Friday, April 24, 2026
Start: 9:00 a.m.
End: 5:30 p.m.
9:00–10:00 a.m. – Poster Session 1 – Coffee – NCSA Atrium/Lobby
- Poster Interactions
- VR Demos
- Advanced Visualization Demos
10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. – Session 1: Plenary — Prof. Paul Ricker, Astronomy – NCSA Auditorium
- 10:00 a.m. – Opening Remarks — Prof. Paul Ricker, Astronomy, U. Illinois
- 10:10 a.m. – “NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory,” Prof. Lara Waldrop, Electrical and Computer Engineering, U. Illinois
- 10:45 a.m. – “Growing Where You’re Planted,” Prof. Britt Lundgren, Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina Asheville (UNC Asheville)
- 11:20 a.m. – “Building Big Surveys at Illinois,” Prof. Jon Thaler, Physics, U. Illinois
- 11:55 a.m. – “NASA’s Artemis II Mission,” Prof. Joseph Gonzalez, Aerospace Engineering, U. Illinois
12:30–1:30 p.m. – Lunch – NCSA Atrium/Lobby
1:30–3:00 p.m. – Session 2: Lightning Talks – NCSA Auditorium
3:00–3:05 p.m. – Group Photo – NCSA Atrium/Auditorium
3:05–4:00 p.m. – Poster Session 2 – Coffee – NCSA Atrium/Lobby
- Poster Interactions
- VR Demos
- Advanced Visualization Demos
4:00–5:30 p.m. – Session 3: Career Panel: Life After Grad School — Dr. Kedar Phadke, U. Illinois – NCSA Auditorium
- Prof. Britt Lundgren, UNC Asheville
- Dr. Jennifer Li, NCSA
- Dr. Felipe Menanteau, Prairie Research Institute
- Dr. Matias Carrasco Kind, Gies College of Business
- Dr. Andrew Manning, NCSA