CENIC 2026 Conference | CENIC Events

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Sunday, March 29, 2026

△

1:30 - 4:30 pm

Workshop

Windjammer 1-4

Center for Internet Security Workshop: Critical Security Controls and Benchmarks

Charity Otwell , Phil White

This two-part hands-on workshop will introduce attendees to the Center for Internet Security’s CIS Critical Security Controls and CIS Benchmarks, a set of globally recognized best practices and tools for securing IT systems and data.

IMPORTANT: Sign up here in advance

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The first part of the workshop will introduce you to the CIS Critical Security Controls themselves as well as the CIS Controls Navigator and the CIS Controls Self Assessment Tool (CIS CSAT), which can help you map the Critical Security Controls to other security standards and automate the tracking and prioritization of your implementation of the CIS Controls, respectively.

The second part of the workshop will introduce you to the CIS Benchmarks, which consist of over 100 community-developed secure configuration recommendations for more than 25 vendor product families. These Benchmarks map directly to the CIS Critical Security Controls and are designed to harden organizations' technologies against cyberattacks.

Workshop Details (PDF)

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Cross-Segment

CybersecurityWorkshop

3:00 - 5:30 pm

Regency Foyer

Attendee Check-in

Welcome

Monday, March 30, 2026

△

7:30 - 8:30 am

Regency Foyer

Monday Breakfast

Meal/Break/Reception

7:30 - 8:30 am

Regency Foyer

Ask a CENIC Engineer

Community Engagement

8:30 - 8:45 am

Regency Grand Ballroom

Welcome & Announcements

Louis Fox , Jeffrey Weekley

Welcome

8:45 - 9:45 am

Keynote

Regency Grand Ballroom

AI Infrastructure for All

Frank Würthwein

CENIC AIR is now close to 2 years old. CENIC helped add an “AI Education” identity to what started as a "research platform” and, within the last year, expanded us into a driver of economic impact through engagement among community colleges, CSUs, and their local industries. In this presentation, we will start with the premise and rationale for “Why CENIC AIR?”, followed by an update on where we are now and a bit of an outlook for what’s next. We will convince you that, in the end, it’s all about social mobility and spreading AI education and experiential learning that prepares students for good jobs in their communities across all of California. We will describe how CENIC AIR, and on a national scale, the National Research Platform, advances the scientific, societal, and economic impact of higher education on the nation, and how your institution can be part of this exciting endeavor.

Future network and wireless technologiesInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

9:45 - 10:30 am

Plenary

Regency Grand Ballroom

Beyond Connectivity and Access: Operationalizing Networks and Platforms as AI Innovation Infrastructure

İlkay Altıntaş

As artificial intelligence becomes integral to scientific discovery, education, and societal decision-making, connectivity and access alone are no longer sufficient. Research and education networks must evolve from transport layers into active layers of innovation and AI infrastructure, integrating deeply with data platforms, computing resources, and operational workflows. Framed through the lens of societal computing and innovation, the talk will discuss how networks and platforms together enable AI systems that are usable, trustworthy, and impactful at scale. Operational examples from the WIFIRE Program will illustrate how AI-enabled workflows and digital twins support time-critical wildfire response, prescribed fire planning, smoke management, and science-informed decision-making.

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These use cases demonstrate that AI innovations become more effective when data movement, computation, and human decision loops are tightly coupled through shared infrastructure. The talk will also highlight the National Data Platform (NDP) as a composable, AI-ready ecosystem that federates data, compute, and reusable digital assets across the research landscape. By partnering with national platforms like the NDP, research and education networks like CENIC can accelerate innovation by extending AI infrastructure directly into campuses, classrooms, and operational agencies. Together, networks and platforms become the enabling fabric for scalable innovation, supporting reproducible science, workforce development, and broad access to AI capabilities needed to address society’s most pressing challenges.

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Future network and wireless technologiesInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

10:30 - 11:00 am

Plenary

Regency Grand Ballroom

Meet the Speakers

Future network and wireless technologiesInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

11:00 - 11:15 am

Regency Foyer

Ask a CENIC Engineer

Community Engagement

11:00 - 11:15 am

Regency Foyer

Break

Meal/Break/Reception

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Lecture

Regency Grand Ballroom

Case Studies of Research Areas that Have Been Advanced Using AI/ML Enabled by CENIC AIR

Larry Smarr

CENIC AIR storage and computing resources are being used to investigate how AI/ML algorithms can be applied to a wide range of disciplines. Examples are drawn from the research projects of several CENIC AIR users across disciplines as diverse as astrophysics, climate change, healthcare, finance, precision agriculture, and conservation genomics. This session will highlight research use cases from CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Fullerton, CSU Northridge, Cal Poly Humboldt, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, as well as from Caltech, UC San Diego, and UC Riverside.

California University

Innovative applications

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Lecture

Regency Rooms 1-3

MS-ISAC in Action: How Schools Are Building Real Cyber Resilience

Geoff Belleau , Robert Kwon , Terry Loftus , Luis Wong

Cybersecurity risks continue to grow across California’s education ecosystem, and schools are increasingly turning to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) as a trusted resource for threat intelligence, monitoring, and incident response. This session will introduce MS-ISAC’s role in protecting state, local, Tribal, and territorial agencies, with a focus on the free tools, services, and support available to K–12 institutions and other government agencies.

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Participants will hear directly from districts and county offices that have actively used MS-ISAC resources—such as endpoint monitoring, threat feeds, vulnerability scanning, and the 24/7 security operations center—to strengthen their security posture. Panelists will share what prompted them to engage with MS-ISAC, the onboarding experience, the challenges they faced, and the practical lessons they learned along the way.

The goal is to provide attendees with a clear understanding of what MS-ISAC can offer, how to utilize its no-cost services, and how real schools have leveraged these tools to detect threats earlier, respond more effectively, and build long-term cyber resilience. The session will also open the floor for audience Q&A, inviting participants to share experiences, ask technical questions, and gather actionable next steps.

Whether your organization is just getting started or looking to deepen its cybersecurity strategy, this conversation will highlight accessible, proven approaches to reducing risk and protecting critical educational infrastructure.

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California K-12California LibraryGovernment

Cybersecurity

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Panel

Regency Rooms 4-6

Building an Interoperable Private Cellular Future Together for Science: How can we leverage neutral host and new technology?

Brian Ladrido , Jonathan Polly , Andrew Wiedlea

The I2 NET+ Kajeet service offers a new and exciting prospect for research universities to deploy alternatives to traditional Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS). In addition to allowing these institutions to deploy a single set of owned Access Points using non-commercial-carrier-owned spectrum, Multi-Core Neutral Host offers universities the opportunity to operate their own dedicated cellular data networks, supporting a full range of AI, IoT, and edge compute capabilities. In addition, as a set of institutions take up this technology, the possibility of adding cellular capabilities to wireless data-sharing environments like eduroam emerges.

