Keynote Speakers
June 9, 2026 (Tuesday)
9:00 – 9:10 AM: IEOM-Milwaukee Conference Co-Chairs and IEOM President’s remarks
9:10 – 9:20 AM:
Prof. Canan Bilen-Green
UWM Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
9:20 – 10:00 AM: Opening Keynote:
John Miller
Director, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (Tentative)
10:00 – 10:20 AM Coffee Break
10:20 – 11:00 PM
University of Wisconsin E-Business Consortium
11:00 – 11:40 PM – Keynote
Andrew Ellis
VP Global Portfolio Engineering
Rockwell Automation
11:40 – 12:20 PM
VP – Generac Advanced Manufacturing
12:20 – 1:00 PM Keynote
Dr. Jag Sarangapani
William A. Rutledge – Emerson Electric Company Distinguished Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Rolla, MO, USA
Dr. Sarangapani is a Curators’ Distinguished Professor and Rutledge-Emerson Chair at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, USA. He was the Site Director for the graduated NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on Intelligent Maintenance Systems for 13 years and an Interim Director for Intelligent Systems Center. He also has a courtesy appointment with the Department of Computer Science. He has co-authored 209 peer-reviewed journal articles as two-author papers, 308 refereed IEEE conference articles, several book chapters, and co-authored five books and two edited books. He holds 21 patents, one defense publication, with several pending. He has supervised the completion of over 36 doctoral students and 32 M.S. thesis students. His research funding is more than $47 million dollars (his shared credit over $13.8 million) from NSF, NASA, AFOSR, ARO, ONR, AFRL, Boeing, Honeywell, Sandia and from other companies. His current research interests include learning, adaptation, neural network decision making and control, networked control systems/cyber physical systems, prognostics/bigdata, and autonomous systems/robotics with healthcare applications. He served/serving on various editorial boards including as a Senior Editor, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, organizing committees in various international conferences, and as a co-editor for the IET Book series on Control.
June 10, 2026 (Wednesday)
9:00 – 9:10 AM: Opening remarks: UWM College of Engineering and Applied Science, Associate Dean of Research
9:30 – 10:00 AM:
Joe Hamman
Executive Director
UWM Connected Systems Institute
10:20 – 10:40 AM Coffee Break
10:40 – 11:20 AM – Keynote
Michael Cook
Director of Industry-Academia Engagement
Rockwell Automation
11:20 – 12:00 PM – Keynote
John Dyck (Tentative)
Chief Executive Officer, CESMII
The Smart Manufacturing Institute
12:00 – 12:10 PM Short Break
12:10 – 1:00 PM – Keynote
Dr. Anthony Rollett
U.S. Steel Professor of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science and University Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Co-Director of the NASA STRI IMQCAM and the NextManufacturing Center
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Presentation Title:
Bio:
June 11, 2026 (Thursday)
9:00 – 9:40 AM:
Northwestern Mutual
VP, Data Science and Analytics (Tentative)
9:40 – 10:20 AM:
Dr. Keuter Tucker
Data Science Manager
Charter Steel
10:20 – 10:40 AM Coffee Break
10:40 – 11:20 AM:
Panel: Workforce Development in Automation: Area Community Colleges (Moderator: W. Otieno)
11:20 – 11:30 am – Short Break
11:30 – 12:00 PM – Research Keynote:
Dr. Alejandro Hernández González
Professor of Electrochemistry, Manufacturing Processes, and Dynamics
Faculty of Chemical Sciences
Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (UJED)
Durango, Mexico
Dr. Alejandro Hernández González is a Research Professor at the Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (UJED) and serves as the President of the IEOM Durango Chapter. His expertise is built on a global academic foundation, having conducted research and specialized studies at institutions in Germany, Singapore, and the USA, including the Technical University of Munich, the German Institute of Science and Technology (Asia), MIT, and the University of Colorado Boulder.
As the Innovation and Project Leader at Star Hunters Rocketry, Dr. Hernández specializes in experimental rocketry and liquid propulsion systems. He is deeply committed to democratizing space knowledge, actively mentoring students through the NASA International Space Apps Challenge and fostering local aerospace development.
12:00 – 12:30 PM – Research Keynote:
Dr. Habib (UWM) – Tentative
12:30 – 1:00 PM- Research Keynote: