Now

Andres Sawicki, JD
P R O F E S S O R O F L A W
Director, Business of Innovation, Law, & Technology concentration
SCHOOL OF LAW
D I R E C T O R
Data Ethics & Society
FROST INSTITUTE FOR DATA SCIENCE AND COMPUTING
Prof. Sawicki teaches in the area of intellectual property. His primary research projects explore the extent to which IP can help solve problems in the production of inventions and expressive works. He is particularly interested in the complex psychology of creativity, and in the difficulty of coordinating multiple creative collaborators. Professor Sawicki’s research also examines the interaction among distinct patent doctrines.
Professor Sawicki graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with S.B. degrees in Brain & Cognitive Sciences and Science, Technology, & Society. He then earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 2006, where he was an Articles Editor for the Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. After graduation, he clerked for the Honorable Robert D. Sack of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. From 2007 through 2010, he worked as an associate in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focused on intellectual property litigation, especially Hatch-Waxman Act pharmaceutical patent cases. Prior to his appointment at Miami Law, Professor Sawicki was a Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School.
His work has been published by leading journals, including Cornell Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, and The University of Chicago Law Review, among others. Read more . . .

March 20 | Register Now

Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes, MD
L E C T U R E R
Business Technology Department
MIAMI HERBERT BUSINESS SCHOOL
Prof. Dr. Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes is a visionary leader operating at the intersection of academia, business, government and not-for-profit sectors, recognized globally for her deep tech diplomacy and digital ethics efforts.
With over two decades of executive experience, she has held numerous high-impact leadership roles and has extensive complex system integration expertise, driving the development of responsible, inclusive, diverse, sustainable AI, blockchain and other deep tech innovation ecosystems at a regional, national or international level. Her unique background positions her as a thought leader on how emerging or frontier technologies are posing unique ethical challenges and are reshaping law, regulatory frameworks, corporate governance, risk management, compliance and enterprise digital strategy.
She is an alumna of MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia University, and University of Miami’s Herbert Business School. In addition, she is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, holding executive certifications in AI, Blockchain, Finance, Mediation, Tech Diplomacy, Human Rights, and Ethics. Dr. Vasiliu-Feltes has served as an expert advisor to numerous Fortune 100 and 500 companies, US DOD, IEEE, NIST, and EU, UN or G20-affiliated organizations, guiding them on strategic decisions around digital transformation, digital risk governance, digital trust, and digital cyber-ethics orchestration. Read more . . .
Read this NEWS@TheU PROFILE of Dr. Vasiliu-Feltes: “We have to rethink everything”

April 10 | Registration Link Forthcoming . . .

April Mann, MD
D I S T I N G U I S H E D S E N I O R L E C T U R E R
and Director of the Writing Center
Department of Writing Studies
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

April Mann, EdD, is Director of the Writing Center and is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer in the Department of Writing Studies. She also provides grant-writing support to the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the Miller School of Medicine. April has been facilitating the College of Arts and Sciences’ Summer Writing Institute with her colleague Adina Sanchez-Garcia since 2015. The Institute helps faculty throughout the college reimagine the ways they can use writing in their courses to improve their students’ disciplinary learning. She and her colleagues are in the process of initiating a Writing Enriched Curriculum program to support faculty in other disciplines who want to effectively use writing assignments in their teaching.
For the past two years, she has been co-facilitating a Faculty Working Group for Teaching with AI. This community of practice brings faculty together to discuss their innovative work with AI in the classroom. She also presented at the Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence 2024 Conference. April is co-author of several publications, most recently “The linguistic leap: Understanding, evaluating, and integrating AI in language education.” Journal of Language Teaching, (with colleagues Shai Cohen, Ludovic Mompelat, and Logan Connors). She has several manuscripts currently under contract or under consideration with colleagues in the Writing Studies Department and the School of Education and Human Development. She is also co-author (with colleagues Ava Brillat and Matthew Kaeiser) of “Crossing the Bridge: Writing and Research Bridge Programming for an Intensive English Program” in PILH: Information Literacy and Writing Studies, Volume II – Upper Level and Graduate Studies. Ed. Grace Veach. Purdue University Press, 2019. She is also the author of “Structure and Accommodation: Autism and the Writing Center”, in Autism Spectrum Disorders in the College Composition Classroom: Making Writing Instruction more Accessible for all Students. Eds. Walsh, Lynda and Gerstle, Val. Marquette University Press, 2011. In addition, she was also a contributor to and reader for Composing Inquiry: Methods and Readings for Investigation and Writing. Margaret Marshall, Prentice Hall, 2004.