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GovernmentCross-Segment

Future network and wireless technologies

12:20 - 12:50 pm

Lecture

Regency Grand Ballroom

Bridging the Digital Divide: Strategic Partnerships Between State Government and Telecom Geeks

Gary Getchell , Erik Hunsinger , Ron Hutchins , Tori McDonald , Jim Morris , Matt Rantanen

As communities across the nation grapple with persistent broadband gaps, state and local governments increasingly recognize that political will alone cannot solve complex infrastructure challenges. This session explores the critical partnership model between public sector leaders and telecommunications technology specialists—a collaboration essential for transforming connectivity aspirations into operational reality.

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Local governments bring intimate knowledge of community needs, regulatory authority, and access to funding mechanisms, yet lack the technical expertise to evaluate fiber versus fixed wireless solutions, assess middle-mile infrastructure requirements, or navigate the complexities of network architecture. This session will examine successful partnership frameworks where technical advisors work with the State of California.

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Cross-Segment

Equitable access / digital literacy and fluency

12:20 - 12:50 pm

Lecture Panel

Regency Rooms 1-3

How Ventura County Library enhanced Community Connection with eduroam

Amanda Armitage , Nancy Schram , Timothy Tuitama , Mike Zawacki

Eduroam, short for education roaming, is a secure, worldwide Wi-Fi service that enables students, researchers, and staff from participating institutions to connect to the internet seamlessly while visiting other member locations. Instead of creating guest accounts or going through additional authentication steps, users simply log in with their home institution credentials. This provides a consistent, safe, and reliable wireless experience across thousands of campuses, libraries, and research centers worldwide.

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This session will highlight eduroam’s role in supporting global mobility and digital access, as well as the steps Ventura County Library (VCL) took to bring this powerful resource to its community. Recognizing the growing need for dependable connectivity among local and visiting students, VCL integrated eduroam into its existing free Wi-Fi system. Today, all 12 VCL branches, along with the Mobile Library, offer eduroam as part of their public wireless networks. This integration allows students to move between campuses and library branches without disrupting their online work, supporting both academic continuity and digital equity.

Ventura County Library is currently the only public library system in California providing eduroam’s seamless academic network access. The early impact has been significant. Since launching the service in August 2024, more than 2,000 students have connected through VCL’s eduroam network. These users represent nearly 30 universities from 10 different countries, reflecting both the global reach of the eduroam community and the diverse population served by Ventura County libraries. By adopting eduroam, VCL has strengthened community connectivity and expanded support for students who rely on safe, stable, and secure academic internet access.

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California UniversityCalifornia Library

Community EngagementCybersecurityEquitable access / digital literacy and fluencyFuture network and wireless technologiesStatewide, national, and global collaborations

12:20 - 12:50 pm

Lecture

Regency Rooms 4-6

Creating a Secure Science DMZ on your campus for NRP/CENIC AIR

Scott Claverie

Chico State recently connected its campus network through a Science DMZ to support high-performance computing for teaching, learning, and research. These resources were integrated with the National Research Platform (NRP) through the CENIC Artificial Intelligence Resource (CENIC AIR). Because CENIC provides connectivity to both the Internet and NRP access over the same circuit, it was essential to ensure that traffic between the two networks could never intersect, thereby eliminating any risk of cross-network vulnerabilities.

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In this presentation, we will explain how Chico State designed a network that safely and securely meets two distinct requirements over a single circuit. This architecture satisfies the stringent security standards of an ISO audit and minimizes risk for users on both networks.

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California UniversityCalifornia Community CollegeGovernmentCorporateNationalInternational

CybersecurityFuture network and wireless technologiesStatewide, national, and global collaborations

12:50 - 1:55 pm

Garden Courtyard

Monday Lunch

Meal/Break/Reception

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Panel

Regency Grand Ballroom

CSU’s OpenAI Rollout Experience

Kendra Ard , Ed Clark , Matt Hughes , Felix Zuniga

What does it take to implement generative AI tools across one of the largest higher education systems in the country? The California State University (CSU) system completed the largest deployment of generative AI tools in U.S. higher education in 2025. This panel will share lessons learned from the systemwide deployment of ChatGPT across 23 campuses, supporting more than 460,000 students and over 50,000 faculty and staff. Panelists will share what has worked, and what hasn’t from three lenses: strategic, technical, and human-centered.

California University

Equitable access / digital literacy and fluencyInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Panel

Regency Rooms 1-3

Inside E-Rate Category 2 Success: Strategic Lessons for 2026 and Beyond

Claude Castillo , Jarrid Keller , Kevin Nelson , Beverly Sutherland

Public libraries across California are demonstrating that E-Rate Category 2 is no longer just a compliance-driven funding mechanism; it is a strategic investment tool for building resilient, future-ready technology infrastructure. Yet many library systems have historically hesitated to pursue Category 2 funding due to program complexity and compliance considerations under the Children’s Internet Safety Act (CIPA).

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This expert-led panel brings together California library leaders, including the San Diego County Library, the Sacramento Public Library, and the San Joaquin Valley Library System, who have successfully leveraged E-Rate Category 2 funding to modernize internal network infrastructure while aligning those upgrades with increased broadband capacity.

Panelists will share strategic, real-world lessons on assessing infrastructure needs, coordinating equipment upgrades with high-capacity broadband circuits, aligning local procurement and board approval processes with E-Rate rules, and building organizational and community support for CIPA compliance. The discussion will also address project governance, vendor selection, implementation timelines, and long-term sustainability.

With a new Category 2 budget cycle underway, this session reframes E-Rate as a forward-looking planning tool for 2026 and beyond, equipping library leaders with practical insights and peer-tested strategies to confidently use E-Rate to expand digital access, strengthen networks, and better serve their communities.

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California LibraryGovernment

Equitable access / digital literacy and fluencyFuture network and wireless technologiesWorkshop

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Workshop

Regency Rooms 4-6

Email Authentication with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC

Logan Turner, CISSP

This presentation provides an overview of email authentication using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and how they work together to protect organizations from spoofing, phishing, and domain abuse. It explains the role of SPF in validating authorized sending servers, DKIM in ensuring message integrity through cryptographic signatures, and DMARC in enforcing policy and providing visibility through reporting.

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Session highlights common limitations of individual controls, the importance of alignment, and best practice deployment strategies that start in monitoring mode and gradually move to enforcement. It also outlines how Proofpoint enhances email security through advanced threat detection, DMARC visibility, spoofing protection, and automated remediation, helping organizations protect their brand and improve email trust.

