Wednesday, Nov 4

Panel: Testing in a Digital Environment

This panel is taking shape. Check back soon for details.

 

Moderator: Andrew Caldwell, Head Research and Development, Test and Evaluation in Ministry of Defense (MOD’s) Strategic Programmes Directorate

 

Panelists:

 

Anna Rubenstein, Ph.D., Director AI and Autonomy Testing, Andruil

 

 

 

 

Panel: Test Range Priorities: Urgent Needs & Solutions

Army Test Range Commanders and PMOs/PAEs share the most pressing challenges facing today’s test environments—and the solutions needed to support faster, more effective testing.
This panel is taking shape. Check back soon for details.
Moderator, James Amato, US Army Test and Evaluation Command, Executive Technical Director
Representative from US Army Yuma Proving Ground
Representative from US Army Dugway Proving Ground 

Panel: Multidisciplinary System Thinking Across Professional Networks: A Force Multiplier

Complex systems require a holistic systems thinking approach that considers relationships, dependencies, interactions, and emergent behaviors across disciplines and the broader system of systems context. Effective systems thinking depends on integrating diverse expertise from systems engineering, human factors, research, verification and validation, test and evaluation, industry, government, professional associations, and operational communities. This panel will explore how cross disciplinary collaboration, shared language, diverse perspectives, and professional networks can break down silos and serve as force multipliers for developing, assuring, and operating complex systems safely, securely, and effectively.

 

Moderator:  John Frederick, ITEA Senior Advisory Council and President, Veracity Engineering

 

 

 

Panelists:

 

Jim Sherman, (AIAA) Aeronautics at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Senior Director

 

 

 

Mica R. Endsley, Ph.D., (HFES) Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, President, SA Technologies

 

 

 

Antonios Kontsos, Ph.D., (DTC) Digital Twin Consortium, Henry M. Rowan Professor at Rowan University’s Mechanical Engineering Department and Director of the Digital Engineering Hub

 

 

 

David Harrsion, (NDIA), National Defense Industrial Association, Project Manager and Test Engineer, Lockheed Martin Space Systems

 

 

 

Jimmie McEver, Ph.D., (INCOSE) International Council of Systems Engineering, Deputy Technical Director, and Program Manager, Cyber Capability Integration and Principal Systems Scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

 

 

Thursday, November 5

Panel: Securing the Mission: Cyber, Cloud, and Data in an AI-Driven World

Trends and Best Practices Across Government and Commercial

Every organization — federal agency, defense contractor, or commercial enterprise — is under pressure to adopt AI. Far fewer have the security, compliance, and infrastructure foundations that make adoption safe, scalable, and sustainable. The gap between ambition and readiness is where programs stall, budgets evaporate, and risk accumulates.
This panel brings leaders from non-defense industries — alongside voices who have worked both sides of the government/commercial line — to examine the three foundations that determine whether AI adoption succeeds: cyber resilience in an era of AI-accelerated threats; cloud architectures that balance scale, sovereignty, and cost; and the data readiness that separates AI programs that deliver from those that disappoint. The focus is trends and best practices: panelists share how their industries develop rapidly, test at scale, and field AI and autonomy — without breaking security or safety.

The conversation is deliberately two-way: what government can adopt from commercial speed and scale, and what commercial organizations can learn from government rigor in security and test discipline. Attendees leave with a practical playbook — adoption patterns that work, mistakes to avoid, and a Monday-morning action from every panelist.

Moderator: Bethany Plaza, Enterprise Account Executive in the Advanced Solutions Group at NexusTek

 

 

This panel is still taking shape. Check back soon for details.

 

Panel: Office Undersecretary of Defense/Prototyping, Experimentation

This panel is still taking shape. Check back soon for details.

 

Panel: Title and abstract coming soon

Moderator: James Amato, US Army Test and Evaluation Command, Executive Technical Director

Paul Murphy, Director of Independent Test & Evaluation/Operational Test Authority, National Security Agency (NSA)

Terry Murphy, Director, Test and Evaluation for Science & Technology, Department of Homeland Security

Karen Saunders, Principal Deputy Director, Director Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E)

Eric Neiderman, Deputy Director, Federal Aviation Administration’s research section, William J Hughes Technical Center

 

International Panel

This panel is still taking shape. Check back soon for details.

 

Friday, November 6

Panel: Artificial Intelligence

This panel is still taking shape. Check back soon for details.

Laura Freeman, Ph.D. Deputy Director, Virginia Tech National Security Institute – invited

 

 

 

 

 

Laura Rabbit, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Rapid-Test & Evaluation Cell (R-TEC), DoW Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) – invited