Keynote Speakers
Day 1- August 4, 2026 (Tuesday) – InterContinental Hotel
10:00 am – Conference Chair and IEOM President Remarks
10:10 am – Host Welcome Address –
10:30 am – 11:00 am Keynote:
11:10 – 11:30 am: Keynote
Dr. Waldemar Karwowski
Pegasus Professor and Chairman
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida, USA
Waldemar Karwowski is Pegasus Professor and Chairman, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, University of Central Florida, USA. He holds an M.S. in Production Engineering and Management from the University of Technology Wroclaw, Poland, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University, USA. He was awarded D.Sc. in management science by the Institute for Organization and Management in Industry, Warsaw, and received the National Professorship title from the President of Poland (2012). Three Central European universities also awarded him Doctor Honoris Causa degrees. Dr. Karwowski served on the Board on Human Systems Integration, National Research Council, USA (2007–2011). He currently is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science journal, Editor-in-Chief of Human-Intelligent Systems Integration journal, and Field Chief Editor of the Frontiers in Neuroergonomics. Dr. Karwowski has over 550 research publications, including over 200 journal papers. He is Fellow of the Ergonomics Society (U.K.), Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), and the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), and served as President of both HFES (2006-2007) and IEA (2000-2003). He received the William Floyd Award from the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors, the United Kingdom in 2017, and the David F. Baker Distinguished Research Award. Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, Atlanta, USA, in 2020. He was elected to Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL), Orlando, Florida, USA, November 2020.
11:30 – 12:00 am: Keynote
12:00 – 12:30 Keynote
12:30 – 1:00 Keynote
Day 2- August 5, 2026 (Wednesday) – InterContinental Hotel
10:00 am – 10:30 am Keynote
10:30 – 11:00 am: Keynote
Emmanuel Urquieta, M.D., M.S., FAsMA
Vice Chair of Aerospace Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine
College of Medicine
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida, USA
Emmanuel Urquieta, M.D., M.S., FAsMA, is the Vice Chair of Aerospace Medicine and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Central Florida – College of Medicine.
In his role at UCF, he oversees the development of research, education, and partnerships in the domain of aerospace medicine.
Prior to joining UCF, Dr. Urquieta served as the Chief Medical Officer at the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health where we managed a multimillion-dollar portfolio of medical research for missions to the Moon and Mars, the commercial spaceflight program EXPAND, and analog capabilities, including partnerships with the Australian Antarctic Division.
He will discuss medicine, the astronauts, and his endeavors in telemedicine to treat astronauts during long space journeys which will include Artificial Intelligence and other advanced methodologies.
11:00 – 11:30 am: Keynote
11:30 am – 12:00 pm Keynote
12:00 – 12:30 pm: Keynote
12:30 – 1:00 pm: Keynote
10:10 – 10:50 am, Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Dr. Ivan Garibay
Associate Professor
Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida, USA
Director, UCF Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Initiative
Director, Master of Science in Data Analytics
Director, Complex Adaptive Systems Laboratory
Founding Director, UCF I-Corps program
Affiliated appointments to Computer Science and Modeling and Simulation
Dr. Ivan Garibay is an Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, University of Central Florida. He is the Director of UCF Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Initiative, Director of Master of Science Program in Data Analytics, and the Director of the Complex Adaptive Systems Laboratory. He is also the Founding Director of the UCF I‐Corps program. His interests lie in studying complex socio‐technical systems such as social media and artificial social intelligence. He received Ph.D. in Computer Science and M.S. in Computer Science from University of Central Florida, P.E. in Electronic Engineering (Titulo Profesional) and B.S. in Electronic Engineering from Ricardo Palma University, Peru.
Day 3- August 6, 2026 (Thursday) – U Latina Learning Villa
11:00 – 11:30 am: Keynote
Dr. Luis Rabelo
Professor
Department of Industrial Engineering & Management Systems
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL, USA
Dr. Luis Rabelo received the BS in Electro-Mechanical Engineer from the Technological University of Panama in 1983, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1987 Master’s and Doctorate in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri. He was a Postdoc at the University of Missouri in Nuclear Engineering. Dr. Rabelo received a dual MS in Systems and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has worked for the Advanced Technology Group (Goodrich) and Honeywell Laboratories. Dr. Rabelo was a NASA Fellow from 2002 to 2005, and a Project Manager at NASA from 2009 to 2011. He is currently Professor in the Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Department at UCF. He is also the Undergraduate Coordinator. He has written more than 300 articles and a book in Artificial Intelligence. He has been the principal advisor for 39 Master’s students and 29 PhDs. He received the award for the Best Scientific Article of the Year 2004 from the Society of Automotive Engineers, received the distinction “ONE NASA” in 2006. He was the recipient of the Fulbright Distinction in 2008. In November 2008, he received the honor of the Technological University of Panama (UTP) of being the 2008 Distinguished Alumni. In 2011, he was the Henaac Award Winner in Education. In 2013 and 2018, he received the Forest R. McFarland Award from the Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE). Lately, he received the SAE Russell S. Springer Award for his article on the modeling of space operations systems in 2017.
11:30 am – 12:00 pm Keynote
12:00 – 12:30 pm: Keynote
Dr. Luis Rocha Lona
Professor in Operations Management, Business School
National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico
México City, Mexico
Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe
Luis Rocha-Lona is a professor in Operations Management at the Business School at National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico and at Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe. Luis Rocha graduated from the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico (IPN) as Automation Control Systems Engineer. Then, he pursued an MSc in Control Systems with a major in information systems/manufacturing at the University of Sheffield, UK. He holds a PhD in Operations Management from The Manchester Business School. Dr Luis Rocha-Lona has eight years of working experience in the public and private sectors. He has lead several projects involved with service and manufacturing organisations and is currently supervising Master and PhD students at National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico.
12:30 – 1:00 pm: Keynote
Contact: info@ieomsociety.org