Past Speakers
September 26 | Watch Now

Indraneel Chakraborty, PhD |
D E P A R T M E N T C H A I R a n d P R O F E S S O R
Finance Department
MIAMI HERBERT BUSINESS SCHOOL
Dr. Chakraborty received his Ph.D. in finance from Wharton, an M.S. from MIT, and a B.Tech. from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (President of India Gold Medalist). He has worked for Citadel Investments and Citigroup Global Markets Inc.’s fixed income divisions. Dr. Chakraborty has won multiple awards for his research and teaching. He received the excellence in teaching award in the Master of Science in Finance program each year from 2018 to 2023). In 2018, Poets and Quants recognized him as one of the top 40 under 40 business school professors. Read more . . .

October 17 | Watch Now

Tom Collins, PhD
A S S O C I A T E P R O F E S S O R
Music Engineering Technology
FROST SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Tom is an Associate Professor of Music Engineering Technology within the Music Engineering program at the Frost School of Music and Principal Investigator of the Music Computing and Psychology Lab (situated in the Frost School of Music). His research concerns the development and application of machine learning techniques for/to music-analytical and music-generative tasks, with projects leading to research papers, reusable code, and collaborations with upcoming and GRAMMY Award-winning artists on songs co-created with AI. The lab also works on audio/music in extended reality (XR/AR/VR), AI for podcasting and game audio, and pattern discovery algorithms applied to coordinated movement in music and athletics.
Dr. Collins has a strong track record in the supervision of PhD students—training them and helping them pursue careers in industry or academia, with recent graduates joining ByteDance, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
In terms of teaching, Dr. Collins offers courses on electronic production technologies, research methods, and music artificial intelligence. Read more . . .

October 31 | Video Link Forthcoming . . .

Joseph Johnson, PhD
A S S O C I A T E P R O F E S S O R
Marketing Department
MIAMI HERBERT BUSINESS SCHOOL
Dr. Johnson teaches Marketing Analytics, New Product Development, Strategic Brand Management and a doctoral seminar on quantitative methods for marketing management. He has thirty-two years of experience, divided between academia and industry, in computerization and empirical models for manufacturing, supply chain and marketing. His current research focuses on the use of AI and text mining tools as a decision aid for managers. Dr. Johnson has created and collaborated in the development of:

Deep learning algorithms for advertising design and testing
Brand management tools using text mining
Customer satisfaction and service quality measurement tools using text mining
Dynamic optimization methods for retail promotions
Media planning tools for big Pharma
Digital media analytics for non-profit organizations
Clinic scheduling model for UM’s clinics
Risk models for predicting post-surgery health outcomes. Read more . . .

November 14 | Video Link Forthcoming . . .
TALK TITLE: “The Future of Making, Teaching, and Learning Music: Exploring Artificial Intelligence and Music”

Reynaldo Sanchez, MM
A S S O C I A T E D E A N
Strategic Initiatives + Innovation
A S S O C I A T E P R O F E S S O R
Music Business + Entertainment
FROST SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Dean Sanchez is a multi-faceted educator and musician. As the Director of the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program, he has been responsible for expanding the educational opportunities offered by the Frost School of Music overall. An accomplished multi-tasker, he also serves as Director of the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program, an innovative performing and songwriting program curriculum developed with Frost School alumnus Bruce Hornsby to incorporate both American roots music and contemporary composition. The program has become one of the School’s fastest growing areas of study. It also offers those with an interest in electronic music performance an opportunity to become full music majors, a first for a major music school in the U.S. Read more . . .

Virtual AI Lecture Series Exploring Practical Applications—Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes 3/20
2026-03-20 14:00 - 16:00 | Zoom (online)
Hosted by Joseph Johnson and Mitsunori Ogihara, this new webinar series promotes the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) among University of Miami faculty, staff, and students, and the surrounding community.
Each session explores practical applications of AI in research, business, and everyday life. The content of these lectures is tailored for a general, non-technical audience and concludes with a Question and Answer session. All lectures take place via ZOOM on Fridays from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, and are free and open to the public. An email confirmation containing the ZOOM link will be sent upon completion of registration.
March 20 | Register Now

Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes, MD
L E C T U R E R
Business Technology Department
MIAMI HERBERT BUSINESS SCHOOL
Prof. Dr. Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes is a visionary leader operating at the intersection of academia, business, government and not-for-profit sectors, recognized globally for her deep tech diplomacy and digital ethics efforts.
With over two decades of executive experience, she has held numerous high-impact leadership roles and has extensive complex system integration expertise, driving the development of responsible, inclusive, diverse, sustainable AI, blockchain and other deep tech innovation ecosystems at a regional, national or international level. Her unique background positions her as a thought leader on how emerging or frontier technologies are posing unique ethical challenges and are reshaping law, regulatory frameworks, corporate governance, risk management, compliance and enterprise digital strategy.
She is an alumna of MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia University, and University of Miami’s Herbert Business School. In addition, she is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, holding executive certifications in AI, Blockchain, Finance, Mediation, Tech Diplomacy, Human Rights, and Ethics. Dr. Vasiliu-Feltes has served as an expert advisor to numerous Fortune 100 and 500 companies, US DOD, IEEE, NIST, and EU, UN or G20-affiliated organizations, guiding them on strategic decisions around digital transformation, digital risk governance, digital trust, and digital cyber-ethics orchestration. Read more . . .
Read this NEWS@TheU PROFILE of Dr. Vasiliu-Feltes: “We have to rethink everything”

April 10 | Registration Link Forthcoming . . .

April Mann, MD
D I S T I N G U I S H E D S E N I O R L E C T U R E R
and Director of the Writing Center
Department of Writing Studies
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

April Mann, EdD, is Director of the Writing Center and is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer in the Department of Writing Studies. She also provides grant-writing support to the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the Miller School of Medicine. April has been facilitating the College of Arts and Sciences’ Summer Writing Institute with her colleague Adina Sanchez-Garcia since 2015. The Institute helps faculty throughout the college reimagine the ways they can use writing in their courses to improve their students’ disciplinary learning. She and her colleagues are in the process of initiating a Writing Enriched Curriculum program to support faculty in other disciplines who want to effectively use writing assignments in their teaching.
For the past two years, she has been co-facilitating a Faculty Working Group for Teaching with AI. This community of practice brings faculty together to discuss their innovative work with AI in the classroom. She also presented at the Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence 2024 Conference. April is co-author of several publications, most recently “The linguistic leap: Understanding, evaluating, and integrating AI in language education.” Journal of Language Teaching, (with colleagues Shai Cohen, Ludovic Mompelat, and Logan Connors). She has several manuscripts currently under contract or under consideration with colleagues in the Writing Studies Department and the School of Education and Human Development. She is also co-author (with colleagues Ava Brillat and Matthew Kaeiser) of “Crossing the Bridge: Writing and Research Bridge Programming for an Intensive English Program” in PILH: Information Literacy and Writing Studies, Volume II – Upper Level and Graduate Studies. Ed. Grace Veach. Purdue University Press, 2019. She is also the author of “Structure and Accommodation: Autism and the Writing Center”, in Autism Spectrum Disorders in the College Composition Classroom: Making Writing Instruction more Accessible for all Students. Eds. Walsh, Lynda and Gerstle, Val. Marquette University Press, 2011. In addition, she was also a contributor to and reader for Composing Inquiry: Methods and Readings for Investigation and Writing. Margaret Marshall, Prentice Hall, 2004.

Past Speakers

September 26 | Watch Now

Indraneel Chakraborty, PhD |
D E P A R T M E N T C H A I R a n d P R O F E S S O R
Finance Department
MIAMI HERBERT BUSINESS SCHOOL
Dr. Chakraborty received his Ph.D. in finance from Wharton, an M.S. from MIT, and a B.Tech. from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (President of India Gold Medalist). He has worked for Citadel Investments and Citigroup Global Markets Inc.’s fixed income divisions. Dr. Chakraborty has won multiple awards for his research and teaching. He received the excellence in teaching award in the Master of Science in Finance program each year from 2018 to 2023). In 2018, Poets and Quants recognized him as one of the top 40 under 40 business school professors. Read more . . .

October 17 | Watch Now

Tom Collins, PhD
A S S O C I A T E P R O F E S S O R
Music Engineering Technology
FROST SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Tom is an Associate Professor of Music Engineering Technology within the Music Engineering program at the Frost School of Music and Principal Investigator of the Music Computing and Psychology Lab (situated in the Frost School of Music). His research concerns the development and application of machine learning techniques for/to music-analytical and music-generative tasks, with projects leading to research papers, reusable code, and collaborations with upcoming and GRAMMY Award-winning artists on songs co-created with AI. The lab also works on audio/music in extended reality (XR/AR/VR), AI for podcasting and game audio, and pattern discovery algorithms applied to coordinated movement in music and athletics.
Dr. Collins has a strong track record in the supervision of PhD students—training them and helping them pursue careers in industry or academia, with recent graduates joining ByteDance, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
In terms of teaching, Dr. Collins offers courses on electronic production technologies, research methods, and music artificial intelligence. Read more . . .

October 31 | Watch Now (link forthcoming)

Joseph Johnson, PhD
A S S O C I A T E P R O F E S S O R
Marketing Department
MIAMI HERBERT BUSINESS SCHOOL
Dr. Johnson teaches Marketing Analytics, New Product Development, Strategic Brand Management and a doctoral seminar on quantitative methods for marketing management. He has thirty-two years of experience, divided between academia and industry, in computerization and empirical models for manufacturing, supply chain and marketing. His current research focuses on the use of AI and text mining tools as a decision aid for managers. Dr. Johnson has created and collaborated in the development of:

Deep learning algorithms for advertising design and testing
Brand management tools using text mining
Customer satisfaction and service quality measurement tools using text mining
Dynamic optimization methods for retail promotions
Media planning tools for big Pharma
Digital media analytics for non-profit organizations
Clinic scheduling model for UM’s clinics
Risk models for predicting post-surgery health outcomes. Read more . . .

November 14 | Watch Now (link forthcoming)

Reynaldo Sanchez, MM
A S S O C I A T E D E A N
Strategic Initiatives + Innovation
A S S O C I A T E P R O F E S S O R
Music Business + Entertainment
FROST SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Dean Sanchez is a multi-faceted educator and musician. As the Director of the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program, he has been responsible for expanding the educational opportunities offered by the Frost School of Music overall. An accomplished multi-tasker, he also serves as Director of the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program, an innovative performing and songwriting program curriculum developed with Frost School alumnus Bruce Hornsby to incorporate both American roots music and contemporary composition. The program has become one of the School’s fastest growing areas of study. It also offers those with an interest in electronic music performance an opportunity to become full music majors, a first for a major music school in the U.S. Read more . . .

