View Full Program: schedule, abstracts, speakers, bios
OCTOBER 19–23, 2026 | WYOMING UNION | LARAMIE, WYOMING
Discover how computing is shaping Wyoming's future.
Explore AI, cybersecurity, data science, geospatial technologies, high-performance computing, smart agriculture, wildlife conservation, rural resilience, and more through workshops, keynotes, research, and hands-on learning.
Five days of programming • featured themes & speakers
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| CYBERSECURITY DAY |
DATA WAYFINDING & WORKSHOPS INTRO TO PYTHON & HPC COMPUTING |
WILDLIFE & AGRICULTURE |
SMART RURAL PLACES & ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCE |
WORKSHOPS: ADVANCED HPC, AI, & INTERMEDIATE PYTHON TRAINING |
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Cybersecurity, digital resilience, privacy, infrastructure, protecting Wyoming's digital future |
Computing for everyone, beginner education, AI literacy, data wayfinding, research resources |
Real-world computing applications, innovation, & research
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Interdisciplinary collaboration, rural resilience, natural resources, community partnerships
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Advanced technical training, coding, AI development, HPC, visualization, future workforce
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read the press release: |
present a poster: |
register for the symposium: |
symposium schedule
View Full Program: schedule, abstracts, speakers, bios
monday october 19
Navigating the Digital Wild West: Cybersecurity in the Age of AI
Location: Wyoming Union, Yellowstone Ballroom
8:30am – 8:45 am | Cybersecurity Is a Team Sport: Protecting Our Digital Future
Location: Union Yellowstone Ballroom (Room 1)
Speaker: Amy McLaughlin, Chief Information Officer, University of Wyoming
8:45am – 9:30am | Bits and Bytes – Cybersecurity Everywhere: The Thread That Connects
It All
Miguel A Penaranda, Chief Information Security Officer, State of Wyoming
9:30 – 10:00am | Am I at Risk? Individual Risk Factors for Clicking
Laura Baker, Executive Director, Cyber Wyoming
10:00-10:15 | Networking Break
10:15 – 11:00am | Parallel Talks on Privacy and Cyber Adversaries
Room 1: AI & Privacy: What You Need to Know
Alec Muthig, University of Wyoming Information Technology Trainer
Room 2: Understanding the Cyber Adversary
Timothy Walsh, Cybersecurity State Coordinator for Wyoming, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency (CISA)
11:00 – 11:45am | Parallel Talks on AI and Cyber Threats
Room 1: Before You Paste: AI Misuse, Data Security, and Responsible AI in Higher Education
Mike Morrison, Chief Information Security Officer, Zendus Group
Room 2: Don't Click That! Real Cyber Threats Targeting UW
Daniel Russell, Security Analyst, University of Wyoming
11:45 – 1:00pm | Lunch & Lunch Panel (panel starts at noon)
Panel: Breaking into Cybersecurity: Paths, Skills, and Opportunities
Panelists: Aimee Appelhans, Brian Clark, Callan McLaughlin, Daniel Russell
1:00 – 2:00pm | Parallel Events: Cyber Workshop and Cyber Threats Talk
Room 1: Behind the Keyboard: Inside Today’s Cyber Threat Landscape
Special Agent Tory Smith, FBI
Room 2: Last Network Standing: A Cyber Defense Challenge (ticket required, max 30)
Speakers: Callan McLaughlin, MS Cybersecurity & Information Risk Assurance & Amy McLaughlin,
CIO, University of Wyoming
2:00-2:15pm | Networking Break
2:15-3:00pm | Parallel Talks on Cybercrime and Future Network Management
Room 1: Cybercrime has changed. Wyoming law hasn't
Laura Baker, CEO, Cyber Wyoming
Room 2: How AI and the Cloud will Revolutionize Management of the Network
Mike Newcomb, HPE
3:00-4:00pm | Last Network Standing: A Cyber Defense Challenge (ticket required, max 30)
Speakers: Callan McLaughlin, MS Cybersecurity & Information Risk Assurance & Amy McLaughlin,
CIO, University of Wyoming
Tuesday, October 20
Data Wayfinding, HPC/Programming Workshops, Poster Session & Resource Fair
Locations: Wyoming Union, Yellowstone Ballroom & Family Room
9:00am – 9:40am | Finding Your Data Compass: Navigating UW's Data Landscape
Beth Rench, Director of Enterprise Applications and Data, University of Wyoming
