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Emerging Tech Conference

Discover the Future of Innovation at Nebraska's Emerging Tech Conference

Join us for a one-day conference dedicated to exploring the latest breakthroughs in emerging technologies and their transformative impact on business, engineering and society. Tailored for university alumni, business professionals, engineers and students, this event features a thought-provoking keynote, expert-led panel discussions and an interactive student bootcamp on machine learning.

Gain insights into cutting-edge fields like artificial intelligence and next-generation digital systems. Connect with industry leaders, academic pioneers and forward-thinking peers to spark ideas and foster collaboration. Whether you’re looking to advance your career, expand your network or stay ahead in the fast-paced tech landscape, this conference is your gateway to innovation.

Friday, March 7, 2025

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Howard L. Hawks Hall, 730 N. 14th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska

Registration is SOLD OUT

Agenda

Friday, March 7, 2025
8:45 a.m. Registration Welcome Center
9-9:30 a.m. Welcome and Opening Session
 HLH 020
9:30 - 10:30 a.m. Breakout Session: Navigating the Impact of Emerging Technology: Challenges and Opportunities
HLH 018
Breakout Session: The AI Alignment Problem - Technical Challenges and Society Implications
  • M. R. Hasan, assistant professor of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, UNL College of Engineering
  • Julia McQuillan, professor of sociology, UNL College of Arts & Sciences
 HLH 010
10:30-10:45 a.m. Break
10:45-11:45 a.m. Panel Discussion: A Proactive Approach to What is Coming Next in Emerging Technology
 HLH 020
11:45 a.m.-12 p.m. Break
12-1:15 p.m. Lunch and Keynote Speaker - Sponsored in part by the Harris Family and GlaxoSmithKline
  • Noelle Russell, leading AI innovator & practitioner, founder and chief AI officer, AI Leadership Institute
 Henrickson Family Atrium, Second Floor
1:15-1:30 p.m. Closing Remarks Henrickson Family Atrium, Second Floor
1:45-4:45 p.m. Student Bootcamp Session: IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate - Machine Learning with Python
 HLH 104

Keynote Speaker

Noelle Russell
Noelle Russell

Founder and Chief AI Officer, AI Leadership Institute

Noelle Russell is a multi-award-winning technologist with an entrepreneurial spirit who specializes in helping companies with Cloud, Data and AI transformation. She has led teams at Accenture, AWS, Amazon Alexa, IBM, Microsoft and NPR and is a consistent champion for data and AI literacy.

She has built over 100 conversational AI applications since 2014 and has over two million unique users, and 30,000 high reviews on Amazon Alexa. She also influenced almost $1 billion in revenue for Microsoft AI during her tenure there, speaking to Fortune 500 executives, running whiteboarding technical sessions and leading internal hackathons for her clients.

In the last year, she was awarded the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (for the fourth year) as well as being listed as one of the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders in Generative AI.

Pricing

Professionals, Alumni, Non-Student Rates:
Conference + Lunch: $100 SOLD OUT!
Keynote Lunch Only: $50 SOLD OUT!

Student Rates:
Conference + Lunch + Student Bootcamp: $25 SOLD OUT!
Conference + Lunch: $15 SOLD OUT!

Travel Accommodations

Hotel

Lincoln offers a variety of hotels within walking distance of the College of Business. The closest hotels are in the Haymarket district or downtown Lincoln.

Air Travel

Destination: Lincoln Municipal Airport (LNK)

Destination: Omaha Municipal Airport (OMA)
About 65 miles from campus or around an hour drive. Here are some options for getting from OMA to your visit in Lincoln:

  • Car Rental
  • OMALiNK: Arrange for a shuttle van to pick you up when you arrive at the airport and take you directly to campus. Prices vary.
Drive

When you drive to Lincoln, you'll have many options for parking near campus. See the nearby garages in the map to the left.

