| 7:30 am - 3:45 pm |
Expo Open |
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| 7:30 am - 8:30 am |
Breakfast and Customer Client Networking
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| 8:30 am - 9:00 am |
Welcome
Ballroom
- John Nelson, COO, BBI International
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| 9:00 am - 10:00 am |
Discussion with U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer
Ballroom
- Guest Speaker to be Announced
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| 10:00 am - 10:15 am |
UAS Law Update
Ballroom
- Joseph Vacek, Professor, University of North Dakota Aerospace
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| 10:15 am - 10:30 am |
One Sky, Fifty Rulebooks: The Case for Federal-State Alignment on Commercial Drone Policy
Ballroom
- Mason Sisk, Director, Government Affairs, AUVSI
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| 10:30 am - 11:15 am |
Concurrent Panels
BVLOS for Agriculture: Results from 2026 Large-Scale Field Operations
Ballroom
Moderator: Douglas Olsen, Olsen Industries LLC
- Ahmed Rabia, NDSU Research Assistant Professor
- Ben Genereaux, Centrol Crop Consultant
- Everett Dunnick, Vantis Director, NPUASTS
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A New Era for Drones: Part 108, Part 146, and the Path to Scalable BVLOS
Oriole Room
- Collin Newberry, NPUASTS
- Additional Speakers To Be Announced
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|
| 11:15 am – Noon |
Concurrent Panels
Enabling Routine BVLOS Operations: Regulation, Detect-and-Avoid, and Airspace Integration
Ballroom
- David Cole, Co-Founder and CEO, FlyFreely
Busting the 400ft Ceiling of Part 108
- Timothy Bleakley, Engineering Supervisor for UAS Civil Airspace Integration, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
Unlocking Routine BVLOS Operations Through Certified Airborne and Ground Based Detect and Avoid
- Kraettli Epperson, CEO, Vigilant Aerospace Systems, Inc.
State of the Art in UAS Airspace Integration: Ground-Based and Onboard Systems for Safe Crewed-Uncrewed Operations
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Advanced Aircraft Design for Future Operations
Oriole Room
- Neil Winston, Chief Engineer, Hopflyt, Inc.
Hybrid-Electric VTOL UAS: Bridging the Gap Between Endurance, Payload, and Runway Independence
- Dante Battocchi, CTO, Elinor Coatings, LLC
Breaking Through the Ice: Advanced Surface Coatings for All-Weather UAS Operations
- Zeeshan Qadri, Executive Director, Litens
Why Thermal Constraints Will Define the Future of Scalable Drone Operations
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| Noon - 1:00 pm |
Networking Lunch - Dedicated Expo Time
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| 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm |
Concurrent Panels
Building, Funding and Protecting UAS Businesses
Ballroom
- Jeff Barta, SBIR Specialist & Tech Scout, University of North Dakota
The Power of Collaboration: How Local Government, Industry, and Universities Are Driving Real-World UAV Innovation
- Tom Kading, Fargo Patent & Business Law
Protecting Your UAS Advantage: Practical IP Strategies for Growth
- Nicholas Beaulieu, Shareholder/Patent Attorney, Conley Rose, PC
Protecting UAS Innovation: Strategic Patent Development for Emerging Drone Technologies
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Dual-Use Advantage: How UAS Innovators Can Leverage U.S. Government Funding to Accelerate Commercial Growth
Oriole Room
- Toni Balzano, VP of Strategy, Q Station
- Additional Speakers To Be Announced
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|
| 1:45 pm - 2:30 pm |
Concurrent Panels
Turning Your Drone Idea Into a Sustainable Business
Ballroom
- Vigneshwar Parameshwar, PhD Student, University of North Dakota College of Engineering & Mines
Empowering the U.S. Drone Industry: Lessons from a Civilian Marketplace Platform
- Jacob Andrews, CEO & Founder, Drones iVue LLC
Developing the Future of Drones
- Becky Kelderman, Sr. Sales Director, Manufacturo Inc
Your Drone Isn’t the Problem. Your Manufacturing Is
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Preparing for Defense Markets: Compliance, Certification and Contract Readiness
Oriole Room
Moderator: Aaron Reinholz, Ag Tech Program Manager, North Dakota State University
- Jackie Grose, PR Account Manager, CORE IR & PR
The Full-Spectrum Air-Domain - Integrating Secure ISR and AI-Powered Counter-UAS for Multi-Domain Readiness
- Matthew Albers, CMMC Assessment Manager, Kieri Solutions
CMMC Readiness - Start With The Basics
- Mike Crandall, CEO, Digital Beachhead
Avoiding CMMC Failure: Common Compliance Pitfalls as seen by a C3PAO
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| 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm |
Networking Break - Dedicated Expo Time
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|
| 2:35 pm – 2:55 pm |
Building Minnesota's UAS Workforce Ecosystem: Creating Scalable Talent Pathways Across Industry Sectors
INNOVATION STAGE - EXPO
- Shawn Haag, Executive Director, Minnesota State Transportation Center of Excellence
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| 3:00 pm - 3:45 pm |
Concurrent Panels
Building Safer Airspace Through Data and Automation
Ballroom
- Emmanuel Chukwuemeka, Research Scientist, University of North Dakota
Operational Gaps in Remote ID: Implications for Real-Time UAS Surveillance and Airspace Safety
- Paul Snyder, Director of UAS Operations, University of North Dakota
Predictive Airspace Safety Analytics Through RID–ADS-B Fusion, Knowledge Graphs, and LLM Reasoning
- Hyungu Hwang, CEO, ToBScommunication Inc.
A Cooperative Communication-Based Detect-and-Avoid Safety Layer for Low-Altitude Airspace
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The Technology Stack for Resilient UAS Operations
Oriole Room
- Charles Beames, Chairman, The SmallSat Alliance
Building Resilient Drone Operations in a GPS-Contested World
- Greg Caires, Corporate Affairs Director, Skydweller Aero
5G-in-the-Sky: A Perpetual-Flight UAV as a Dual-Use Communication Relay
- Javier Espuch, BDM, Embention
A High-Integrity Flight Control Strategy for Loitering Munitions, Interceptors and Launched Effects
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|
| 3:45 pm - 4:30 pm |
Concurrent Panels
Building Trust in Autonomous Operations
Ballroom
- Tanner Yackley, Founder, Remote Warrior LLC
The Invisible Layer: Human-System Friction in Autonomous and UAS Operations
- Dr. Jonathan Foremny, Professor, Pilot, Manager - Aviation and UAS Standards, Viasat, Carroll College
From Experimental Operations to Scalable BVLOS Integration: Engineering Operationally Airworthy UAS Ecosystems for Advanced Air Mobility
- Srikrishna Sallam, Manager Enterprise Business Applications, BDO USA
Trusted Operational Evidence for Autonomous Systems: A Cryptographically Verifiable Evidence Layer for UAS
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Tempering Traditional Aviation
Oriole Room
- Air Commodore (Ret.) Roderick J. Dennis, OBE, FRAeS, The Jomini Group
- Jonathan H. Daniels, FRAeS, FASTM, Vice President of Safety & Compliance, DroneUp LLC and CEO, Praxis Aerospace Concepts Cluster
- Shawn Bullard, CEO, Duetto Group
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|
| 4:30 pm |
Sessions Conclude
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