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California UniversityCalifornia Community CollegeCalifornia K-12California Library

CybersecurityWorkshop

3:05 - 4:05 pm

Lecture

Regency Rooms 1-3

Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI are Here to Stay, and Public Libraries Must Thoughtfully Address Their Use

Mike Dawe , Jarrid Keller , Donna Ohr

Beyond staff guidelines, how can libraries help users prepare for a world shaped by AI? Libraries should prioritize educating the public about artificial intelligence, recognizing it as a critical component of modern digital literacy. This session will explore strategies for balancing internal staff policies with public engagement, while emphasizing the value of sharing experiences and learning from colleagues.

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This session explores the development of staff-focused AI policies that offer clear guidance on ethical, legal, and limited use, in collaboration with IT departments. It also examines the challenges of creating public-facing guidelines, given libraries’ commitment to open access and intellectual freedom.

The presenter, new to working with AI, will share insights from an ongoing learning process, acknowledging that AI policy is an evolving area for libraries and professionals alike.

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California Library

Equitable access / digital literacy and fluency

3:05 - 4:05 pm

Lecture

Regency Rooms 4-6

Lessons Learning: Building a Shared Cyberinfrastructure Across the CSU with TIDE

Gerard Au , Mike Farley

The Technology Infrastructure for Data Exploration (TIDE) project (NSF #2346701) received CENIC’s 2024 Innovations in Networking Award for Equitable Access to Cyberinfrastructure. This session highlights how TIDE has strengthened research collaboration across the California State University (CSU) system by leveraging CENIC AIR and the National Research Platform (NRP). Through this partnership, TIDE delivers a powerful shared cyberinfrastructure that connects CSU campuses, enabling researchers to access high-performance computing and data resources more equitably and efficiently.

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The presentation will outline TIDE’s design, implementation, and operational model, emphasizing lessons learned in building and sustaining multi-campus cyberinfrastructure. It will also address strategies for governance, support, and scalability across diverse institutional environments.

Additionally, TIDE has served as a catalyst for further innovation – most notably a collaboration among San Diego State University (SDSU), the CSU, and CENIC to upgrade SDSU’s research Science DMZ network to 800 Gb. This enhancement significantly improves data transfer capabilities for scientific research, better positioning researchers to participate in data-intensive collaborations statewide and beyond.

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California University

Innovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

4:05 - 4:25 pm

Regency Foyer

Ask a CENIC Engineer

Community Engagement

4:05 - 4:25 pm

Regency Foyer

Break

Meal/Break/Reception

4:30 - 5:00 pm

Lecture

Regency Grand Ballroom

Minds in the Vines: Technology of the CENIC-Empowered Drones, Cameras, and LoRaWAN Sensors at the Iron Horse Vineyards Testbed

Thomas DeFanti , John Graham

Iron Horse Vineyards will serve as a test-bed living laboratory for agricultural research and education, working with CENIC; faculty and staff from UC San Diego and its San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC); UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR); Sonoma State University; and Santa Rosa Junior College, as well as with AT&T, Emergent, and other private entities. First conceived in December 2024, this project will use information from vines, soil, and air to improve output and increase the sustainability of the vineyards.

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Multiple technical milestones had to be achieved in 2025 for the project to transmit data, as it has begun to do. These include completion of a last-mile fiber connection to the vineyards; the testing and installation of a 10-Gigabit per second (Gbps) CENIC router at the Iron Horse computer room; the installation of the initial round of soil, temperature, fog/rain, and CO2 sensors; and in-flight drone and ground-level ebike ultra-high-resolution multi-spectral video capture.

This living laboratory utilizes a range of sensors to measure air and soil temperatures, moisture levels, and soil acidity in the vineyards. Many of the sensors are connected via a low-power, long-range wide-area network (LoRaWAN), which is ideal for large rural areas that require long-range, low-power transmissions. LoRaWAN devices can operate for years on batteries and support a large number of Internet of Things devices, making them effective for agricultural use. Also discussed are the challenges in creating a virtual replica of the vineyards, built from multi-spectral, high-resolution drone and 360-degree camera videos.

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California University

Future network and wireless technologiesInnovative applications

4:30 - 5:00 pm

Lecture

Regency Rooms 1-3

CENIC: Campus Network as a Service

Robert Kwon

CENIC will present an in-depth look at our Campus Network as a Service (CNaaS) offering, showcasing how we can help member institutions modernize their campus networks by leveraging CENIC’s enterprise designs, 24/7 support, and economies of scale. The session will provide an overview of the technical architecture, current progress, schedule, and the value CNaaS offers to participating institutions.

Future network and wireless technologies

4:30 - 5:00 pm

Lecture

Regency Rooms 4-6

AI, American Science Cloud, and the Genesis Mission

Chin Guok

Imagine a future where science moves exponentially faster, condensing years of discovery into days or hours. AI has already accelerated isolated breakthroughs in fields like astronomy, genomics, and materials science, but these efforts remain fragmented across independent research groups. The Department of Energy (DOE) aims to revolutionize the scientific process through the American Science Cloud (AmSC) project, as mandated by the OBBB Act. AmSC is an AI-focused, federated, and science-optimized cloud infrastructure designed to integrate data, models, and high-performance computing resources across DOE's leading facilities. This unified platform will accelerate mission delivery, enable AI to run where data is generated, and allow workflows to transition seamlessly, ultimately optimizing performance, accountability, and cost. The AmSC project is a key component of the broader Genesis Mission, which seeks to double the productivity and impact of research and development in the United States within a decade. This presentation will explore the vision, architecture, and scope of the American Science Cloud in driving AI-driven science and innovation, and provide an insight into the Genesis Mission.

GovernmentCross-Segment

Statewide, national, and global collaborations

5:05 - 5:50 pm

Windjammer 1-4

K12 & Libraries Meeting

Cathy Benham , Timothy Chia , Stella Kwon

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This birds-of-a-feather session brings together K-12 leaders and library community members to navigate the evolving landscape of subsidy programs. We will discuss the E-rate and California Teleconnect Fund (CTF) subsidy programs, focusing on recent developments. It is a great opportunity to get to know our community members and network!

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California K-12California Library

Community Engagement

6:00 - 8:00 pm

Garden Courtyard

Cocktails, Dinner & Networking

Meal/Break/Reception

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

△

7:30 - 8:30 am

Regency Foyer

Ask a CENIC Engineer

Community Engagement

7:30 - 8:30 am

Regency Foyer

Tuesday Breakfast

Meal/Break/Reception

8:30 - 8:40 am

Regency Grand Ballroom

Announcements

Welcome

8:40 - 9:40 am

Panel Plenary

Regency Grand Ballroom

Disaster Backup, Resiliency, and Emergency Response

Roger Blake , Louis Fox , Marla Meehl , Garret Yoshimi

As California faces increasing threats from wildfires, earthquakes, floods, and other climate-driven disasters, equitable access to reliable broadband has become a matter of public safety and resilience. This panel examines strategies to ensure that every community—whether urban, rural, low-income, affluent, Tribal, or coastal—can remain connected before, during, and after emergencies.

