AI Across America:
Baton Rouge

LA.IO, LSU's Division of Computer Science and Engineering, and the NSF FUEL Engine are partnering with SeedAI to present AI Across America: Baton Rouge, a single-day convening on Monday, May 11th, at LSU’s College of Engineering, focused on Louisiana’s opportunity to lead in the next era of AI.

The event will bring together leaders from academia, state government, industry, and the startup community for an honest, substantive conversation about what it actually takes to build a strong state AI ecosystem. Topics will include:

• The industries and founders shaping Louisiana's AI economy

• The state's policy trajectory and regulatory landscape

• Shared compute infrastructure for research and development

• Public-private partnership models that work

• The federal funding landscape and how Louisiana can compete

Agenda

8:30 – 9:00 AM: Registration & Welcome

9:00 – 9:45 AM: Louisiana's Federal Investment Landscape & Funding Opportunities

• Dr. Keith G. Mills, Assistant Professor, Louisiana State University (Moderator)

• P. Kerr Wall, Digitalization Manager, BASF, Monomers & Adjunct Professor, Chemical Engineering Department, Louisiana State University

• Dr. J. “Ram” Ramanujam, Special Advisor to the Louisiana State University Vice President of Research on AI and Data & Quantum Science

• Dr. Donna Gallacher, Chief Innovation Officer, Louisiana Tech University

9:45 – 10:30 AM: Industrial AI in Louisiana

• Shafin Khan, Vice President of Innovation & Technology Commercialization, The Beach at UNO (Moderator)

• Justin Airhart, Chief Operating Officer, Southern Services and Equipment, Inc.

• Kellen Francis, CEO & Founder, CodeGig

• Andrew Courtois, Research Scientist, The Water Institute of the Gulf

10:30 – 11:15 AM: Startup Ecosystem & AI Innovation

• Dr. Andrew Schwarz, Professor, Stephenson Department of Entrepreneurship & Information Systems, Louisiana State University (Moderator)

• Mickal Adler, General Partner, Boot64 Ventures

• Destin Ortego, Executive Director, Opportunity Machine

• Tony Zanders, President and CEO, Nexus Louisiana

11:15 – 12:00 PM: Louisiana AI Infrastructure & Resource Needs

• Josh Fleig, Chief Innovation Officer, Louisiana Economic Development (Moderator)

• Diya Wynn, Responsible AI Lead, Amazon Web Services

• Dr. Nicholas Mattei, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Tulane University, and Co-Director of the Tulane Center for Community Engaged AI

• Dr. Vassil Roussev, Director, University of New Orleans Cyber Center

12:00 – 12:15 PM: Closing & Next Steps

12:15 – 1:00 PM: Networking Lunch