2026 BruinTech Spring Conference
The Power of Community: Connecting Minds, Unleashing Superpowers
Amplify. Spark. Ignite.
- Date: Monday, May 18, 2026
- Check-in : 8:00 am
- Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
- Location: UCLA Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Plaza Room 314, Los Angeles, CA 90095
This year’s conference will showcase the power of collaboration across UCLA. Presenters will highlight partnerships between researchers, faculty, staff, and students and the technology teams who help bring innovative ideas to life. Come here to learn about trend-setting, cutting-edge, transformative work that demonstrates how collaboration drives meaningful impact and sets UCLA apart.
Register
Note: You can still register for the conference, but the deadline to order lunch has passed.
Conference Schedule
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. | Check-in, Registration, and Morning Refreshments |
| 9:00 a.m. | Welcome & Introductions Stephen Mills, BruinTech President Alex Alonzo, VP, Special Projects |
| 9:10 a.m. | Opening Remarks Lucy Avetisyan, Associate Vice Chancellor, Digital and Technology Solutions and Chief Information Officer |
| 9:25 a.m. | Keynote: The Pattern Breaks Down Before the People Do Michael Jenkins, Ph.D. (UCLA Health IT) |
Community Collaboration Presentations
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 9:55 a.m. | Enabling Experiential Learning with Drones and VR Joy Guey, Emerging Technologies Advocate, Director of Bridge Innovation Studio Sally PW Wu, Director of Instructional Design and Media Production, UCLA Teaching and Learning Center Kenya Covington, Professor of Public Policy |
| 10:15 a.m. | Building Multi-Department Systems: From Fragmentation to Shared Understanding Nareg Hovanesian, Associate Director of Applications Development Biljana Bosanac, Financial Aid Director |
| 10:35 a.m. | Agentic Interview Platform for Studying LA City Employees at Scale Corinne Bendersky, Professor, Management & Organizations Gabriel Ruiz, CTO & Director, Infrastructure & Systems Solutions |
| 10:55 a.m. | Break |
| 11:05 a.m. | UCLA Weather Forecasting: From Retirement to Revitalization Jason Pang, IT Manager, Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences Janine Ann Baijnath-Rodino, Academic Director of Meteorology |
| 11:25 a.m. | Spotlight: LA28: Athletes Village Overview and Planning Chansoth Hill, Sr. Director, Campus Coordination & Village Integration |
| 11:45 a.m. | Spotlight: UCLA Extension | Technical Management Program (TMP) Joon Lee, Portfolio Director - Engineering & Custom Programs |
Afternoon
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 12:00 p.m. | Lunch for Registered Attendees |
| 12:50 p.m. | BruinTech Affinity Groups UCLA UX Tulasi Atikamsetti, Business Systems Analyst, Bruin Learn CoE UCLA Web Makers Group Matthew Geddert, Manager, Design and User Experience Val Trullinger, Manager, Web Technologies |
| 1:00 p.m. | Student Innovation Hub Presentations & Workshop Jacob Sproul, Senior Events & Engagement Analyst, Information Technology Services
|
| 3:10 p.m. | Closing Remarks Chris Thompson, BruinTech President-Elect |
| 3:20 p.m. | Student Innovation Hub Network Activity |
Raffles will be held throughout the day. Must be present to win.
Being in 2 places at once not your superpower? No worries - We’ve got you covered!
A dedicated workspace will be available in Royce Hall, so you can step away to take a call, respond to email, finish up tasks as needed. You can (almost!) be in two places at once.
Thank You to our Sponsors
Post Conference Survey
Spread the Word
Download the Spring Conference Zoom Background