February 20 | Register Now

Andres Sawicki, JD
P R O F E S S O R O F L A W
Director, Business of Innovation, Law, & Technology concentration
SCHOOL OF LAW
D I R E C T O R
Data Ethics & Society
FROST INSTITUTE FOR DATA SCIENCE AND COMPUTING
Prof. Sawicki teaches in the area of intellectual property. His primary research projects explore the extent to which IP can help solve problems in the production of inventions and expressive works. He is particularly interested in the complex psychology of creativity, and in the difficulty of coordinating multiple creative collaborators. Professor Sawicki’s research also examines the interaction among distinct patent doctrines.
Professor Sawicki graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with S.B. degrees in Brain & Cognitive Sciences and Science, Technology, & Society. He then earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 2006, where he was an Articles Editor for the Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. After graduation, he clerked for the Honorable Robert D. Sack of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. From 2007 through 2010, he worked as an associate in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focused on intellectual property litigation, especially Hatch-Waxman Act pharmaceutical patent cases. Prior to his appointment at Miami Law, Professor Sawicki was a Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School.
His work has been published by leading journals, including Cornell Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, and The University of Chicago Law Review, among others. Read more . . .

Smart Cities MIAMI 2026: 10 Years of Lessons, Leaps, and the Road Ahead 3/26
2026-03-26 09:00 - 17:00 | Newman Alumni Center, 6200 San Amaro Drive, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, United States
Save the Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026 for the 10th edition of the University of Miami Smart Cities MIAMI Conference. We are celebrating a decade of innovation and progress in building smart cities as we envision the future.
Register Now | $50 per person*
*Attendance for University of Miami Faculty, Staff, and Students is complimentary. Please email idsc@miami.edu for the PROMO CODE.
We are excited to announce our keynote speakers: Patrick Murphy, CEO of Togal AI and Dr. Dan M. Frangopol, a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
The morning session opens with an Industry Expo showcasing cutting-edge technologies from faculty innovators, start-ups, and major corporations. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with solution providers and end-users influencing the future of urban environments.
The afternoon session brings together thought leaders and experts for keynote talks and interactive panel discussions on smart city concepts. The discussion is organized around three core themes:

Built Environment and Infrastructure (BEI) focuses on how to construct smart cities. This panel transitions the conversation from software as a service to the physical built environment. Panelists will explore how advances in AI and technologies are enabling cities to better sense and respond to people’s needs. Attendees will gain insights through real-world case studies and discover how smart cities are transforming the way we live.
Health and Wellbeing (HW) focuses on leveraging smart technologies to improve the well-being in our communities. Panelists will focus the discussion on sensors, innovative technologies, and other digital platforms that monitor health, advance precision medicine, improve hospital efficiency and effectiveness, and promote better public health outcomes.
Community and Resilience (CR) focuses on smart city technologies that can strengthen community resilience and enhance the ability for communities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural hazards.

Agenda TBA
Location
Newman Alumni Center, 6200 San Amaro Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146

Keynote Speakers

Patrick Murphy | CEO, Togal AI
With a background in government and a passion for innovation, Patrick transitioned into the world of construction technology to drive impactful change. As Managing Director of Renco and Founder of Togal AI, he is dedicated to revolutionizing the construction industry by implementing greener, more advanced, and efficient solutions. His work focuses on integrating AI to streamline processes, reduce costs, and make construction more sustainable. From enhancing estimation accuracy to developing materials that minimize environmental impact, Patrick is committed to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in construction tech.

Dan M. Frangopol, PhD | NAE Life-Cycle Management + Member, National Academy of Engineering
Dr. Dan Frangopol is the inaugural Fazlur R. Khan Endowed Chair of Structural Engineering and Architecture Emeritus at Lehigh University. Before joining Lehigh University in 2006, he was Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He is recognized as a leader in the field of life-cycle engineering of civil and marine structures. Dr. Frangopol is the Founding President of both the International Association for Bridge Maintenance and Safety (IABMAS) and the International Association for Life-Cycle Civil Engineering (IALCCE).
Frangopol is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Construction, and a foreign member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Mexican Academy of Engineering, Academy of Europe (London), Engineering Academy of Japan, Royal Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, Romanian Academy, and Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences. He is a distinguished member of ASCE, founder and editor-in-chief of Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, and holds 5 honorary doctorates and 14 honorary professorships from major universities. He has authored/co-authored 5 books, more than 70 book chapters, and over 500 articles in refereed journals including 15 award-winning papers.
In 2023, ASCE established the Dan M. Frangopol Medal for Life-Cycle Engineering of Civil Structures.
Read Dr. Frangopol’s full profile here.

Speakers

Tom Merrick, MA | Sr. Project Manager, XR Initiatives, University of Miami Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC) Creative Technologies program + Adjunct Professor, School of Communication
Tom Merrick, Assistant Director of VR/AR Initiatives, is a seasoned educator and technology enthusiast. He holds a BS in Information Engineering from Cornell and an MA in Independent School Leadership from Columbia. With 15 years of experience in education, including roles as a Math Director and School Administrator, Tom brings a unique perspective on technology’s role in learning.
Tom’s journey led him to accept a fellowship at Stanford University’s Distinguished Career Institute (DCI), where he discovered the potential of Virtual Reality to revolutionize education. He taught VR courses at Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and continued as an educator with Stanford Continuing Education. Now, at the University of Miami, Tom is passionate about teaching “Intro to VR” while exploring innovative ways to support faculty and students in harnessing immersive technologies for transformative learning experiences. His expertise and vision are integral to our mission of reshaping education through VR and AR.

Helena Solo-Gabriele, PhD | Professor, University of Miami College of Engineering Department of Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering
Dr. Helena Solo-Gabriele is a Professor at the University of Miami Department of Environmental Engineering where she teaches courses in environmental measurements, environmental engineering microbiology, and in water treatment systems. Her research focuses on problems that relate the environment to human health. She conducts studies to identify sources of microbial contamination, uses wastewater to understand the spread of disease in communities, and evaluates sources and movement of arsenic in the environment. Her current active projects focus on evaluating the use of ultraviolet light for disinfecting street and sidewalk surfaces, using wastewater to track dengue virus spread, and evaluating the fate of arsenic at beaches from the seaweed called sargassum.

Deborah Franqui, PhD, AIA, NCARB, EDAC | Lecturer, University of Miami School of Architecture
Dr. Deborah Franqui is a healthcare research and planning leader whose work integrates rigorous methodology with innovative design solutions. With a B.Arch, MS, and PhD from Cornell and Clemson University, she has conducted more than 30 post-occupancy evaluations across diverse healthcare departments, translating findings into actionable, evidence-based design guidelines. Her expertise spans Lean planning, operational and space-efficiency optimization, and user experience enhancement. Dr. Franqui’s research-driven design frameworks and design-checklist methodologies—presented at nationally recognized healthcare design conferences—continue to influence best practices and elevate outcomes for healthcare facilities and the communities they serve.