Explore Lincoln Activities

Conference Speakers

Brian Ardinger
Brian Ardinger

Director of Innovation, Nelnet

Brian Ardinger is director of innovation at Nelnet, author of Accelerated: A Guide to Innovating at the Speed of Change and founder of InsideOutside.io, which explores innovation with leading experts in a weekly podcast, newsletter and summit. For over 25 years, Ardinger has been helping entrepreneurs and enterprises navigate and compete in a world of change and disruption. He has led efforts between startups and corporates to engage the latest trends, tools and tactics to accelerate innovation, launch new ideas and build better products. Previously, he founded the seed-stage accelerator NMotion and co-founded the corporate innovation consultancy Econic. He was Chief Marketing Officer at Nanonation working with clients including Pepsi, Target, Nike, Mazda, Harley-Davidson and Royal Caribbean. He built out the consulting arm in Asia for Gartner and worked with technology giants including Microsoft, IBM and HP. He also led the creation of Asia’s first dedicated customer experience lab as head of research at Ion Global, a Hong Kong-headquartered technology firm. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Marketing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and an MBA from Penn State.

Chafik Barbar
Chafik Barbar

Founder and CEO, Marble Technologies

Chafik Barbar is the founder and CEO of Marble Technologies. Working where humans and technology intersect, Chafik and the Marble team combine the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, computer vision, and robotics to develop and deploy AI-powered automation systems that solve the biggest challenges facing meat processors. Marble commercialized its solutions in record time and now works with some of the largest names in the meat processing industry. Chafik has 20 years of experience in ag tech and is a serial entrepreneur who previously built and sold a business. Chafik earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska and his MBA from MIT.

Lauren Goodell
Lauren Goodell

Founder and CEO, Zinnia

Lauren Goodell is the founder and CEO of Zinnia, an AI Copilot for AEs. She recognized the inefficiencies in B2B sales while at Microsoft and Salesforce where she ranked in the top 1% of sellers. Zinnia utilizes AI to streamline manual workflows and focuses on personalizing sales, bringing back the human element that drives revenue. Through her work, she has been awarded 100 Women to KNOW in America by JPMorgan Chase, Top 25 Women in Business by CBJ, and Startups to watch by ABC. She is a 2014 graduate from the UNL College of Business and currently serves on Dean Kathy Farrell's UNL Young Alumni Board.

Julia McQuillan
M. R. Hasan

Assistant Professor of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, UNL College of Engineering

Dr. M. R. Hasan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, specializing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data. Originally trained as a Theoretical Physicist, he transitioned into AI research, earning his Ph.D. in Computing and Information Systems from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As the director of the Human-First Artificial Intelligence Lab (HAL 2.0), Dr. Hasan leads foundational AI research in multimodal AI, developing trustworthy models that integrate and reason across diverse modalities—such as text, images, and sound—to better understand and interact with complex human experiences. His work focuses on building reliable AI systems that bridge cutting-edge AI technologies with insights from social science, driving advancements in education, healthcare, climate resilience, and algorithmic trust. His research also explores how AI can be more transparent and ethically aligned, tackling challenges such as hallucination, bias, and reliability in AI-driven decision-making. Supported by the National Science Foundation and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Grand Challenges Initiative, Dr. Hasan is committed to shaping AI as a force for social good, designing systems that not only push the boundaries of technology but also reflect diverse human values, fostering inclusivity, equity, and a more responsible technological future.

Julia McQuillan
Julia McQuillan

Professor of Sociology, UNL College of Arts & Sciences

Julia McQuillan, Ph.D. is Willa Cather Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States. She evaluates fundamental social psychological theories with multiple kinds of research designs and analyses, including interdisciplinary work with art, to study social inequality with the goal of changing structures and practices to increase equity and wellbeing. She enjoys teaching introductory sociology and multidisciplinary research collaboration to fund and publish research on several topics, including, fertility and infertility, gender, health, public understanding of science, and more recently the implications of innovations in food science, bioeconomy, robotics and engineering.

Clay Farris Naff
Clay Farris Naff

Retired Executive Director, Lincoln Literacy

Clay Farris Naff is the retired executive director of Lincoln Literacy. His interest in artificial intelligence goes back to the start of his science writing career at the University of Pennsylvania News Bureau in 1984. He's been a Tokyo correspondent for United Press International, an editor for Bloomberg News, and a freelance reporter for National Public Radio. In the 2010s, he served as science correspondent for The Humanist Magazine, where he wrote several cover stories on AI.

