2026 AI Research Summit

2026 AI Research Summit

 

Welcome

The Ohio State University AI Research Summit is an exciting, two-day event hosted by the Translational Data Analytics Institute and AI(x) Hub to showcase AI research across the university in four tracks and jump start collaborations. We look forward to seeing you there!

March 3-4, 2026
8:30 AM - 6:30 PM
Blackwell Inn
2110 Tuttle Park Place

 

Event registration is closed due to capacity.

Tracks and Organizing Committees

Tuesday, March 3

AI and Data Science Foundations

  • Dena Asta
  • Subhadeep Paul
  • Ness Shroff
  • Yingbin Liang 

AI and Health 

  • Qin Ma 
  • Raghu Machiraju
  • Xia Ning 
  • Xiaolin Cheng
  • Courtney Hebert
  • Thomas Hund

Wednesday, March 4

Responsible and Secure AI 

  • Mike Rayo
  • Srini Parthasarathy
  • Dennis Hirsch
  • Zhiqiang Lin

AI for Dynamical Systems and Controls

  • Mike Groeber
  • Qadeer Ahmed

Tuesday, March 3: AI and Data Science Foundations | AI and Health

More information to come

8:30 - 9:00 AM - Welcome

Headshot of Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf, wearing glasses and a green top, smiling in front of bookshelves.

Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf
Faculty Director, Translational Data Analytics Institute
Professor of Computer Science Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology
The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Ness B. Shroff, Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University.

Dr. Ness Shroff
Director, AI(x) Hub; Ohio Eminent Scholar in Networking and Communication, Chaired Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University 

9:00 - 10:00 AM

Keynote Address

Enabling Physical AI with Edge Computing 

Dr. Victor Bahl - headshot

 

Victor Bahl
Technical Fellow & Chief Technology Officer, Azure for Operators
Microsoft Research; Microsoft Corporation 

 

 

 

10:00 - 10:30 AM

Keynote Fireside Chat

Dr. Victor Bahl - headshot

 

 

Victor Bahl
Technical Fellow & Chief Technology Officer, Azure for Operators
Microsoft Research; Microsoft Corporation 

 

 

Headshot of Ness B. Shroff, Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University.

 

Dr. Ness Shroff
Director, AI(x) Hub; Ohio Eminent Scholar in Networking and Communication, Chaired Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University 

 

 

10:30 - 10:45 AM 

Break

10:45 AM - 12:15 PM

AI and Data Science Foundations

Designing Next-Generation AI: Insights from Human Intelligence

Headshot of Jie Ding wearing glasses and a green sweater, smiling outdoors.

 

Featured Speaker: Dr. Jie Ding
Associate Professor, School of Statistics
University of Minnesota

 

 

 

Wonjun Lee Headshot

 

Geometry-preserving encoder/decoder for the latent diffusion model
Dr. Wonjun Lee
Assistant Professor, Mathematics
The Ohio State University

 

 

Abhishek Gupta Headshot

 

Reinforcement Learning for General-State General-Action MDPs
Dr. Abhishek Gupta
Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Ohio State University

AI and Health

AI Applications in Disease Prediction and Drug Design

David Liebner Headshot

 

 

Dr. David Liebner
Associate Professor, Medical Oncology
The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Xiaolin Cheng wearing glasses and a collared shirt, smiling against a neutral background.

 

 

Dr. Xiaolin Cheng
Professor, College of Pharmacy
The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Rizwan Ahmad wearing a collared shirt, smiling slightly against a neutral background.

 

 

Dr. Rizwan Ahmad
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Grzegorz Rempała smiling, wearing a light green polo and dark jacket, standing indoors with a blurred background.

 

Dr. Grzegorz Rempała
Professor and Chair, Biostatistics and Epidemiology
College of Public Health, The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Matthew Sullivan wearing a collared shirt, smiling outdoors with blurred greenery in the background.

 

 

Dr. Matthew Sullivan
Professor of Microbiology
The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Mark Weir wearing glasses and a suit with an orange tie, smiling against a neutral gray background.

 

 

Dr. Mark Weir
Associate Chair for Research & Innovation; Professor of Health Services Management & Policy
College of Public Health, The Ohio State University

12:15 - 1:00 PM

Lunch

1:00 - 2:30 PM

AI and Data Science Foundations

Toward Understanding and Mitigating Error Amplification in Long-Horizon Tasks

Headshot of Andrej Risteski with short hair and facial hair, wearing a light shirt, photographed outdoors.

 

 

Featured Speaker: Dr. Andrej Risteski
Associate Professor, Machine Learning Department
Carnegie Mellon University

 

 

Sagnik Nandy

 

Clustering by Denoising: Latent plug-and-play diffusion for single-cell data
Dr. Sagnik Nandy
Assistant Professor, Statistics
The Ohio State University

 

 

Andrew Perrault Headshot

 

 

What Can't Scale Fix? Shortcutting in Multimodal LLMs
Andrew Perrault
Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University

AI and Health

Multimodal AI Models  

Headshot of Dr. Faisal Mahmood, wearing glasses, a dark blazer, and a blue shirt, against a neutral background.

