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Agenda

brAIn Hub (1) | Date and time is TBD UNCA Sherrill Center and Kimmel Arena, 227 Campus Dr, Asheville, NC 28804, USA

  • 1 hour

    Registration & breakfast

  • 10 minutes

    Welcome by UNC Asheville Chancellor Kimberly van Noort, Ph.D.

    Main Stage
  • 20 minutes

    Logistics, by Sam Franklin (emcee)

  • 1 hour

    Keynote by Dr. Elizabeth Reilley, Chief AI Officer for the UNC System

    Main Stage
    Education
    Keynote
  • 15 minutes

    Announcements

  • 1 hour

    From Chatbot to Co-Worker: A Business Owner's Guide to AI That Actually Works, by Julio Barros

    Room 406
    Technology
  • 1 hour

    Personalized at Scale: Using AI to Enact Evidence-Based Learning, by Nick Timmons

    Main Stage
    Education
  • 1 hour

    A Conversation on AI in Higher Education, Moderated by Bill Sederburg

    Mountain View Room
    Education
    Panel
  • 1 hour

    NotebookLM in Practice: Two Workflows You Can Use on Monday, by Anne Oxenreider and Dr. Tim Metz

    Room 407
    Education
  • 1 hour

    Using a Council of AIs to debate and share the direction of platform development, by Brian Scheewe

    Room 410
    Technology
  • 1 hour

    Lunch (provided)

  • 1 hour

    The potential impact of AI on WNC, by Ted Abernathy

    Main Stage
    Keynote
    Workforce Development
  • 15 minutes

    2026 AI Innovator in Education Awards, by Dr. William Sederburg

    Main Stage
  • 15 minutes

    Break

  • 1 hour

    From Mountain Botanicals to Modern Medicines: How AI Discovery Helps Build WNC's Natural Products Future, by Alex Simon

    Room 410
    Healthcare
  • 1 hour

    The Influence of AI in the K-12 EDU-Sphere, by Dr. Jennifer Reed and Emily Nicholson

    Mountain View Room
    Education
  • 1 hour

    The AI-Augmented Consultant: How I Run a 1-Person Data Science Practice with LLMs and Claude Code, by Dan Carmody-Morse

    Room 406
    Technology
  • 1 hour

    Process Mining Workshop: Accelerated Training and Production with AI and Augmented Reality, by Chris Farr

    Main Stage
    Advanced Manufacturing
  • 1 hour

    Scared, Skeptical, or Sold: The AI Conversation We Haven't Had Yet, by Dr. Nana Harrison

    Room 411
    Education
  • 1 hour

    Published Research: Motivators and Detractors to Integration of the User AI Experience, by Thomas Mueller

    Room 407
    Education
  • 15 minutes

    Wrap-up, by Sam Franklin

  • 2 hours

    Networking Event - sponsored by Western Carolina University

    Hotel Arras

  • 1 hour

    Breakfast

  • 10 minutes

    Introduction by NC Innovation

  • 15 minutes

    Warm-up, by Sam Franklin

  • 1 hour

    Navigating AI in Music: Tools, Tactics, and Rights Protection, by John Lenac

    Main Stage
    Keynote
    Media and Entertainment
  • 15 minutes

    2026 AI Innovator in Education Awards, by Dr. William Sederburg

  • 1 hour

    Having the Difficult Discussions Around AI in a Large Organization, by Raphael Baptista

    Room 410
    Enterprise
    Government
  • 1 hour

    AI Through the Digital Opportunity Lens, Moderated by Sara Nichols

    Main Stage
    Education
    Workforce Development
  • 1 hour

    5 Ways to Get Things Done with AI, by Paul Carney

    Room 411
    Business
  • 1 hour

    Relational AI and Holographic Interfaces: The Next Human-AI Interaction Layer, by Dr. Liz Johnson

    Room 407
    Education
  • 1 hour

    The Opportunities and Pitfalls of Teaching and Learning in the Era of AI, Panel hosted by Paige Ambord

    Mountain View Room
    Education
    Panel
  • 1 hour

    Agentic AI: Your Human Value and our Digital Helpers, by Charlotte Dungan

    Room 406
    Technology
  • 1 hour

    Lunch (provided)

  • 1 hour

    Structuring Change: Digital Transformation for Building AI-Native Teams and Organizations, by Dr. Denis Willett

    Main Stage
    Business
    Keynote
    Technology
  • 15 minutes

    2026 AI Innovator in Education Award, by Dr. William Sederburg

    Main Stage
  • 15 minutes

    Break

  • 1 hour

    AI: Ethics, Education, and the Problem of Cognitive Off-Loading, by Dr. Jonathan Wade

    Room 410
    Education
  • 1 hour

    Intelligent Operations: Turning Data into Decisions/Workforce Multiplier, by Kirstin Russ

    Room 407
    Business
  • 1 hour

    Applied AI in the Wild: Humans, Agents, and What's Actually Working, by John Andrews and Dr. Soum Padhee

    Main Stage
    Education
    Technology
  • 1 hour

    Reducing Friction in Healthcare: Where AI Can Help Right Now, by Paul Hedgecock

    Room 406
    Healthcare
  • 1 hour

    Structuring Computer Science Education Around the Limits of LLMs, by Drs. Mark Dranias and Adam Whitley

    Room 411
    Education
  • 15 minutes

    Summit wrap-up, by Sam Franklin

    Main Stage
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