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Panelists will examine how resilient infrastructure, targeted funding, and community-centered planning can bridge broadband gaps that threaten disaster preparedness and response. Discussions will highlight promising approaches for building redundancy and backup systems that can sustain communication when conventional networks fail, enabling communities to receive emergency alerts, connect to 911, and access critical recovery resources.

The session will also address how we think about collecting vital data from natural systems through regional science-based projects, which groups need to plan resilient networks and prioritize redundancy to reduce vulnerability during outages. Real-world examples include fire and earthquake early warning integration, decentralized communication hubs, and local data collection for monitoring natural systems.

By bringing together stakeholders, emergency managers, and technologists, this panel advances a shared vision for equitable digital resilience where broadband access is not only a convenience but a lifeline that supports safety, equity, and climate adaptation across the state.

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GovernmentNationalCross-Segment

Community EngagementFuture network and wireless technologiesInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

9:45 - 10:45 am

Panel

Regency Grand Ballroom

Bridging the Digital Divide: Empowering Youth for a Digital Future

Danny Allen , Terry Loftus , Matt Rantanen , Raul Rincon

As technology reshapes every aspect of modern life, the digital divide continues to widen, leaving many young people without equitable access to the skills, tools, and resources they need to thrive. Ensuring that the current generation is prepared for the realities of a digital world with the advent of AI has never been more urgent. This session explores strategies to bridge the widening digital divide by focusing on access, skills, and community-driven support systems.

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Participants will examine effective models that expand affordable broadband, provide appropriate devices, and build the foundational elements of digital equity. The discussion will highlight how Research and Education Networks (RENs) play a pivotal role strengthening this ecosystem by supporting infrastructure, fostering community partnerships, and advancing user-centered initiatives that empower learners by building confidence and agency, especially in marginalized communities.

Through a K–12 user-centered design lens, one can consider approaches to creating accessible, collaborative online experiences that meet learners where they are. It also underscores the importance of community partnerships, practical frameworks, and collaborative models that can help ensure every child, regardless of background or geography, has the tools, skills, and support to thrive in an expanding digital culture. By integrating inclusive design, technical support, and local engagement, this session offers actionable insights into how technologists and community leaders can prepare the next generation to participate fully and confidently in an expanding digital culture.

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California K-12Cross-Segment

Community EngagementEquitable access / digital literacy and fluency

10:45 - 11:00 am

Regency Foyer

Break

Meal/Break/Reception

10:45 - 11:00 am

Regency Foyer

Ask a CENIC Engineer

Community Engagement

10:45 - 11:00 am

Regency Grand Ballroom

Meet the Speakers

Community Engagement

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Lecture

Regency Grand Ballroom

Building The Future of California's Responsible AI Workforce: Digital Literacy Beyond Technical Skills

Deb Donig

As AI systems become embedded in educational institutions, healthcare, and public services across California, digital literacy can no longer mean simply knowing how to use technology. This session presents findings from NSF-funded research that tracks the responsible technology workforce from 2021 to 2025, revealing how the skills needed to work ethically with AI have dramatically shifted—and what this means for California's research and education communities.

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Drawing on analysis of over 5,700 job postings and interviews with practitioners, this presentation documents the transformation of AI ethics roles and explores what "digital literacy" must encompass in an AI-saturated environment. Beyond technical proficiency, students and professionals now need critical evaluation skills: the ability to interrogate algorithmic systems, understand their limitations, and recognize their social implications.

The session offers practical frameworks that California's diverse R&E institutions can implement to develop both technical capabilities and reflexive thinking about algorithmic systems. Particular attention will be given to the implications of equity in the context of the digital divide—ensuring that access to AI tools is accompanied by the literacy to understand, critique, and shape these technologies, especially for historically marginalized communities who are often most impacted by algorithmic decision-making and frequently have the least power to challenge or change it.

Attendees will leave with actionable strategies for workforce development and curriculum design that prepare the next generation not just to use AI, but to build and govern it responsibly.

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Cross-Segment

Equitable access / digital literacy and fluency

11:00 - 11:30 am

Lecture Panel

Regency Rooms 1-3

Supporting HL-LHC Networking Operations

Eli Dart

The Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) is a high-performance, unclassified network built to support scientific research for the Department of Energy (DOE). ESnet provides advanced networking services to more than 50 DOE research sites, including the entire national laboratory system, its supercomputing facilities, and its major scientific instruments.

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The Department of Energy (DOE) supports research at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN as part of its High Energy Physics (HEP) program. ESnet is responsible for ensuring mission success by facilitating data mobility to the worldwide collaboration. LHC Run 4, also referred to as the "High Luminosity" era of the project, is expected to start in 2030, following a multi-year shutdown to upgrade equipment that begins in 2026.

ESnet is working with regional networks and campuses that support LHC Tier-centers to prepare for this new era of operation that will see increased experimentation, expanding data volumes, and a greater collaboration space. This talk will outline some of the recent findings of a review of the HEP program, as well as the results of the recent DC (Data Challenge) activities, a set of tests meant to stress networks for the increased data volumes. We will end with a set of steps the community should be prepared for in the coming years, including the DC27 exercises.

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California UniversityGovernmentNationalInternational

Community EngagementFuture network and wireless technologiesInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

11:35 am - 12:05 pm

Lecture

Regency Rooms 1-3

SCinet Unites at SC26: Community and Innovation in Chicago, IL

Jennifer Kim , Jason Zurawski

SCinet, the dedicated network developed and built to support the annual Supercomputing conference, is more than just providing reliable network connectivity. Each year, over 200 volunteers from more than 100 international organizations come together to collaborate and construct the world's most powerful and advanced temporary network. SCinet supports the needs of the industrial, academic, and governmental participants and use cases that encompass the week-long SC Conference and will once again be built for SC26 in Chicago later this year. This nexus of high-performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis communities routinely and rigorously pushes the boundaries of networking technologies, encouraging ingenious approaches to operation and research.

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In November 2026, SC26 will convene in Chicago, Illinois, aiming to break several records by supporting innovative research projects, adopting advanced technology, and training the workforce of tomorrow. SCinet will also work with leading figures in the Chicago community to address gaps in technology availability and education, with a vision for growing expertise, improving infrastructure, and potentially expanding it. In its essential role at the annual SC Conference, SCinet unites the R&E community. Moreover, SCinet creates an unmatched environment for volunteers, users, and researchers to experience the design, build, configuration, and operation of a world-class network that supports the global R&E community, providing lasting lessons shared among their home institutions and collaborators. Join this session to hear more about the evolution of community initiatives and their impact.

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California UniversityGovernmentCorporateNationalInternational

Community EngagementCybersecurityFuture network and wireless technologiesInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

11:35 am - 12:05 pm

Demonstration Lecture

Regency Rooms 4-6

The Stanford Wi-Fi Transformation: From Legacy to Learning AI

Rowell Dionicio

Stanford University’s wireless network is a critical foundation for research, teaching, operations, and student life. What began as a traditional controller-based Cisco WLAN has evolved into a cloud-managed, AI-driven platform designed for automation, telemetry, and user experience at scale. This session will walk through Stanford’s journey from legacy Wi-Fi architecture to a modern wireless strategy built on Juniper Mist.

California University

Future network and wireless technologies

12:05 - 2:15 pm

Regency Terrace & Ballroom

Innovations in Networking Awards Luncheon

Luncheon has been moved to the Regency Terrace & Ballroom.

Meal/Break/Reception

2:20 - 3:05 pm

Panel

Regency Grand Ballroom

Enabling Data-Driven Agriculture at Iron Horse Vineyards

Thomas DeFanti , Jacob Gonsalves , Sara Kassis , Joseph Ording , Roya Salek , Joy Sterling

What if the soil in the remote and hilly terrain of a vineyard could regularly deliver data on its moisture and health? And what if quickly gathered data from every cluster of grapes could tell a vintner when it is time to harvest them? And what is the value of comparing all that data from year to year? Sensor technology linked to CENIC AIR makes all of that possible today. The challenge is to collate the disparate sources of data that emanate from a vineyard to provide continuous, actionable information.

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This challenge is being addressed by an innovative demonstration project, fueled by CENIC and its collaborative partners, which features a novel model of precision agriculture in vineyards.

The project was launched on the site of Iron Horse Vineyards, located near Sebastopol, California. Working with second-generation vineyards owner Joy Sterling, a leading proponent of broadband connectivity for the nation’s agricultural fields, CENIC is serving as the primary convenor of the varied expertise needed to realize this project.

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California University

Community EngagementInnovative applications

2:20 - 3:05 pm

Lecture Roundtable discussion

Regency Rooms 1-3

Trust & Transparency:  Start a Conversation, not an Accusation

Mike Lawrence

When teachers quietly use AI but expect students to disclose every prompt, trust erodes. This session dives into how educators can model transparency, foster digital integrity, and build cultures of trust around AI use. The co-presenters bring classroom, coaching, and leadership voices and will share real stories, creative tensions, and lessons learned while confronting bias and bridging digital divides. Attendees will join the conversation through live polls, chat prompts, and Q&A sparks. Walk away with practical, ready-to-use ideas for creating equitable, trustworthy, and future-ready learning spaces in an AI-powered world.

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Participants will explore how modeling AI transparency builds trust, promotes equity, and empowers educators and students to engage ethically, reflectively, and collaboratively in an AI-driven world with actionable frameworks they could use immediately, whether they are a teacher, coach, site or district leader.

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California K-12National

Community EngagementInnovative applications

2:20 - 3:05 pm

Lecture Roundtable discussion

Regency Rooms 4-6

Networking and Cybersecurity Virtual Training Labs: A Collaboration Supporting MSIs

Jennifer Kim

This session will explore the challenges faced by campuses in supporting networks for research and education activities, in addition to the impact of introducing advanced network technologies supporting enhanced performance and data movement. MS-CC, a consortium of IT professionals, leaders, faculty, researchers, and students from our nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), and minority-serving institutions (MSIs), set out to promote advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) and advanced technologies that strengthen research and education capacity on their campuses.

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A shared need among engaged institutions is access to professional development opportunities and creative ways to leverage advanced tools and platforms that an under-resourced institution may not be able to sustain on its own. The Cyberinfrastructure Lab at the University of South Carolina answered the call to action and made their robust virtual cybertraining platform available to MS-CC institutions. Join this session to learn about customized collaborative offerings in topics such as Science DMZs, workload offloading, data movement, and more. Additionally, you'll get a glimpse into the platform and how it enhances both workforce development and the classroom.

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California UniversityCalifornia Community CollegeCalifornia LibraryCultural OrganizationNational

Community EngagementEquitable access / digital literacy and fluencyStatewide, national, and global collaborations

3:10 - 3:55 pm

Panel

Regency Grand Ballroom

2030 and Beyond: A Collaborative Vision for California’s Digital Future

Rowland Baker , Geoff Belleau , Mike Lawrence , Matt Rantanen , Jeffrey Weekley

California is on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation opportunity. With the statewide middle-mile network to be completed by 2027/28, the next five years present a unique moment to rethink what’s possible for connectivity across every school, library, and community anchor institution. This session brings together a future-focused panel of education and broadband leaders to explore a bold question: if California had the digital infrastructure we’ve always needed, what could we build on top of it?

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Rather than presenting a fixed roadmap, this conversation invites the audience to participate in a collaborative visioning exercise. Panelists will outline a proposed statewide goal—achieving fiber connectivity to all feasible school sites and anchor institutions by 2030—and then open the floor for participants to help shape the next steps. A key part of this future includes thinking AI, as artificial intelligence potentially reshapes every sector of the workforce. That disruption will cascade into higher education’s role in talent development and, ultimately, the expectations placed on K–12 systems to prepare students for an AI-saturated world.

From resilient last-mile strategies, to community innovation zones, to new models for closing the digital divide and AI-ready learning environments, we’ll ask attendees to think big, challenge assumptions, and imagine how California can lead the nation in educational and civic connectivity.

This interactive session is designed to be energizing and grounded in real possibility. Together, we’ll sketch the next chapter of California’s digital future and the steps needed to make it real.

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California K-12California LibraryGovernmentCross-Segment

Equitable access / digital literacy and fluencyFuture network and wireless technologiesInnovative applications

3:10 - 3:55 pm

Demonstration

Regency Rooms 1-3

Establishing Continuous Automated Penetration Testing

David Han , Philip Romero

This session will highlight how NodeZero’s automated penetration testing platform enables our team to continuously validate controls across diverse environments with minimal disruption. We will walk through our assessment lifecycle from asset scoping and multiple IP device challenges to executing tests, analyzing exploit chains, and prioritizing remediation based on actual attacker pathways. Real examples from our deployments will illustrate how NodeZero uncovers misconfigurations, weak credentials, and privilege escalation routes that traditional scanners often miss.

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Attendees will gain insight into the value of automated adversary simulation as part of a continuous monitoring model and how this approach helps ensure operational readiness.

This presentation is designed for technical staff, leadership, and partner organizations seeking to understand how CENIC proactively reduces risk and improves defensive posture through automated, data-driven security validation.