Jack OHolleran
Jack O'Holleran

Co-Founder & CEO, SKALE Labs

Jack O’Holleran is co-founder and CEO of SKALE Labs, a gas-less EVM blockchain for secure Ethereum scaling. SKALE’s interoperable network supports more than75 live games on-chain, with more than 200,000 daily active GameFi wallets. Developers leveraging SKALE can launch dApps with unmatched speed, zero gas fees and high throughput, all while providing end-users with a virtually invisible experience. The platform has saved users over $8.5 billion USD in transaction fees to date, and attracted legacy gaming brands to build next-generation games on SKALE.

A seasoned Silicon Valley entrepreneur with deep expertise in machine learning, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, O'Holleran has been at the forefront of some of the most transformative innovations in the tech space over the past two decades. Prior to SKALE, he co-founded a digital currency platform for Enterprise Resource Allocation in 2008 after recognizing the opportunity for scalability in blockchain. In addition to his work in the blockchain and AI spaces, he is deeply committed to integrating blockchain technology into the sports industry, leveraging his background as a former starting receiver for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team. O'Holleran sees immense potential in using blockchain to bring fans closer to their favorite teams, enhance fan experiences and drive innovation in the sports ecosystem.

RosarioJesus
Jesús Rosario

Senior Partnerships Director, Coursera

Jesús Rosario is a senior partnerships director at Coursera. His responsibilities include establishing partnerships between Coursera and higher education institutions in North America. He has been in the education industry for over 15 years. He has worked extensively in international higher education across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Before joining Coursera, he worked at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, the publisher of the QS World University Rankings, advising university and business school leaders on institutional development, rankings, recruitment, branding, and marketing. He is passionate about the role of technology in higher education and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, a Master of Science in Management and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois.

Mailani Veney
Mailani Veney

Founder and CEO, Kana Systems

Mailani Veney is founder and CEO of Kana Systems, a company delivering powerful capabilities through data, AI and advanced technology solutions. After being recruited by the Department of Defense in 2019 to modernize defense technology for classified programs, she built a multimillion-dollar AI business that bridges the gap between cutting-edge technology and useful applications. Under her leadership, Kana Systems continues to expand its impact on national security.

Beyond her technology leadership, Mailani's life centers on service and family. She's a mother of three who's building a family legacy in technology, with two children now in key roles at Kana Systems. She is also a dedicated fitness instructor of 29 years, past president of Lincoln Rotary 14, and founder of the Startup Nebraska and Women + Startup Nebraska digital communities. Veney earned her MBA from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, with international studies in France and Slovenia, bringing a global perspective to technological advancement.

Mirza Athar Baig
Mirza Athar Baig

Ph.D. Candidate, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Mirza Athar Baig is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science and engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, with a focus on hardware security and extensive experience in AI, machine learning and FPGA-based embedded systems. His expertise includes machine learning, deep neural networks, and the development of advanced data-driven solutions.

His research focuses on implementing AI-driven algorithms for system security, developing countermeasures against side-channel attacks, and leveraging software-defined radios for IoT hardware protection. With a strong passion for the societal impacts of AI, Mirza is dedicated to advancing innovation and bridging the gap between academia and industry."

Muhammad Usama
Muhammad Usama

Ph.D. Candidate, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Muhammad Usama is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Computing, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, pursuing his doctorate in computer engineering. His research focuses on cybersecurity, with emphasis on hardware security to protect chips from cyberattacks. His research also includes employing machine learning models to detect security-related anomalies and develop innovative solutions for enhancing hardware resilience. With expertise in data science and machine learning, he is dedicated to addressing real-world security challenges through advanced technological solutions.

Contact

Contact

Larson, Rachel
Rachel Larson
Assistant Dean of Academic and Career Development
HLH 123 B
P.O. Box 880405
Lincoln, NE 68588-0405
402-472-7385
rachel.larson@unl.edu