Explore the 2026 CHS AI Research Summit program, discover the sessions and speakers that align with your interests, and start planning your experience.

Program subject to change as final details are confirmed.

Schedule at a Glance

The Summit includes a full day of panels, workshops, research presentations, roundtables, and networking opportunities. Morning check-in and the Featured Leadership Panel will take place at the W.E. Singleton Center. Programming will then transition to the VCU STEM Building beginning with Session I at 10:30 a.m.

Jump to a specific time: 9 a.m. | 10:30 a.m. | 12 p.m. | 1:30 p.m. | 3 p.m. | 4:30 p.m.

OR

Browse the program: Morning Sessions | Featured Lunch Panels | Research Roundtables | Industry Showcase | Afternoon Sessions

8:00 - 9:00 a.m. | Check-In & Networkingc

Check-in tables will open at the Singleton Center before programming transitions to the VCU STEM Building at 10:30 a.m. Coffee and light fare will be available.

9:00 - 10:00 a.m. | Welcome & Featured Leadership Panel

Human-Centered AI in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences
A featured conversation with academic leaders examining institutional priorities, research opportunities, and the role of human-centered AI across higher education.

Moderated by Dr. Catherine Ingrassia, Dean of the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences

Additional panel details forthcoming.

10:30 - 11:45 a.m. | Session I

Workshops

Room 110 | Workshop
Blooming from Noise: Digging into the Roots of AI-Generated Images
Oscar Keyes, Head, Creative Technologies and Scholarship, VCU Libraries

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Room 112 | Workshop
Education Still Changes Everything: A Human-Centered, AI-Assisted Course Design Workshop
Carrie M. Cole, Senior Instructional Designer, VCU LEDstudio

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Room 303 | Workshop
Human-Centered Leadership in an AI-Driven World: Practical Frameworks for Leading People While Leveraging Artificial Intelligence
Jacqueline Brown Smith, Ed.D., CEO, B Cameron Group LLC

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Room 404 | Workshop
Context Engineering: A Human-Centered Architecture for Governing AI Outputs
Julie Chase, Ed.D., Independent Scholar

Panels

Room 202 | Panel
AI and Trust in the Classroom: How to Maintain an Inclusive and Equitable Classroom Environment
Elizabeth Fagan, Associate Professor, Department of Focused Inquiry, Virginia Commonwealth University; Michael Abelson, Professor, Department of Focused Inquiry, Virginia Commonwealth University; Austin Garey, Assistant Professor, Department of Focused Inquiry, Virginia Commonwealth University; Chris Martiniano, Instructor, Department of Focused Inquiry, Virginia Commonwealth University 

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Room 216 | Panel
Algorithms of Inequality: Teaching AI During Collapse
Liz Canfield, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, VCU; Brooke Taylor, M.Div., M.A., Adjunct Professor and Academic Advisor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, VCU; Dawn Johnson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, VCU; Francesca Lyn, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, VCU

Research Papers

Room 503 | Research Paper
The Other AI: Human-Centered Adaptive Information to Build Attention Momentum in Short- and Long-Form Information
Ronald Yaros, Director, Digital Engagement Lab, University of Maryland

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Room 503 | Research Paper
Human-Centered Evaluation of Public AI Chatbots for Nicotine Vaping Cessation Decision Support Among Young Adults
Jiaxi Wu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, College of Humanities and Sciences, VCU; Caroline Cobb, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director, Health Psychology Program, Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Sciences, VCU; Lin Zhao, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing, School of Business, VCU

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Room 503 | Research Paper
Trust in AI: Beyond the Algorithm
Antoine Middleton, Doctoral Student, Capitol Technology University

Additional research paper presentation forthcoming.

Project Presentations

Room 603 | Project Presentation
Box Stage Meets AI: A Subject-Specific Neural Network to Extend a Patent-Pending Facial Capture Invention
Ernesto Rodriguez Cruz, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Arts, School of the Arts, VCU

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Room 603 | Project Presentation
From Enterprise to Main Street: Human-Centered AI Adoption for Small Businesses
Mia Wang, President, Lotus Love LLC / Lotus Love Digital Solutions

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Room 603 | Project Presentation
ALPINE AI: Adaptive Learning Platform for Individualized Needs through Enhanced Artificial Intelligence
Dayanjan S. Wijesinghe, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Founding Director, Digital Health Lab, Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science, VCU School of Pharmacy

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Room 603 | Project Presentation
An AI Virtual Patient Application for ACSM Preparticipation Exercise Screening: Development and Pilot Feasibility Study
Matthew Scott, Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, College of Humanities and Sciences, VCU

12:00 - 1:15 p.m. | Lunch & Featured Panels

Room 216 | Featured Lunch Session
AI and the Future of Humanities Scholarship
Sponsored by the VCU Humanities Research Center
Taylor Arnold, University of Richmond, with additional participants to be announced

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Room 202 | Featured Panel
AI in Academia and Industry: Aligning Virginia for Impact
Milos Manic, VCU Convergence AI, with representatives from the Commonwealth AI Initiative, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, and industry

1:30 - 2:45 p.m. | Research Roundtables & Industry Showcase

Research Roundtables

Room 216

Table 1
Beyond the Algorithm: Mapping the Psychological Footprint of AI on Students
Obed Amoakoh Boateng, Virginia Commonwealth University

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Table 2
Who Is the Vulnerable Patient? Demographic Stereotyping, Narrative Construction, and the Clinical Gaze in AI-Generated Simulated Patient Cases
Ashley Hahn Akkaya, Jiaxi Wu, and Bridget Thomson-McInnes, Virginia Commonwealth University

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Table 3
Human-Centered AI in Education: Equity, Integrity, and Institutional Response Across K-12 and Higher Education
Charletta Barringer-Brown, Ph.D., President and Senior Researcher, Charletta Barringer-Brown Consulting