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California UniversityCalifornia Community CollegeCalifornia K-12California Library

CybersecurityDemo

3:10 - 3:55 pm

Lecture

Regency Rooms 4-6

A Tale of Two Industroyers: An Overview of the Security of Physical Critical Infrastructure Systems

Alvaro Cardenas

In this talk, we introduce industrial control system networks and their unique features when compared to classical IT systems. We then discuss the risks and attacks targeting these systems, with a particular focus on the first pieces of malware that created power grid blackouts by examining the payload of Industroyer 1 and Industroyer 2 in depth. Our findings include new malware behavior that was not previously documented, the software bugs of the malware, and the evolution of attacks against the power grid. We end our talk by discussing how similar malware may evolve in the future and the risks they pose to the power grid.

California University

Cybersecurity

3:55 - 4:15 pm

Regency Foyer

Break

Meal/Break/Reception

3:55 - 4:15 pm

Regency Foyer

Ask a CENIC Engineer

Community Engagement

4:20 - 4:50 pm

Demonstration Lecture

Regency Rooms 1-3

Human Bandwidth in a Hyper-Connected World

Roy Sims

We have logged more data, deployed more devices, and built more connectivity than ever before, yet many students and educators report rising anxiety, fragmented attention, and declining outcomes in subject learning. This invites an important reflection: in an always-connected world, how do we strengthen the human capacity to stay present, regulated, and truly engaged?

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In this interactive session, participants will explore the concept of human bandwidth: the inner capacity to focus, self-regulate, connect, and create in high-stimulation, technology-rich environments. Particular attention is given to the role of dopamine-driven reward cycles created by constant notifications, scrolling, and digital stimulation, and how these patterns can impact attention, motivation, and emotional regulation.

Drawing parallels between digital networks and the human nervous system, this session introduces simple, practical strategies to help reset cognitive and emotional balance. Participants will be guided through light movement, brief breathing techniques, and reflective prompts, followed by facilitated discussion. These approachable practices can be used in classrooms, administrative spaces, and daily routines to support clarity, resilience, and more conscious interaction with technology.

The session also introduces the emerging concept of technology-supported wellness rooms as a supplemental resource in schools and organizations. These spaces may integrate gentle lighting, calming sound, biofeedback tools, and guided digital content to support short, structured resets, helping students and staff return to learning and work with greater balance and focus.

This experience bridges neuroscience, mindfulness, spatial design, and educational technology, offering a powerful, human-centered approach to thriving in a hyper-connected world.

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California UniversityCalifornia Community CollegeCalifornia K-12California LibraryCultural OrganizationGovernmentCorporateNationalInternationalCross-Segment

Community EngagementStatewide, national, and global collaborations

4:20 - 4:50 pm

Lecture

Regency Rooms 4-6

Home-Grown Science DMZs: From Zero to 800G

Anthony Harris

Science DMZs are no longer reserved for major research institutions or large projects consisting of dozens of compute nodes. Thanks to the proliferation of platforms such as CENIC AIR and the National Research Platform, building out Science DMZ infrastructure is now more accessible and important than ever. This session highlights how institutions can build their Science DMZ from the ground up for a minimal cost, as well as future technology and high-speed network deployments up to 800G for Science DMZs.

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This presentation will outline San Diego State University’s design for a beginner Science DMZ, the associated growing pains, and the collaboration with CENIC engineering to build an 800G Science DMZ for enhanced connectivity to CENIC AIR and the National Research Platform. It will address the design considerations, issues encountered along the way, and ultimately the application and future growth of a powerful resource in a research environment.

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California University

Future network and wireless technologiesInnovative applications

4:55 - 5:25 pm

Roundtable discussion

Windjammer 1-4

C2TAG Biennial Review

Stanley Han , Philip Romero

Be part of an open and collaborative conversation about the CENIC Community Technology Affinity Group. We’ll reflect on what we’ve achieved, discuss what’s ahead, review updates to the C2TAG charter, and invite interested members to join the steering committee. You’ll also hear about new CENIC Security offerings, several of which were developed directly in response to feedback from C2TAG meetings. Together, we’ll shape how C2TAG can better serve the CENIC community.

Cross-Segment

Community EngagementCybersecurityEquitable access / digital literacy and fluencyFuture network and wireless technologiesInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

5:30 - 7:00 pm

Regency Foyer

Reception

Come network with your colleagues. Appetizers and cocktails will be available while you mingle.

Meal/Break/Reception

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

△

7:00 - 8:00 am

Regency Foyer

Ask a CENIC Engineer

Community Engagement

7:00 - 8:00 am

Regency Foyer

Wednesday Breakfast

Meal/Break/Reception

8:00 - 8:10 am

Regency Grand Ballroom

Announcements

Welcome

8:10 - 9:10 am

Panel Plenary

Regency Grand Ballroom

Federal Regulatory Update: E-Rate, School Bus WiFi/Hotspots, Universal Service Reform

Rachelle Chong , Kristen Corra , Philip Neufeld , Beverly Sutherland , Luis Wong

This panel of content experts will provide attendees with an up-to-date briefing on important federal developments in networking. This session will include information on developments affecting the Universal Service Fund, including the Supreme Court victory and contribution reform status. In addition, panelists will discuss significant E-Rate developments affecting School Bus WiFi and Hotspots removal, as well as Cybersecurity pilots. Attendees can expect updates on the impacts of BEAD changes on community anchors and other federal developments impacting schools, libraries, and rural healthcare providers.

California K-12California LibraryGovernmentNational

Equitable access / digital literacy and fluencyStatewide, national, and global collaborations

9:10 - 9:25 am

Plenary

Regency Grand Ballroom

Meet the Speakers

California K-12California LibraryGovernmentNational

Equitable access / digital literacy and fluencyStatewide, national, and global collaborations

9:30 - 10:30 am

Panel

Regency Grand Ballroom

CENIC AIR and the CSUs: Case Studies and Lessons Learned

Dhusdee Chandswang , Thomas DeFanti , Mike Farley , Willie Peng , Dung Vu

Over the past three years, several California State Universities have substantially expanded CENIC AIR's AI-focused facilities and actively promoted its use by faculty and students. IT leaders at three CSUs will speak about providing JupyterHubs and other uses of CENIC AIR. They will reveal some easy buttons, talk about lessons learned, and where they go from here. Interactions with local community colleges, outreach efforts, and lessons learned as newcomers will be featured.

California University

Innovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

9:30 - 10:00 am

Lecture

Regency Rooms 1-3

CENIC Systems: Next Generation Infrastructure

Dennis Cagampan

As part of CENIC’s broader Next-Generation Infrastructure (NGI) strategy, this session will provide an inside look at how our Systems team is modernizing foundational infrastructure, transitioning from legacy platforms to cloud-integrated environments using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), IaaS/SaaS models, and automated service delivery. We’ll share lessons learned from the Systems Engineering transition and outline what’s next as we scale these efforts organization-wide.