 

Featured Speaker: Dr. Faisal Mahmood
Associate Professor of Pathology
Harvard Medical School

 

 

 

Panelists:

ping zhang headshot

 

Dr. Ping Zhang
Associate Professor, Biomedical Informatics, Opthalmology and Vision Sciences, Computer Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

Rebecca Vanderpool Headshot

 

Dr. Rebecca Vanderpool
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; College of Medicine
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

Moderators

Phillip Popovich Headshot

 

Dr. Phillip Popovich
Professor, Neuroscience
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

lang li headshot

 

 

Dr. Lang Li 
Professor and Chair, Biomedical Informatics
The Ohio State University

2:30 - 2:45 PM

Break

2:45 - 4:15 PM

AI and Data Science Foundations

Foundations of Intelligence: From Statistical Theory to Scalable AI 

Anish Arora headshot

 

Featured Speaker: Dr. Anish Arora
Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

Panelists:

Guzin Bayraksan headshot

 

Dr. Guzin Bayraksan
Professor, Integrated Systems Engineering 
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

Yoonkyung Lee headshot

 

 

Dr. Yoonkyung Lee
Professor, Statistics and Computer Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

Aylin Yener headshot

 

Dr. Aylin Yener
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Integrated Systems Engineering 
The Ohio State University

 

 

Dena Asta

 

Moderator: Dr. Dena Asta
Associate Professor, Statistics 
The Ohio State University

AI and Health

Clinical Implementation of AI

Headshot of Dr. Zachi Attia wearing glasses, a suit, and a tie against a neutral background.

 

 

Featured Speaker: Dr. Itzhak (Zachi) Attia
Co-Director, Artificial Intelligence in Cardiovascular Medicine; Assistant Professor of Medicine
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science

 

 

With:

Roberto Benzo osu

 

Dr. Roberto M. Benzo
Assistant Professor, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

Headshot of Michael Rayo wearing a suit jacket and tie, smiling in front of a blurred outdoor/architectural background.

 

Dr. Mike Rayo
Associate Professor, Integrated Systems Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

Matthew Corriere headshot

 

Dr. Matt Corriere
Luther M. Keith Professor of Surgery; Director, Division of Vascular Diseases & Surgery; Department of Surgery
Wexner Medical Center

4:15 - 4:30 PM 

Break

4:30 - 6:30 PM

Poster Session and Networking Reception

Wednesday, March 4: Responsible and Secure AI | AI for Dynamical Systems and Controls

More info to come

8:30 - 9:00 AM - Welcome

Headshot of Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf, wearing glasses and a green top, smiling in front of bookshelves.

Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf
Faculty Director, Translational Data Analytics Institute
Professor of Computer Science Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

Headshot of Ness B. Shroff, Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University.

Dr. Ness Shroff
Director, AI(x) Hub; Ohio Eminent Scholar in Networking and Communication, Chaired Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University 

9:00 - 10:00 AM

Keynote Address

The State of AI Through the Eyes of the AI Index

Headshot of Dr. Ray Perrault, wearing glasses, a dark blazer, and a blue shirt, against a gray background.

 

Ray Perrault
Senior Research Scientist, Artificial Intelligence Center
SRI International
Adjunct Professor of Computer Science
Stanford University

 

 

10:00 - 10:30 AM

Keynote Fireside Chat

Headshot of Dr. Ray Perrault, wearing glasses, a dark blazer, and a blue shirt, against a gray background.

 

Ray Perrault
Senior Research Scientist, Artificial Intelligence Center
SRI International
Adjunct Professor of Computer Science
Stanford University

 

Headshot of Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf, wearing glasses and a green top, smiling in front of bookshelves.

 

Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf
Faculty Director, Translational Data Analytics Institute
Professor of Computer Science Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology
The Ohio State University

 

 

10:30 - 10:45 AM

Break

10:45 AM - 12:15 PM

Responsible and Secure AI

The Future of Human Factors and AI Innovation

Headshot of Dr. Missy Cummings, with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a black top and necklace, against a softly blurred background.

 

Featured Speaker: Dr. Missy Cummings
Professor of Engineering and Computer Science; Director, Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center
George Mason University

 

 

Headshot of Dr. Joseph B. Lyons wearing glasses and a dress shirt, smiling against a studio background.

 

Panel:

Dr. Joseph B. Lyons
Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO)
U.S. Air Force 

 

 

Headshot of Arnab Nandi wearing glasses and a collared shirt with a jacket, smiling against an indoor background.

 

 

Dr. Arnab Nandi
Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Ayaz Hyder wearing glasses and a jacket, standing indoors.

