Program and Schedule

Available Presentations and replays (Password Protected)

November 14, 2024 – Hurst Convention Center

 A Comprehensive Engineering Conference

IEEE MetroCon 2024 will include nine parallel and technical powerful tracks! Attendees have the opportunity to rapidly grasp the technical and societal implications of some of the most promising and innovative new developments and ideas emerging from the engineering disciplines. Each track has been organized into well-coordinated morning and afternoon sessions designed to achieve maximum exposure for attendees in minimum time.

Download a Full Program PDF for 2024 here.

Plenary

2024 Plenary Speaker
Julian Bleecker, Ph.D.

Design Fiction

  • Futurist & Innovator: Dr. Julian Bleecker is a leading figure in the field of speculative design and futures thinking, known for his work in creating provocative artifacts that explore possible near futures.
  • Design Fiction Methodology: He developed the “Design Fiction” approach, using speculative scenarios and tangible prototypes to help organizations envision and navigate the strategic implications of emerging technologies.
  • Founder of Near Future Laboratory: Dr. Bleecker co-founded Near Future Laboratory, an innovation practice that collaborates with global organizations to inspire creative thinking and strategic foresight.

Lunch Keynote

Swaroop Darbha, Ph.D.

ROUTING A COLLECTION OF UAVs

  • Professor, Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University
  • Gulf Oil/Thomas A. Dietz Professor
  • Affiliated Faculty, Ocean Engineering
  • Expertise in Autonomous Vehicles, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vehicle Dynamics, Control and Optimization
  • Contributions to Intelligent Transportation Systems and Unmanned Vehicles
  • Fellow, IEEE and ASME

Tracks

  • Internet of Things
  • Software and Systems Engineering
  • Developing and Deploying Secure Systems
  • Power & Energy Systems
  • Computational Intelligence
  • Biotechnologies
  • Financial Management and Professional Development
  • Autonomous and Vehicle Systems
  • Photonics

Current schedule:

Internet of Things – Conference Center Room 1

  • 8:30-9:25 Soft Actuation Technologies for Physical Human-Robot-Interactions
    Dr. Amir Jafari, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of North Texas
  • 10:00-10:55 Facilitating AI/ML Translation in Healthcare
    Sagnik Dakshit
    The University of Texas at Tyler
  • 11:00-11:55 Safety and Security for IoT with Autonomy, Artificial Intelligence, and Distributed Applications
    Stephen Olsen & Rich DesMarais
    Blackberry QNX
  • 2:00-3:10 When Generative AI Meets IoT: A Match Made in Data Heaven!
    Dr. Yeshwant Muthusamy, CTO
    Yeshvik Solutions, LLC
  • 3:30-4:45 Navigating the Quantum Landscape in Real-life applications: Trends, Challenges, and Future Directions
    Bhaskar Gaur
    University of Tennessee Knoxville

Software and Systems Engineering – Conference Center Room 3

  • 8:30-9:25 A MBSE Test-Integrated Descriptive Framework to Support Early Phase T&E Decision Making
    Awele Anyanhun
    Georgia Tech Research Institute
  • 10:00-10:55 Jumpstarting Automation on a Challenged Program
    Jim Melby & Dr. Sandra Dawson
    Lockheed Martin
  • 11:00-11:55 Strategies for Integrating Complex Aircraft Software Systems: Insights from Software Engineers at Lockheed Martin
    Jennifer Klenka and Stephanie Figueroa
    Lockheed Martin
  • 2:00-3:10 INCOSE Certification and SE Vision 2035
    Dawn Handley,  International Council on Systems Engineering
    Strategies and Best Practices for Managing Complex System Architectures
    Sean Densford, Dassualt Systems
    Javier Villafane, RTX

Developing and Deploying Secure Systems – Conference Center Room H/G

  • 8:30-9:25 Developing and Deploying Secure Systems
    Sharon Reynolds
    Kudelski Security
  • 10:00-10:55 Network Intrusion Forensics Analysts
    US Secret Service
  • 11:00-11:55 Cryptographic modules: hardware, software, and firmware requiring certification… explained
    Chris Wood
    Lockheed Martin
  • 2:00-3:10 Systems and Software Engineering’ Techniques to Develop and Deploy Secure Systems
    Jeff Daniels, Ph.D., Lockheed Martin
    Dan Wittliff, GDS Associates
  • 3:30-4:45 Digitalization of working/everyday environments
    Thomas Taylor
    Nozoomi Networks