Cross-Segment

Future network and wireless technologies

9:30 - 10:00 am

Lecture

Regency Rooms 4-6

High-Scale Routing and WAN Performance Evaluation on 400G Servers and 800G Switching Platforms

Hani Sadjadi

This study evaluates large-scale routing, Layer 2/Layer 3 throughput, and wide-area network (WAN) performance on a 400G and 800G testbed. The setup comprised two AMD-based servers connected to Arista switches via 400G-DR4 transceivers using NVIDIA 400G ConnectX-7 and ConnectX-8 NICs. FRRouting (FRR) was employed to inject 3.5 million routes, validating high-scale route handling capabilities. Traffic generation and stress testing utilized TRex for MAC flooding and Layer 2 throughput measurements, while iperf3 assessed both Layer 2 and Layer 3 throughput. WAN performance was further examined over fiber loops simulating distances of 26 miles and 1,300 miles to quantify throughput under extended latency conditions. Results highlight system scalability, network resilience, and performance considerations across local and wide-area environments, providing insights critical for next-generation high-speed backbone deployments.

California UniversityCorporateNationalInternational

Future network and wireless technologiesInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

10:05 - 10:35 am

Lecture

Regency Rooms 1-3

CENIC Falcon: Event Correlation Engine for NetOps

Bryan Barnett , Erick Sizelove

Falcon is CENIC’s new in-house alarm dashboard, designed to unify fault monitoring across network and optical domains, streamline ticket triage, and reduce alert fatigue. This presentation will walk through its development and upcoming production launch, including a possible live demo of Falcon’s intuitive UI and its ability to empower both NOC staff and engineers with more actionable insights.

Cross-Segment

Innovative applications

10:05 - 10:35 am

Lecture

Regency Rooms 4-6

The Global Network Advancement Group: A Next Generation System for Data Intensive Sciences and R&E Networks Across World Regions

Harvey Newman

The Global Network Advancement Group (GNA-G) and its Data Intensive Sciences (DIS) and SENSE/AutoGOLE Working Groups—a worldwide collaboration that brings together major science programs, research and education networks, and advanced network R&D projects spanning the U.S, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Oceania—are developing a network-integrated system to meet the challenges of data intensive sciences. The new system will pave the way for the next generation of intelligent R&E network operations and management, benefiting both network R&D and production teams and the at-large academic and research communities.

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I will present an overview of the new system concepts and architecture, and the many lines of development underway at Caltech with many partners, including the National Research Platform (NRP), as well as the Global and Americas Research Platforms. These developments are made possible by teams from CENIC, Internet2, ESnet, RNP, Rednesp, AmLight, MGHPCC, and CERN; university partners including UCSD/SDSC, UC Santa Cruz, Delaware, UMass, and several Brazilian universities (USP, UNESP, UFES, and IFES); laboratory partners including LBL and Fermilab; and many industry partners, notably Ciena, Arista, Supermicro, and Dell.

At SC25 last November, the partners, together with SCinet, fielded an unprecedented multi-Terabit-per-second intercontinental cyberinfrastructure that achieved throughput exceeding 10 Tbps during the conference. This enabled 17 groundbreaking Network Research Exhibitions, hosted by or in partnership with Caltech. Several of our teams’ demonstrations and ongoing developments include state-of-the-art programmable open-source network operating systems, layer 2 and 3 multi-domain virtual circuit overlays coupled to extensive structured use of IPv6 address spaces, novel source routing approaches to efficient flow distribution, steering and load balancing, RDMA supporting Tbps flows between continents, and stateful traffic engineering and workflow acceleration taking network segment and site state, policy, and priority and real-time SLAs into account.

While the developments and demonstrations have an initial focus on the largest data-intensive science programs and the corresponding platforms that support science collaborations spanning several world regions, such as the LHC program and the Vera Rubin Observatory, they are broadly applicable to many programs, present and future, across diverse fields of data-intensive science.

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Cross-Segment

Community EngagementFuture network and wireless technologiesInnovative applicationsStatewide, national, and global collaborations

10:35 - 10:50 am

Regency Foyer

Break

Meal/Break/Reception

10:35 - 10:50 am

Regency Foyer

Ask a CENIC Engineer

Community Engagement

10:55 - 11:55 am

Lecture Roundtable discussion

Regency Grand Ballroom

SDSC Secure: Powering Discovery, Protecting Data

Sandeep Chandra , Frank Würthwein

SDSC Secure extends the San Diego Supercomputer Center’s proven secure and compliant solutions with new resources tailored to meet evolving regulatory data requirements across the federal landscape. Built to meet the highest standards of security and compliance frameworks, the SDSC Secure portfolio of platforms provides academic, government, and industry partners with reliable hosting and data management for critical research. From genomics and cancer research to healthcare and defense data, SDSC Secure empowers organizations to advance discovery while ensuring data integrity and regulatory compliance.

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In this discussion, we will highlight our platforms that include:

Sherlock Cloud: Secure enclave for managing sensitive data that is compliant with FISMA (NIST 800-53), HIPAA (SOC2 Type2), FERPA, and CUI (NIST 800-171) requirements.

Sherlock Government Cloud: Secure enclave designed specifically to address CMMC L2 requirements for sensitive government data.

Triton Shared Compute Cluster (TSCC), Universal Scale Storage (USS): Designed for research environments that require High Performance Computing (HPC), High Throughput Computing (HTC), and scalable storage resources to support a wide range of scientific applications across diverse disciplines. Provides computing and storage resources that meet CUI (NIST SP 800-171) requirements.

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California UniversityGovernmentCorporateNational

Cybersecurity

10:55 - 11:55 am

Panel

Regency Rooms 4-6

AI-Powered Network Troubleshooting: Building the Next Generation of Operational Tools

Marc Koerner , Karl Newell

Network outages demand rapid root cause identification, but the complexity of modern distributed systems challenges even experienced engineers. This panel brings together network operators and AI practitioners to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming both the tools we build and the methods we use to troubleshoot network problems.

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Panelists will discuss the evolving role of network engineers in an AI-enabled environment. The conversation addresses three critical shifts: adopting AI-powered tools for daily troubleshooting, leveraging AI to build more capable operational tools, and integrating machine learning into network analysis workflows. Drawing on real-world examples, panelists will demonstrate how AI analyzes network data to identify root causes, suggest targeted fixes based on similar past incidents, and help teams understand complex failure patterns across distributed systems.

Topics include practical approaches for network engineers to start working with AI technologies, strategies for building AI-capable troubleshooting tools that serve your specific operational needs, and techniques for applying machine learning to network analysis challenges. Panelists will share lessons learned about skill development, tool architecture decisions, and organizational change management as teams adopt these new capabilities.

This interactive session welcomes audience questions about getting started with AI development, open-source frameworks and libraries, and how to balance building custom solutions versus adopting existing tools. Attendees will leave with actionable insights for implementing AI-powered troubleshooting capabilities and practical guidance on developing the skills needed to thrive in this rapidly evolving landscape.