9:40-10:20am | Your Data Guide: Unlocking Insights Through Institutional Reporting
Sue Koller, Manager of Institutional Analysis, University of Wyoming
10:20-10:30am | Networking Break
10:30-11:15am | Hidden Gems: Discovering the Reports That Run the University
Meredith Bickell, Senior Director of Business and Systems Optimization, University
of Wyoming
11:15- 12:00pm | From Classroom to Career: Following Wyoming's Educational Journey
Through Data
Becca Clark, Program Manager, Congnitell (SLEDS Program), Wyoming Community College
Commission
12:00-1:00pm | Lunch
1:00-2:25pm | Introduction to Python Programming
Location: Union Yellowstone Ballroom
Speaker: Esther Perez, STEM Digital Scholarship Librarian, University of Wyoming Libraries
2:35- 4:00pm | Introduction to HPC Computing on the ARCC
Location: Union Yellowstone Ballroom
Speaker: Simon Alexander, HPC & AI Research - DevOps Engineer, Advanced Research Computing
(Center ARCC), University of Wyoming
4:00- 6:00pm | Poster Session and Resource Fair
Location: Union Family Room
Recognition of McDonald Data Science Awards and brief remarks at 4:30pm
CALL FOR POSTERS: SUBMIT FORM
Wednesday, Oct 21
Computing for Wildlife & Agriculture
Location: Wyoming Union, Yellowstone Ballroom
8:30am – 9:00 am | WyldTech and WyoPATH Center Introductions
Speaker: Sarah Kane, WyoPATH Director & Assistant Professor Riverbend Chair in Wildlife-Livestock
Health, Veterinary Science, University of Wyoming
Dane Taylor, WyldTech Co-Director & Associate Professor, SoC and Math/Statistics,
University of Wyoming
9:00am – 9:30am | Reliable Abundance Estimation from Aerial Surveys
Speaker: Owen Martin, Research Scientist, School of Computing & WyldTech, University of Wyoming
9:30 – 10:15am | Open-source AI for camera traps, from a field laptop to real-time alerts
Speaker: Peter van Lunteren, Ecologist and Data Scientist, AddaxAI
10:15-10:25 | Networking and Coffee Break
10:25 – 10:55am | Automated Processing of Mule Deer Video Collar Data
Speaker: Riley Knoedler, Machine Learning Engineer, WEST
10:55 – 11:25am | Helping or hindering? Supplemental water sources as potential hotspots for disease
transmission
Speaker: Becca Windell, Ph.D. Student in Fish, Wildlife & Conservation Biology, Colorado State
University
11:25am – 11:55pm | What's in a howl? Yellowstone gray wolf communication ecology and monitoring using
landscape-scale passive acoustic monitoring and machine learning
Speaker: Amir Dehbi, PhD student, Applied ML and Environmental Science, University
of Colorado, Boulder
11:55 – 1:15pm | Networking Lunch & Announcements
11:55 School of Computing Giving Day Countdown
12:15 Meet the School of Computing New Dean: Junhua Ding
1:15 – 2:00pm | From invasive species management to wildlife disease to climate change:
simulating eco-evolutionary dynamics in heterogeneous landscapes with CDMetaPOP
Speaker: Casey Day, Research Assistant Professor, Co-Director of the Computational
Ecology Lab, School of Public and Community Health Science, University of Montana
2:00 – 2:30pm | Computing and AI for Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance
Speaker: Anastasia Fomicheva Lawlis, Product Transfer Scientist II, GT Molecular,
Inc
2:30 – 2:45pm | Networking and Coffee Break
2:45 – 3:30pm | Field Sampling at The Human-Animal Interface in Sub-Saharan Africa for One Health
Diseases Using Oxford Nanopore with a Lab-In-A-Box Presentation by Noah Hull
Speaker: Noah Hull, Senior Manager, Global Health, Association of Public Health Laboratories
3:30 – 4:15pm | WildAlert: Wildlife Rehabilitation Data as a Real-Time AI Early Warning System for
Disease and Ecological Threat
Speaker: Pranav Pandit, Asst. Prof. of Veterinary Epidemiology, Weill School of Veterinary
Medicine, University of California, Davis
4:15 – 5:00pm | Group Discussion(s)
5:15 – 7:00pm | Happy Hour
Location: Pokes Pub
Thursday, October 22
Smart Rural Places & Environmental Resilience
Location: Union Yellowstone Ballroom
8:30 – 9:30am | Smart Rural Places Panel Discussion
Speakers: Jeff Hamerlinck, Associate Director, School of Computing & Director of the
Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center, University of Wyoming.