 

Dr. Ayaz Hyder
Data and Integrations Lead
Smart Columbus

 

 

 

Headshot of Michael Rayo wearing a suit jacket and tie, smiling in front of a blurred outdoor/architectural background.

 

Dr. Michael Rayo - Session Moderator
Professor, Integrated Systems Engineering,The Ohio State University
Faculty Fellow, Translational Data Analytics Institute

AI for Dynamical Systems and Controls 

Challenges and Opportunities for AI in Materials and Manufacturing

Headshot of David Noever wearing a suit and tie, smiling against a blue studio background.

 

 

Dr. David Noever
Chief Scientist; Senior Technical Fellow
PeopleTec, Inc.

 

 

Headshot of David Hoelzle wearing a light shirt, against an indoor patterned background.

 

 

Dr. David Hoelzle
Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Venkata Surya Chaitanya Kolluru smiling against an indoor background.

 

 

Dr. Venkata Surya Chaitanya Kolluru
Instructor, Materials Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University

12:15 - 1:00 PM

Lunch

1:00 - 2:30 PM

Responsible and Secure AI

Responsible AI: From Theory to Practice

Headshot of JoAnn Stonier, wearing a black blazer and light blouse, against a softly blurred background.

 

JoAnn Stonier, JD
President, Global AI and Data Governance, Privacy and Ethics
The Cantellus Group

 

 

Headshot of Duane Detwiler wearing glasses and a blazer with a trimmed beard, against a studio background.

 

 

Duane Detwiler
Vice President of Research, Honda Research Institute (HRI) USA
Director, 99P Labs

 

 

Headshot of Srinivasan Parthasarathy wearing glasses and a blue shirt, photographed outdoors.

 

 

Dr. Srinivasan Parthasarathy
Professor, Computer Science and Engineering; Professor, Biomedical Informatics
The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Aravind Chandrasekaran wearing glasses and a suit with a tie, smiling outdoors.

 

 

Dr. Aravind Chandrasekaran
Interim Dean; John W. Berry, Sr. Chair in Business
Max M. Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Dennis Hirsch wearing glasses and a suit with a patterned tie, photographed outdoors.

 

 

Prof. Dennis Hirsch — Session Moderator
Professor of Law; Director, Program on Data and Governance
The Ohio State University

 

AI for Dynamical Systems and Controls 

Challenges and Opportunities for AI in Automotive and Mobility Industry

Headshot of Rajeev Chhajer smiling slightly, wearing a gray sweater and watch, against a white background.

 

Rajeev Chhajer
Chief Engineer – Software-Defined Intelligence Research (99P Labs)
Honda Research Institute USA, Inc.

 

 

 

Headshot of Ibrahim Haskara wearing glasses and a plaid shirt, smiling gently against a studio backdrop.

 

 

Dr. Ibrahim Haskara
Research Scientist – Data Science & AI
General Motors

 

 

Dr. Yan Wang headshop

 

 

Dr. Yan Wang, PhD
Technical Advisor, Cummins

 

 

 

Qadeer Ahmed headshot

 

Moderator: Dr. Qadeer Ahmed
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

2:30 - 2:45 PM

Break

2:45 - 4:15 PM

Responsible and Secure AI

Safety of AI through the lens of Security and Cryptography 

Headshot of Somesh Jha wearing glasses and a collared shirt, smiling against a neutral background.

 

Featured Speaker: Dr. Somesh Jha
Professor, Computer Sciences
University of Wisconsin–Madison

 

 

 

Panelists:

Jeremy Bellay headshot

 

 

Dr. Jeremy Bellay
Research Leader, Battelle - Cybernetics, Trust, and Analytics

 

 

 

Carter Yagemann headshot

 

Dr. Carter Yagemann 
Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

Headshot of Zhiqiang Lin wearing glasses, a suit, and a tie against a neutral background.

 

 

Moderator: Dr. Zhiqiang Lin 
Distinguished Professor of Engineering; Director, Institute for Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
The Ohio State University

AI for Dynamical Systems and Controls 

Challenges and Opportunities for AI in Complex Dynamical Systems: Academic Perspective

Headshot of Xian Yu wearing glasses and a light top, photographed indoors with horizontal window blinds in the background.

 

Dr. Xian Yu
Assistant Professor, Integrated Systems Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

Headshot of Ayonga Hereid smiling, wearing a collared shirt and jacket, with a blurred campus background.

 

 

Dr. Ayonga Hereid
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
The Ohio State University

 

 

 

Dr. Sidra Ghayour Bhatti
Applied Research Engineer
Center for Automotive Research, The Ohio State University

Qadeer Ahmed headshot

 

Moderator: Dr. Qadeer Ahmed
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
The Ohio State University

4:15 - 4:30 PM 

Break

4:30 - 6:30 PM

Poster Session and Networking Reception