Wyoming Computing Symposium 2025

Published July 30, 2025

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DESCRIPTION:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming industries across the globe, and Wyoming stands to benefit significantly from its strategic implementation. By showcasing case studies, research, and public-private partnerships, this Symposium explores the diverse and growing applications of AI in advancing Wyoming’s economy. 
 

  • Boosting agricultural productivity
  • Optimizing autonomous systems and controls
  • Enhancing management of wildlife and environment
  • Maximizing resource recovery and energy production
  • Fostering economic innovation 
  • Improving rural healthcare

 

The event will connect students and faculty with employers from industry, agencies and national labs to help catalyze statewide adoption of AI technologies aligned with Wyoming’s unique economic landscape and rural strengths.

 

REGISTRATION AND AGENDA:

The Symposum will take place upstairs in the UW Union from 8am-6pm on September 25-26 (Thursday-Friday).

Click here for a PDF of the Full Program.

Click here for FREE registration. Agenda below. 

 

SPEAKER LINEUP & ABSTRACTS:

Click here for a PDF with talk titles and summaries.

 

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 25

  • 8:00–8:30am Coffee and Pastries

  • 8:30–8:40am Opening remarks – Dane Taylor, UW School of Computing

  • 8:40–10:40am AI Applications: Keynotes (moderator: Gabrielle Allen, UW SoC)
    • Sean Young, Nvidia, Director of AECO, Geospatial, and AI Solutions Industry Marketing 
    • Chris Ritter, Idaho National Laboratory, Division Director, Scientific Computing & AI

  • 10:50–12:30pm AI for WY: Breakout Discussions and Panel (moderator: Dane Taylor, UW SoC)
    • Ben Koger, UW-SoC, Center for Wildlife, Technology and Computing
    • Liping Wang, UW-Civil, Center for Controlled Environment Agriculture
    • Jeff Hamerlinck, UW-WyGISC, Center for Rural Community Resilience & Innovation
    • Alathea Davies, UW-SoC, Center for Energy Materials

  • 12:30–1:50pm Lunch (provided)

  • 1:50–3:20pm AI for Agriculture: Keynote and Invited Talk (moderator: Chao Jiang, UW EECS)
    • Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Iowa State University, Anderlik Professor of Engineering 
    • Yaqoob Majeed, UW, Assistant Prof. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

  • 3:30–4:30pm Lightning Talks
  • 4:30–6:00pm Poster Session and Networking Event

 

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 26

  • 8:00–8:30am Coffee and Pastries

  • 8:30–8:40am Opening Remarks – Dane Taylor, UW School of Computing

  • 8:40-10:40am AI for Autonomous Systems: Keynote and Invited Talks (moderator: Vinit Katariya, UW SoC and EECS)
    • Terry Fong, NASA, Director of the Intelligent Robotics Group
    • Chase Dickinson, Disa Technologies, Senior Process Engineer
    • Braden Fitz-Gerald, Flowstate Solutions, Chief Technology Officer

  • 10:50–12:20pm AI for Wildlife and Environment: Invited Talks (moderator: Ben Koger, UW SoC)
    • Lauren Harrell, Google, Data Scientist
    • Andrew Telander, Western EcoSystems Technology, Senior Data Scientist and Product Manager
    • Qiuhua Huang, Colorado School of Mines, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering

  • 12:20–1:45pm Lunch (provided)

  • 1:45–2:40pm Human-Centered AI: Discussion Panel (moderator: Diksha Shukla, UW EECS)
    • Carmen Benitez, Docca, Co-Founder & CEO
    • William Cain, UW, Associate Professor in Learning, Design, & Technology
    • Meredith Minear, UW, Associate Professor in Cognition & Cognitive Development Psychology
    • Jared Dame, Lunavi, VP of Engineering and Emerging Tech

  • 2:50–4:20pm AI Infrastructure: Invited Talks (moderator: Dylan Perkins, UW ARCC)
    • Mary Throne, Prometheus Hyperscale, General Counsel
    • Amy McLaughlin, UW, Vice President for IT and Chief Information Officer
    • Michael Killean, UW, Deputy Director of Infrastructure, ARCC
    • Kristy Streu, Argonne National Lab, HPC Partnerships and Outreach Specialist

  • 4:30–5:00pm Closing Remarks: HPC at a Crossroads – Ed Seidel, UW President

  • 5:00–6:00pm Happy Hour at Pokes Pub

 

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTED TALKS AND POSTERS:

Submission deadline passed. There is an open call for contributed presentations on any data-science, ML or AI-related topic in one of two formats:

  • Lightning Talks: Short 4-minute presentations with tight timing and minimal slides. Designed to give quick overviews or “teasers” of projects. 
    Click here to see the presenters.

  • Poster Presentations: Presenters share work visually on a poster, allowing one-on-one or small group discussion with attendees during an open session. Presenter must print & bring their poster to the symposium. Max poster dimension is 3ft x 4ft (in either orientation).
    Click here to see the poster presenters.

 

The lightning talks and poster session will take place from 3:30-6pm on Sept. 25 in the Wyoming Union (upstairs). Food and refreshments will be generously provided. 

 

AI BOOTCAMP:

Prior to the Symposium, on Wednesday September 2024, there will be an associated AI Bootcamp -- i.e., hands on computing tutorials. To register, check the box 'AI Bootcamp' when you register for the Symposium. It will take place in EN 5022 (Engineering Building).

 

Click here to learn about the lecturers and tutorial topics. Agenda below.

 

  • 1:00-2:15pm: Building Machine Learning without Code 
    • Lecturers: Tessa Livingston and Suresh Muknahallipatna (EECS)

  • 2:30-3:30pm: HPC Computing over the UW ARCC
    • Lecturer: Simon Alexander (ARCC)

  • 3:45-5:15pm: Introduction to Large Language Models 
    • Lecturer: Shivanand Sheshappanavar (EECS)

 

****The bootcamp is limited to 24 participants.

****Participants are expected to have prior coding experience in Python. 

 

SPONSORS:

The Wyoming Computing Symposium is sponsored by: 

  • Idaho National Laboratory
  • Disa Technologies Inc
  • @Xi Computer Corporation
  • Nvidia

 

SYMPOSIUM CO-CHAIRS:

Dane Taylor, Associate Professor

School of Computing and Department of Mathematics & Statistics

Email: Dane.Taylor@uwyo.edu