Foundational AI Meetup@UTK
About the Meetup
The Foundational AI Meetup@UTK is a forum for graduate students and researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and neighboring institutions to exchange ideas, present work, and build an interdisciplinary research community around the foundations and frontiers of artificial intelligence.
The meetup supports the interdisciplinary vision of AI Tennessee, which connects researchers and educators to advance AI innovation, scientific discovery, and real-world impact. It is also motivated by UT's Foundational Artificial Intelligence initiative and its goal of deepening our understanding of intelligence and developing the theories, models, and learning systems needed for the next generation of AI.
Scope
The meetup welcomes research spanning AI foundations and learning, AI for science and autonomous discovery, AI systems and computing, and mission-driven applications of AI.
Meeting Information
Time: Monday, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Location: 435 Min H. Kao Building
Calendar: Download the Fall 2026 calendar (.ics)
Format: Each one-hour session features either one 45-minute talk followed by 15 minutes of questions and discussion, or two 20-minute talks, each followed by 10 minutes of questions and discussion.
Fall 2026
| Date | Presenter | Topic or Paper |
| Oct 12 | Fei Liu | From Real to Sim: Multiscale and Multiresolution Digital Twins for Surgical Robotics |
| Oct 19 | Yi Huang | Hardware-Software Co-Design for Efficient AI Systems |
| Oct 26 | Zoran Tiganj | Understanding and Improving AI Models Using Insights and Tools from Cognitive Science |
| Nov 02 | Jackson Mowry | Accelerating Training and Inference of Spiking Neural Networks |
| Nov 09 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm | Soham Das | TBD |
| Nov 16 | Caleb Ju | TBD |
| Samuel Olatunji | From Foundation Models to Assistive Robots: Enabling Independent Living for Older Adults with Vision Impairment | |
| Nov 23 | Konstantinos D. Vogiatzis | Learning Molecular Physics: from Interatomic to Interelectronic Interactions |
| Nov 30 | Bipin Tiwari | Flow Matching for Reliable Non-Intrusive Reduced-Order Modeling of MHD Flows |
Organizers
Participate
Graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and research staff from UTK, ORNL, and neighboring institutions are warmly invited to participate. You are welcome to attend sessions, present completed or ongoing research, discuss emerging ideas, or suggest a topic or speaker. Talks may feature new methods, tools, datasets, applications, or recent papers within the meetup's scope.
Complete the interest form to receive announcements, indicate your interest in attending, or propose a presentation. Completing the form is encouraged but not required to attend.
Please check this page for schedule updates.