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NationalInternationalCross-Segment

Future network and wireless technologiesInnovative applications

12:00 - 12:45 pm

Lecture

Regency Grand Ballroom

From A Single Dot, Bringing High-Performance Computing Across Disciplines in Education

Dhusdee Chandswang , Willie Peng

California State University, Fullerton collaborates with National Research Platform (NRP) through our on-premises Nautilus high-performance computing nodes. This partnership enables CSUF to offer scalable, secure, and collaborative research and education across disciplines. JupyterHub’s browser-based approach removed software and access barriers, enabling hands-on computing in courses from public health and social work to engineering and chemistry. In collaboration with campus partners, we launched multiple parallel efforts to promote awareness and adoption of high-performance computing and Jupyter ecosystem. We will share a reproducible implementation blueprint, learning gains and adoption metrics, and examples of curriculum-integrated Jupyter Notebooks that support data literacy, AI fluency, and high-performance computing skills.

California University

Community EngagementEquitable access / digital literacy and fluency

12:00 - 12:45 pm

Panel

Regency Rooms 1-3

10+ Years of Makerspaces

Jarrid Keller , Tamara Broman

More than a decade after the first wave of library makerspaces emerged, these creative hubs have grown from experimental pilots into essential community services. What began with 3D printers and sewing machines has evolved into multifaceted learning environments supporting STEM education, workforce development, entrepreneurship, digital creativity, and intergenerational hands-on learning. As libraries enter the next decade of maker services, we must reconsider how we sustain, evolve, and responsibly “care and feed” these spaces to ensure they remain relevant, accessible, and aligned with community needs.

California Library

Community EngagementEquitable access / digital literacy and fluencyInnovative applications

12:00 - 12:45 pm

Demonstration

Regency Rooms 4-6

Moving Forward with the National Distributed Network Telescope

Pierrette Dagg , Shereen Ismail

Merit is launching the National Distributed Network Telescope (NDNT) project, and we are actively seeking collaborators as we work to expand it internationally.

The National Distributed Network Telescope (NDNT) is a first-of-its-kind, large-scale cyberinfrastructure designed to capture and analyze unsolicited internet traffic, offering unprecedented insights into security threats, outages, and emergent global phenomena on the internet. By leveraging distributed telescope nodes across research and education networks nationwide, NDNT will transform raw “darknet” data into a shared, accessible resource for researchers, educators, and practitioners.

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This presentation will introduce NDNT’s mission, architecture, and early outcomes, with a focus on how the broader community can participate—whether by hosting telescope nodes, contributing to research collaborations, or using the data for teaching and analysis. We will highlight NDNT’s unique role in democratizing access to cybersecurity research infrastructure, lowering barriers for under-resourced institutions, and advancing the field through open science principles.

Key elements of the five-year operationalization strategy include:

Scaling telescope participation and sustainability across R&E networks.
Developing researcher support tools and onboarding processes.
Ensuring long-term storage, data governance, and reproducibility.
Providing outreach resources to help research and education networks (R&Es) engage their local universities and colleges in utilizing the data for teaching, learning, and research.

Participants will also learn how access to NDNT’s data and insights can strengthen relationships with state governments and university partners, positioning their institutions as leaders in cybersecurity research and digital resilience.

Ultimately, attendees will leave with a clear understanding of NDNT’s capabilities, opportunities for involvement, and the vision driving its next phase.

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International

CybersecurityFuture network and wireless technologies

12:50 - 1:00 pm

Regency Grand Ballroom

Closing Remarks

1:00 - 2:00 pm

Garden Courtyard

Wednesday Lunch

Meal/Break/Reception

2026 program

How to use the program

Sunday, March 29, 2026

1:30 - 4:30 pm

Center for Internet Security Workshop: Critical Security Controls and Benchmarks

3:00 - 5:30 pm

Attendee Check-in

Monday, March 30, 2026

7:30 - 8:30 am

Monday Breakfast

7:30 - 8:30 am

Ask a CENIC Engineer

8:30 - 8:45 am

Welcome & Announcements

8:45 - 9:45 am

AI Infrastructure for All

9:45 - 10:30 am

Beyond Connectivity and Access: Operationalizing Networks and Platforms as AI Innovation Infrastructure

10:30 - 11:00 am

Meet the Speakers

11:00 - 11:15 am

Ask a CENIC Engineer

11:00 - 11:15 am

Break

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Case Studies of Research Areas that Have Been Advanced Using AI/ML Enabled by CENIC AIR

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

MS-ISAC in Action: How Schools Are Building Real Cyber Resilience

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Building an Interoperable Private Cellular Future Together for Science: How can we leverage neutral host and new technology?

12:20 - 12:50 pm

Bridging the Digital Divide: Strategic Partnerships Between State Government and Telecom Geeks

12:20 - 12:50 pm

How Ventura County Library enhanced Community Connection with eduroam

12:20 - 12:50 pm

Creating a Secure Science DMZ on your campus for NRP/CENIC AIR

12:50 - 1:55 pm

Monday Lunch

2:00 - 3:00 pm

CSU’s OpenAI Rollout Experience

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Inside E-Rate Category 2 Success: Strategic Lessons for 2026 and Beyond

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Email Authentication with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC

3:05 - 3:35 pm

AI-Native Networking: Powering Seamless, Secure Learning from Kindergarten to College

3:05 - 4:05 pm

Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI are Here to Stay, and Public Libraries Must Thoughtfully Address Their Use

3:05 - 4:05 pm

Lessons Learning: Building a Shared Cyberinfrastructure Across the CSU with TIDE

4:05 - 4:25 pm

Ask a CENIC Engineer

4:05 - 4:25 pm

Break

4:30 - 5:00 pm

Minds in the Vines: Technology of the CENIC-Empowered Drones, Cameras, and LoRaWAN Sensors at the Iron Horse Vineyards Testbed

4:30 - 5:00 pm

CENIC: Campus Network as a Service

4:30 - 5:00 pm

AI, American Science Cloud, and the Genesis Mission

5:05 - 5:50 pm

K12 & Libraries Meeting

6:00 - 8:00 pm

Cocktails, Dinner & Networking

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

7:30 - 8:30 am

Ask a CENIC Engineer

7:30 - 8:30 am

Tuesday Breakfast

8:30 - 8:40 am

Announcements

8:40 - 9:40 am

Disaster Backup, Resiliency, and Emergency Response

9:45 - 10:45 am

Bridging the Digital Divide: Empowering Youth for a Digital Future

10:45 - 11:00 am

Break

10:45 - 11:00 am

Ask a CENIC Engineer

10:45 - 11:00 am

Trust & Transparency:  Start a Conversation, not an Accusation