All Special Panels are Wednesday, November 11th, 8:50am - 9:50am
The New Industrial Stack: From Startups to Industry Leaders Building the AI-Era Enterprise
AI is reshaping manufacturing, but investors, small and mid-sized manufacturers, and large enterprises each see the challenge very differently. Investors are funding a new generation of industrial software and hardware companies, SMEs are weighing those tools against thin margins, legacy equipment, and limited staff, and large enterprises still struggle to scale promising pilots beyond a single plant. This panel brings these three perspectives together to examine the gap between what AI can do and what it actually delivers on the factory floor.
What is discussed:
- The Investor's Lens: Where is capital flowing in industrial AI, and is it funding the problems manufacturers actually need solved?
- The Manufacturer's Perspective: What does practical, high-impact AI adoption look like for mid-sized manufacturers?
- Lessons from large enterprises: What have industry leaders learned about data infrastructure, organization, talent, and governance in making AI a core capability?
- The Research Opportunity: Which bottlenecks deserve the research community's attention, and how can lab innovations travel faster into commercial products and plant operations?
Meet the Experts: Our panel includes venture investors, leaders of small and mid-sized manufacturers, and executives from large industrial enterprises.
Who Should Attend? Industry professionals, entrepreneurs, academic researchers, and students interested in how AI is adopted and scaled in manufacturing.
Panelists:
- Mark Lamoncha, Founder and CEO, Humtown, 2026 Small Business Administration Person of the Year
- Israr Kabir, Director of Emerging Technologies, ASME Ventures
- Susan Ipri-Brown, Founder and Principal, Empowerment Levers; Past President (2024-2025), ASME
Moderators:
- Dr. Purvee Bhatia, Assistant Professor and Associate Director (Workforce Development - SMART Lab) at Miami University
- Dr. Taz Hassan, Robotics, Controls, and Automation Engineer, M.K. Morse
Quantum Opportunities and Challenges for Mechanical Engineers
This panel will bring together a diverse group of experts from industry, national laboratories, and academia to explore the rapidly evolving role of quantum computing in engineering and scientific applications. Panelists will share perspectives on current capabilities, practical challenges, and emerging opportunities, with an emphasis on areas relevant to the mechanics community such as materials modeling, optimization, data-driven methods, and multiscale simulations.
The session will be structured to encourage both insight and interaction. It will begin with brief perspective remarks from each panelist to introduce key ideas and use cases, followed by a moderated discussion that draws connections across sectors and highlights common themes and open questions. A substantial portion of the session will be dedicated to audience engagement through Q&A and discussion, creating a dynamic environment for exchanging ideas.
The goal of the panel is not only to inform but also to inspire, promote awareness, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, and helping build momentum within the mechanics community around the possibilities enabled by quantum computing.
What is discussed:
- Roles of industry, national labs, and academia
- Current capabilities and limitations
- Opportunities in mechanics applications
- Barriers and challenges
- Collaboration and future outlook
Panelists:
- Dr. Juan José Mendoza Arenas, University of Pittsburgh
- Dr. Murali Gopalakrishnan Meena, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Andy Gallo, GE
Moderators:
- Pania Newell
- Lucy Zhang
- Alireza Tabarraei