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Table 4
"Move Fast and Break Things": A Critical Inquiry Into AI's Paradigms of Sacrificial Progress
J. Michi Gardner, MATX Ph.D. Student, Virginia Commonwealth University

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Table 5
Every Kitchen, Every Language: Scaling a Proven Diabetes Prevention Program to a Global Population
Moradeke "Mora" Alabi, Pharm.D. Candidate, Class of 2028, and Incoming Ph.D. Student in Pharmaceutical Sciences, VCU School of Pharmacy; Dayanjan "Shanaka" Wijesinghe, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Founding Director, Digital Health Lab, Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science, VCU School of Pharmacy

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Table 6
Streets of Opportunity: A Spatial-Temporal Street-Level AI Framework for Mapping Micro-Scale Urban Inequality
Vrinda Shah, Independent

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Table 7
The $40 Audit: What a Duck Pen and Soil Regeneration Can Teach Us About Securing Fortune 500 AI Systems
Elena Bobkova, AI Ready RVA / rvatech

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Table 8
What Counts? Assessing the Metrics Through Which AI Workflows and Impact Are Grasped
William Benton, Assistant Professor and Director of Innovation Programs, University College, VCU; Erdem Topsakal, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, VCU

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Table 9
Friends in Low Places
Sarah Myer, Data Steward, RENCI at UNC-Chapel Hill; Nathalie Collins Volkheimer, Ph.D., User Engagement Specialist, RENCI at UNC-Chapel Hill

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Table 10
The Human Value Centered AI Project Lifecycle
Aaron Baker, Senior Manager of Data Analytics and AI Lead at CapTech, RVATech Data/AI Summit Chair, VCU Business Adjunct

Industry & Community Showcase

Room 202

• AI Ready RVA
• Media + AI Initiative
• VCU Convergence Labs
• VCU Applied AI Graduate Certificate and Continuing and Professional Education
• Better Business Bureau / Ignite
• VCU CPE AI Workforce Readiness
• Additional industry and community partners announced

3:00 - 4:15 p.m. | Session II

Workshops

Room 110 | Workshop
NotebookLM to Gemini Gems: A Practical Workflow for Source-Based Work
Kate Lewis, Digital Learning Specialist, VCU LEDstudio; Heather Dorrell, Instructional Designer

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Room 112 | Workshop
What Does It Mean to Be AI Ready for Richmond, Virginia and Beyond?
William Willis, Executive Director, AI Ready RVA

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Room 303 | Workshop
Humans in the Loop: Designing Assessment Around What Generative AI Can't Do
Nancy Kent Smith, L. Douglas Wilder School and Robertson School, Virginia Commonwealth University

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Room 404 | Workshop
Audit It Yourself: A Hands-On Method for AI Governance Without a Compliance Department
Steve Daniel, AI Strategy & Governance Lead, En Dash Consulting; Jeremy Bailey, Senior Full-Stack Engineer, En Dash Consulting

Panels

Room 202 | Panel
Tech for Humanity: Meaning, Language, and Authorship After AI
Laura Belmonte, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Virginia Tech; Carlos Evia, Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives, Virginia Tech; William Taggart, Instructor and Assistant Chair, Modern Cultures, Languages, and Literatures, Virginia Tech; Matthew Vollmer, Professor of Creative Writing, Virginia Tech

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Room 216 | Panel
Environment and Human Impacts of Data Centers
Stephen Fong, Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University; Damian Pitt, Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University; additional panelist to be announced

Research Papers

Room 503 | Research Paper
Trust Is the Product
Nathalie Collins Volkheimer, Ph.D., User Engagement Specialist, RENCI at UNC-Chapel Hill; Sarah Myer, MPH, Ph.D., Data Steward, RENCI at UNC-Chapel Hill

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Room 503 | Research Paper
Beyond the Black Box: Teaching AI Literacy Through Arts Integration in Higher Education
Michael Dickerson, Law School Systems & Applications Lead, University of Richmond

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Room 503 | Research Paper
Some Thoughts on Hegel's Mastery and Servitude in Relation to AI-Related Social Pathologies
Michael Reno, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy and Assistant Director, Center for AI and the Liberal Arts, University of Mary Washington

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Room 503 | Research Paper
State of the Researcher: Supporting User Research Initiation in Chatbots at the Library of Virginia
Sarah Falls, Chief of Researcher Engagement, Library of Virginia

Paper & Project Presentations

Room 603 | Project Presentation
CareBridge AI: Human-Centered Knowledge Transfer for Caregivers and Disability Support Networks
Garret Westlake, Vice Provost for Innovation and Strategic Design and Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, Virginia Commonwealth University; Parthenia "Parthy" Dinora, Executive Director, Partnership for People with Disabilities, Virginia Commonwealth University

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Room 603 | Project Presentation
When Governance Fails on the Plant Floor (and in the Lab): Lessons from Industrial AI Incidents for Research Settings
Elena Bobkova, AI Ready RVA

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Room 603 | Research Paper
Mapping the Geography of Invisibility: How Data Pollution Renders Environmental Injustice Invisible
Amy Yeboah Quarkume, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Earth, Environment and Equity / Data Science and Analytics, Howard University; Executive Director, CORE Futures Lab; Director, M.S. in Applied Data Science and Analytics

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Room 603 | Project Presentation
Whose History Counts? How AI Reads Some Histories Better Than Others
Jeanette Ruiz, Virginia Commonwealth University

4:30 - 5:30 p.m. | Reception & Networking

Close out the Summit with an opportunity to reconnect with presenters, collaborators, and participants from across the day's sessions.

Program information is subject to minor updates as final presenter and session details are confirmed.