ASEMFL Annual Meeting, November 6 & 7, 2026

“Advancing Resilience for Florida’s Future”
Marshall Student Center, University of South Florida, 4103 Cedar Circle, Tampa, FL 33620

The 2026 Annual Meeting is organized by the ASEMFL Annual Meeting Program Committee (Ann Salamone (chair), Norma Alcantar (incoming chair), Christine Schmidt (past chair), Hortensia Amaro, Gregory Boebinger, Adam Carrico, Lily Elefteriadou, Megan Ennes, Kenneth Ford, Yogi Goswami, Lisa Hightow-Weidman, Margaret Pericak-Vance, Sudipta Seal).

We welcome all interested stakeholders (faculty, industry, government professionals, postdocs, students, and community members) to attend the 2026 Annual Meeting.

Day 1 (Friday, November 6, 2026)
8:00 – 9:00 am Registration with continental breakfast
9:00 – 9:15 am
9:15 – 10:00 am 		Welcome – Moez Limayem, USF President: Ann Salamone, Conference Chair, Christine Schmidt, ASEMFL President
Induction of Class of 2026 Full and Associate Members – Christine Schmidt, ASEMFL President, Yogi Goswami, ASEMFL Past Pres.
10:00 – 10:15 am BREAK
10:15 – 12:00 pm Artificial Intelligence: Cross-disciplinary Interactions
Co-chairs: Ken Ford, Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition Prasant Mohapatra, USF
This session examines the cross-disciplinary applications of artificial intelligence in advancing scientific reasoning, qualitative approaches to medical decision-making, and the development of interpretable, trustworthy language systems for health, security, and society.

  • Ken Forbus, – Northwestern “How qualitative representations might be used in medical reasoning”
  • Bonnie Dorr, UF – “AI you can trust: interpretable language systems for health, security, and society”
  • John Licato, USF – “Agentic AI: Can It Democratize Scientific Reasoning?”
12:00 – 1:30 pm Networking Lunch
1:30 – 2:45 pm ASEMFL Rising Stars Awards and Presentations
Chairs: Norma Alcantar (USF), Margaret Pericak-Vance (UM), Adam Carrico (FIU)

  • Rising Stars recognized
  • Rapid Fire Video Presentations by Rising Stars
2:45 – 3:00 pm BREAK
3:00 – 4:30 pm Innovation for Florida’s Aging Population: Aging in Place
Chair: Lisa Hightow-Weidman, FSU
Interdisciplinary innovations supporting aging in place spans digital health technologies, healthcare design and environmental psychology, and collaborative community-focused research on balance and coordination, with perspectives from academic leaders and industry in consumer health innovation.

  • Daejin Kim, FSU – “Beyond Grab Bars: Smart Home Technologies for Aging in Place”
  • Ken Honeycutt, Samsung Health – “Beyond the Gadget: How Smart Home Technology ius Reshaping Aging in Place Across Research, Industry, and Community”
  • Helen Huang, UCF – “Transdisciplinary Community Focused Research for Holistic Aging in Place”
4:30 – 5:00 p.m. Group Photo and BREAK
5:00 – 7:00 pm Networking Reception & Poster Session I
Chairs: Sudipta Seal, UCF; Megan Ennes, UF
Day 2 (Saturday, November 7, 2026)
7:00 – 8:30 am Networking Breakfast
8:30 – 9:15 am ASEMFL Business Meeting – “State of the Association”
Summary of ASEMFL past accomplishments and future goals. ASEMFL would love input and ideas from all attendees!
9:15 – 10:15 am KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Monica Bertagnolli, NAM President
Chair: Christine Schmidt, NAM, NAE, UF
“The Learning Health System: Where Innovation Meets Application”
The United States spends $5.3 trillion annually on health care yet ranks last among peer nations on key health outcomes. This presentation outlines what a national Learning Health System requires, what stands in the way, and why the time for incremental change is over.
10:15 – 10:30 am BREAK
10:30 – 12:00 pm Agriculture: Resilience and Innovation
Chair: Ann Salamone, NAE, Rochal Industries
Florida-grown innovation feeds you three times a day. Three Florida agriculture leaders share why they see Florida on the cusp of a technological revolution more radical than the advent of the tractor. The revolution won’t just deliver calories – it will advance human health, environmental protection and national security.

  • Jeb Smith, 5th generation farmer – “Florida Agriculture: Lay of the Land”
  • Scott Angle, UF – “How Florida is Fed by Science”
  • Kyle Norton, Everglades Equipment Group – “Field of Frontiers: The Future is Now”
12:00 – 1:00 pm Networking Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 pm Poster Session II
Chairs: Sudipta Seal, UCF; Megan Ennes, UF
2:00 – 2:45 pm PLENARY SPEAKER: Nina Schor, NAM
“The Neurobiology of Trustworthy Communication with the Public”
Chair: Hortensia Amaro, NAM, FIU
2:45 – 3:00 pm BREAK followed by late breaking sessions
3:00 – 4:30 pm Recovery of Critical Minerals
Chairs: Lily Elefteriadou, UF; Greg Boebinger, NAS, FSU
The international landscape for the rare earth elements will be presented along with recovery of radium and rare earths from the waste streams of Florida’s phosphate mines, and phyto-mining using plants to extract metals from soil.

  • Ricardo Schneider, Danfoss – rare earths as critical commodities
  • Munir Humayun, FSU – Radium recovery from gypsum
  • Jeongim Kim, UF – phyto-mining to recover metals
4:30 – 5:30 pm Epidemiology of mortality and morbidity in Florida
Chair: Hortensia Amaro, FIU, NAM

Florida’s Semiconductor Engine
Chair: Paul Sohl, Fl High Tech Corridor

5:30 – 6:00 pm Amplifying Florida’s Voice: Learn What the National Academies Do and How You Can Get Involved.