Power & Energy Systems – Conference Center Room 5

  • 8:30-9:25 Complimentary Role of Partial Discharge Monitoring in Transformer Health Assessment
    Emilio Morales
    Qualitrol Company LLC
  • 10:00-10:55 The Silicon Standoff: Exploring VLSI’s Billion-Dollar Verdict Against Intel
    Lyell Anderson, P.E.
    Eastern District of Texas
  • 11:00-11:55 Two-Ended Fault Location in Transmission Lines with a Fault Current Limiting Reactor at One End
    Franklin Quilumba Gudino
    Oncor
  • 2:00-3:10 Impact of EV Charging on Commercial Fleets and Utilities
    John Nemec
    Burns & McDonnell
  • 3:30-4:45 Data Center Generator Design Considerations
    Patrick McBrayer
    Rehlko

Computational Intelligence – Conference Center Room 4

  • 8:30-9:25 Dreams, Dilemmas, and Data: Envisioning AI’s Future Trajectory
    Lorenzo Jaques
  • 10:00-10:55  Introduction to Design of Datapaths for Quantum Computation
    Edgard Munoz-Coreas, Ph.D.
  • 11:00-11:55 Bringing High Temperature Computing to the Edge in Aerospace Defense and Energy Applications
    Matt Francis
    IEEE R5 Director
  • 2:00-3:10 How AI Transforms the IP Landscape
    Raphael Chabaneix
  • 3:30-4:45 Optimizing Data Efficiency and Visual Quality with Intelligent Thresholding in Color Encoding
    Art Depoian
    University of North Texas

Biotechnologies – Conference Center Room F

  • 8:30-9:25 Advances in Nano-Therapeutics and Diagnostics with Graphene Quantum Dots
    Anton V. Naumov, Ph.D.
    Texas Christian University
  • 10:00-10:55 Intraocular lens surgery and development
    Liping Tang, Ph.D. FAHA, FBSE, FAIMBE
    The University of Texas at Arlington
  • 11:00-11:55 Potential Roles of Artificial Intelligence in Molecular Imaging Probe Design and Development
    Xiankai Sun, Ph.D.
    UT Southwestern Medical Center
  • 2:00-3:10 Unlocking the Secrets of Aging: Insights from Glutaredoxin Double Knockout (DKO) Mice and Their Implications for Cellular Senescence
    Qin Ying, PharmD
    University of North Texas Health Science Center
  • 3:30-4:45 Hyperspectral imaging for cancer detection and image-guided surgery
    Baowei Fei, Ph.D.
    The University of Texas at Dallas

Autonomous and Vehicle Systems – Conference Center Room 2

  • 8:30-9:25 Cockpits In The Next Decade
    Mike Skaff
    Lockheed Martin  
  • 10:00-10:55 An e-Pilot: Using a Virtual Co-Pilot to Prevent Mishaps
    Keith Higginbotham
    Lockheed Martin
  • 11:00-11:55 Autonomy + AI to Support the Military Pilot
    Kasey Dixon
    Lockheed Martin
  • 2:00-3:10 Replacing Pilots with AI: Evaluating Single Pilot Operations
    Jason Taylor
    Lockheed Martin
  • 3:30-4:45 Solving Autonomous Challenges in Defense Vehicles and Robotics by leveraging Commercial Technologies
    Rich DesMarais
    Blackberry QNX

Photonics – Conference Center Room 6

  • 8:30-9:25 High power high speed semiconductor photonic crystal lasers and spatial light modulators for space and defense applications
    Weidong Zhou, Ph.D.
    University of Texas at Arlington
  • 10:00-10:55 Concatenation of Kerr solitary waves in Ceramic YAG: application to coherent Raman imaging
    Alejandro Aceves
    Southern Methodist University
  • 11:00-11:55 Beating Moore’s Law with two unconventional lithography tools
    John Randall
    Zyvex Labs
  • 2:00-3:10 High Energy Laser Weapon Systems and Controls
    Liam Skoyles
    Raytheon Technologies
  • 3:30-4:45 Optical emission and absorption properties in 2D layered selenides of tungsten and niobium for sensor devices
    Anupama Kaul
    University of North Texas

Financial Management and Professional Development – Conference Center Room E

  • 8:30-9:25 Taxes In Retirement
    David Sandu
  • 10:00-10:55 Retirement Planning
    William Swoboda
    Edward Jones
  • 11:00-11:55 College Planning
    Melissa Cox
  • 2:00-3:10 Navigating AI & Personal Finances
    Arash Shariatzadeh  
  • 3:30-4:45 Understanding Money, Blockchain & Bitcoin
    Sam Konigsberg

Women in Engineering – Conference Center Room 3

  • 3:30-4:45 Critical Communication Skills & Critical Success Factor for Women
    • Moderator- Morgan Kiani
      Texas Christian University
    • Jamie Smith
      Lockheed Martin MFC
    • Sue Gong
      Texas Christian University
    • Jalyn Kelley
      IEEE University Partnership Program (UPP)
    • Aileen Sengupta
      University of Texas at Arlington