

Keynote Speakers

Judea Pearl
UCLA
Biography
Judea Pearl is currently a professor of computer science and statistics and director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory at UCLA. Dr. Pearl is best known for championing the probabilistic approach to artificial intelligence and the development of Bayesian networks. He is also credited for developing a theory of causal and counterfactual inference based on structural models. In 2011, the Association for Computing Machinery(ACM) awarded Pearl with the Turing Award, the highest distinction in computer science, "for fundamental contributions to artificial intelligence through the development of a calculus for probabilistic and causal reasoning". He is the author of several books, including the technical Causality: Models, Reasoning and Inference, and The Book of Why, a book on causality aimed at the general public.
He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Technion in Israel. He received an M.S. in electrical engineering from the Newark College of Engineering, and went on to receive an M.S. in physics from Rutgers University and a PhD in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He worked at RCA Research Laboratories on superconductive parametric amplifiers and storage devices and at Electronic Memories, Inc., on advanced memory systems. He is one of the founding editors of the Journal of Causal Inference.

Naveed Hussain, PhD
Chief Engineer,
Boeing Defense, Space, & Security
Biography
Naveed Hussain is vice president and chief engineer for Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS), where he is responsible for ensuring world-class technical integrity for all BDS products and services. He leads a 20,000-person international engineering organization that includes teams across each BDS division. Previously, Hussain served as Boeing’s chief technology officer (CTO) and vice president and general manager of Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T), Boeing’s advanced central research and development unit. While overseeing BR&T, he led a team of scientists, technologists, technicians and engineers who collaborate with research and development partners worldwide to solve the aerospace industry's toughest challenges. Before his BR&T assignment, Hussain was the vice president of Aeromechanics Technology for Boeing. Previously, he led Platform & Networked Systems Technology for BR&T; launched the BR&T-India research center in Bangalore; and directed Boeing Defense, Space, & Security Flight Engineering. He is an elected Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and holds fourteen patents in technology areas including extreme environment composites, structural health prognostics, edge computing and autonomy. Hussain earned a Bachelor of Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy from Stanford University, all in mechanical engineering. He also completed a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Jim Davis
Vice Provost IT Emeritus, Office of Advanced Research Computing Executive Oversight & PI Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering University of California, Los Angeles
Biography
Jim recently stepped down from his position as Vice Provost IT at UCLA after serving in executive IT leadership for 30 years. He has been involved with the progression of AI/ML, scaled use of the internet, cyberinfrastructure, cybersecurity, high performance computing, data centered intelligence, and Smart Manufacturing. At UCLA, he formed and had oversight of UCLA’s Office of Advanced Research Computing (OARC) with broad responsibilities for campus data and technology solutions and the impacts of digital research and scholarship. Jim is currently serving as Special Advisor on Smart Manufacturing and Data Science in the Office of Research and Creative Activities (ORCA) at UCLA. As a co-founder of the U.S. Smart Manufacturing Initiative, Jim also remains Principal Investigator of the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII), with its program home in UCLA/OARC. CESMII is the 3rd national Manufacturing USA Public Private Partnership sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Jim remains active in national planning for Smart Manufacturing which is rooted in AI/ML.

Alton Roming
NAE Executive Director
Biography
Alton D. Romig, Jr. is executive officer of the National Academy of Engineering, which is congressionally chartered to provide, when requested, advice to the federal government on matters of engineering and technology. As chief operating officer Dr. Romig is responsible for the Academy’s program, financial, and membership operations, reporting to the president.
Before assuming his current position, he was vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company’s Advanced Development Programs, better known as the Skunk Works®, the preeminent seat of US aerospace innovation for more than 70 years. He led research and advanced development activities and set the strategic direction for current and future programs for the company’s Aeronautics Business Area.
Dr. Romig spent more than 30 years with Sandia National Laboratories (operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company) before joining Advanced Development Programs. His senior leadership responsibilities included development and engineering activities providing science, technology, and systems expertise in support of US programs in military technology, nuclear deterrence and proliferation prevention, technology assessments, intelligence and counterintelligence, homeland security, and energy programs. As a member of the technical staff he is one of the few engineers to have worked on every nuclear weapons system currently in the US stockpile.
Dr. Romig was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2003 and the Council on Foreign Relations in 2008. He is a fellow of the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and a fellow and honorary member of ASM International, which awarded him the ASM Silver Medal for Materials Research in 1988. In 2023, Dr. Romig also received the IEEE-USA George F. McClure Citation of Honor for his significant contributions to the aerospace industry, national security, and engineering policy.
He received his BS, MS, and PhD in materials science and engineering from Lehigh University in 1975, 1977, and 1979, respectively.