Maurice Jenkins, IAP CM | Chief Innovation Officer, Miami-Dade County, Aviation Department
With more than thirty years of experience committed to achieving strategic growth and technology objectives for MIA, Maurice Jenkins has been a keen adopter to self-service technologies and has encouraged airlines serving the airport to embrace innovation also. Prior to his role as a CIO, Mr. Jenkins was responsible for defining and managing IT capital assets and IT management processes to ensure their successful implementation and project integration. In addition, he served as the Aviation Department’s Chief Information Officer/Director of Information Systems, responsible for the development and implementation of standards‐based policies and procedures that support business operations which improved the overall quality of service of enterprise IT systems. His strategic vision has successfully culminated in the integration of new technology in the opening of the new South and North Terminals at Miami International Airport. In addition, the success of these new system implementations such as Biometrics, Virtual Queuing and new innovating technologies show his technical acumen and dedication to serve the residents of Miami‐Dade County.
Mr. Jenkins has implemented an area wide marketing information service to both hotels and conventions centers using current flight information data from Miami International Airport. AAAE and ACI best in practice initiatives are strictly adhered to that display his commitment to providing the highest level of service governed by industry standards. He graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Computer Information Systems. He also earned certifications in Strategic Management from Florida International University and Human Resources Management from Nova Southeastern University. He served as the Chairman of the Business Information Technology Committee (BIT), which was established by Airports Council International (ACI) to set strategic objectives future technology direction for airports. He was also served as Chairman of the Florida Airports Council’s Information Technology Committee from February 2019 until December 2021. Mr. Jenkins has given presentations on implementation solutions to key IT leaders and airport IT conferences in the U.S. and internationally sharing his proven successful practices with his peer group.

Brian Freed, CFA | CEO, Illuminex AI
Brian Freed, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), has a career path that reflects a unique blend of experience in business analysis as well as successful operational execution in the establishment and growth of new businesses focused on data-centric applications.
As the CEO of Illuminex AI, Brian is committed to democratizing the implementation of Computer Vision and AI with a focus on bespoke applications where challenges such as data scarcity and technical integration hinder the development of precise and cost-effective solutions. He has a proven track record of driving growth in both startup and globally established environments. His extensive financial background and broad technical knowledge make him a proven leader in solution development, strategic alliances, go-to-market strategies, and sales.
Before joining Illuminex AI, Brian held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Eagle Aerospace, a company specializing in Airfield Technology solutions. He also served as the COO for Phizzle, a developer of IoT software that facilitated remote monitoring and control of quality and compliance solutions used in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Prior to these roles, Brian was the General Manager of the High-Performance Data Analytics (HPDA) business unit at SGI. He established this unit from scratch and successfully grew it to a $50M annual run rate.
In addition to his experience in the tech industry, Brian spent 13 years on Wall Street as a Chartered Financial Analyst. During this time, he focused exclusively on research, financial modeling, and stock recommendations for companies specializing in High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Data Lifecycle technologies.

Xu Sun, PhD AMASCE | Assistant Professor, Department of Management Science, Miami Herbert Business School
and Co-Founder & CEO, AIWaysion, Inc.

Xu Sun is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management Science at the Miami Herbert Business School, University of Miami. He studies how applied probability, optimization, and data-driven analytics can be used to design intelligent and resilient service systems in smart cities. His research develops online algorithms for real-time decision-making under uncertainty, with applications in call centers, emergency response, smart manufacturing, and energy and mobility systems.
Before joining the University of Miami, Professor Sun was an Assistant Professor in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. in Operations Research from Columbia University. His work has appeared in leading journals in operations research and management science, and he has received recognition from INFORMS, the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), and the University of Miami.

Brian Brooke, MPP MBA | Executive Vice President, AIWaysion

Brian Brooke is Executive Vice President at AIWaysion, bringing over twenty-five years of experience in project management, organizational development, research, market strategy, pricing, and policy development. Before joining AIWaysion, Brian established and led the Research and Innovation team at Sound Transit, the Seattle region’s largest transit agency. In that role, he built and directed a portfolio of data-driven initiatives and cross-sector partnerships to improve customer and community satisfaction, operational efficiency, accessibility, equity, and the long-term sustainability of regional mobility.
Earlier in his career, Brian held roles at King County, R.B. Webber, the City of Seattle, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and PACCAR, giving him deep experience across the public sector, private industry, and consulting. Brian holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School, and a BA in Economics from the University of Washington.

Exhibitors
AIWaysion
Leveraging AI and Edge Computing for Safer and More Efficient Transportation
AIWaysion develops next-generation Connected Vehicle technology and provides Smart Mobility Solutions using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Edge Computing technologies for safer and more efficient transportation.