Judith Nkechinyere Njoku, Postdoctoral Scholar, School of Computing and Electrical
Engineering and Computing Science, University of Wyoming
Jake Hawes Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Haub School of Environment
& Natural Resources, University of Wyoming
Derek Teini, Community and Economic Development Director City of Laramie, WY
9:30-9:45am | Networking Break
9:45 – 10:45am | Capturing Change at the US Census Bureau
Speaker: Rebecca Hutchinson & Joshua Coutts
10:45 – 11:15am | Networking Break
11:15 – 12:00pm | Keeping Remote Power Online: Field Lessons from AI Monitoring of Natural Gas Microgrids
Speaker: Alex Smith, Senior AI Developer, MNVR
12:00 – 1:15pm | Lunch with Lunch Talk starting at 12:15
Talk Title: Sage Grande AI on the Edge NSF Test Bed
Speaker: Nicola Ferrier, Senior Computer Scientist, Argonne National Lab
1:30 – 1:45pm | Introduction to the NSF ASCEND Engine
Presenter: Robert B. Simon, Ph.D., Senior Regional Innovation Fellow, NSF ASCEND Engine
1:45 – 2:20pm | Presentation by NEON: From Edge Observatories to Environmental Digital Twins: AI for Ecosystem Forecasting
and Resilience
Speaker: Dr. Cedric Hagen National Ecological Observatory Network
2:20 – 2:55pm | RADSENSE: A Machine-learning Based Smoke Forecasting System
Speaker: Zongrun Li, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State
University
2:55 – 3:30pm | Toward a Terrain-Resolving Digital Twin for Smoke & Wind in Rocky Mtn Communities
- VIRTUAL
Speaker: Allison Bagley, Principal Atmospheric Research Scientist, OnPeak Weather
Group
3:30 – 3:40pm | Networking Break
3:40 – 4:15pm | AI-Enhanced Hail Forecasting & Ground Validation for Infrastructure Resilience
Speaker: Kristen Rasmussen, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Atmospheric Sciences, Colorado
State University
4:15-5:00pm | Panel of Presenters: Hagen, Li, Rasmussen and the moderator, Robert Simon
5:15- 7:00pm | Happy Hour
Location: Pokes Pub
Friday, October 23
Education Workshops on HPC, Data Viz, ML and Programming
Location: Union Yellowstone Ballroom
8:30am-10:00am | Understanding and Navigating the ARCC Ecosystem for Research Workflows
Dylan Perkins, Research Computing Facilitator, Advanced Research Computing Center
(ARCC), University of Wyoming
10:15am-11:45am | Intro to Data Visualization Tutorial
Kristy Henmueller, HPC Partnerships and Outreach Specialist, Argonne National Lab
1:00pm-2:30pm | Neural Nets and Regression
Wilbur Ouma, HPC Partnerships and Outreach Specialist, Argonne National Lab
2:45pm-4:15pm | Intermediate Python Programming
Katharine Teykl, Chair, Digital Inquiry, Visualization, and Exploration, University
of Wyoming Libraries
opportunities to participate:
- Invited Talks
- Tabling at the Computing Resource Fair
- Workshops
- Sponsors
- Posters -- submit the Call for Posters Form
Email: School of Computing: uwyo-soc@uwyo.edu
who should attend?
👨🎓 Students
👩🏫 Faculty
🔬 Researchers
🏢 Industry
🌾 Agriculture
🐂 Natural Resources
🛰️ Government
💻 Technology Professionals
sponsors
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organizing chairs & committee members:
- General Chair: Dane Taylor
- Program Chairs: Amy Mclaughlin, Owen Martin, Sarah Kane, Chen Xu, Robert Simon & Bridger Huhn
- Education Chairs: Kristy Henmueller, Wilber Ouma, Paige Kinsley, Simon Alexander, Katherine Teykl, Jordan Hemmingway
- Resource Fair Chairs: Vinit Katariya
- Poster Session Chair: Alathea Davies
- Logistics Chair: Matthew Troyaneck
- Communications Chair: Launa Chavez
- Other Members: Jake Hawes, Mia Williams, Ben Koger, Morteza Dejam, Ram Shukla, William Cain, Tim Robinson, Dan McCoy, Shanshan Li, Xiang Zhang, Judith Nkechinyere Njoku, Jacob Centner
The University of Wyoming has earned its Research Level 1 (R1) status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, placing Wyoming's only four-year university with the top research universities in the United States.