Act4Aero
AI and Compute Technologies for Aerospace
March 31 - April 2, 2026 | Stanford University
An exclusive, invite-only summit uniting pioneers in academia, government, and private industry to solve aerospace’s most critical operational challenges.
About the Act4Aero Conference
Stanford Computing and Data Science Building
The gap between groundbreaking technology and operational reality is the most significant barrier to progress in the aerospace industry.
ACT4Aero is the catalyst designed to close that gap. From March 31 - April 2 at the Stanford Computing and Data Science Building, we convene an exclusive group of operators, technologists, and investors with a singular mission: to accelerate the pipeline from concept to contract, ensuring the most advanced technologies get funded, developed, and into the hands of those who need them most.
Schedule
View the full ACT4Aero schedule below, including keynotes, panelists, and more.
Tuesday, March 31
9:15 - 10:15
Thresholds of success
Moderator
Col Jason Hansberger, Director, DAF Stanford AI Studio
Panelists
Col Maryann “Yetti” Karlen, Commandant, USAF Test Pilot School
Col Dave “Maddog” Madsen, Commandant, USAF Weapons School
10:30 - 11:30
Harnessing Emerging AI for National Competitiveness
Dr Charles Ball, CTO, Genesis Mission
12:30 - 1:30
Closing the Loop Between S&T and T&E
Major General Scott Cain, Commander, Air Force Test Center
1:30 - 3:00
Opportunities for physical AI
Moderator
Maj John “Heater” Alora, Director of Operations, DAF Stanford AI Studio
Panelists
Lt Col Daniel “Knots” Harp, Experimental Test Pilot, USAF
Dr Andrew Wissink, CREATE Air Vehicles Project Manager, US Army
Dr Luc Peterson, Physicist, LLNL
Lt Col Joshua “Phoenix” Strafaccia, Experimental Test Pilot, USAF
4:45 - 5:30
Fireside Chat
Lt Col Raven “Rost” LeClair, Test Pilot / Commander 370 FLTS, USAF
with
Honorable Dale Marks, Deputy Under Secretary of War for Acquisition & Sustainment, Department of War
Wednesday, April 1
9:00 - 10:30
3:00 - 4:00
Problems Lightning talks
Maj Nick “Bane” Caraballo, Director of Integration, Warfare Center
Dr Scott Nivison, Senior Research Scientist, AFRL
Physical AI for Design and Simulation
Moderator
Professor Juan Alonso, Department Chair, Stanford AA
Panelists
Professor Charbel Farhat, Stanford AA
Dr Nathan Kutz, Director, Physics Informed AI, Autodesk Research
2:00 - 3:30
Physical AI for trusted autonomy
Moderator
Professor Marco Pavone, Stanford AA
Panelists
Dr Brian Ichter, Co-Founder, Physical Intelligence
Dr Han Park, VP of Artificial Intelligence Integration, Northrop Grumman
Dr Alessandro Pinto, Autonomy Assurance Lead, NASA JPL
4:00 - 5:30
Efficient compute for physical AI
Moderator
Adj Professor Ali Keshavarzi, Stanford EE
Panelists
Professor Tom Lee, Stanford
Professor Sayeef Salahuddin, UC Berkeley
Professor Thierry Tambe, Stanford EE
Tom Tomazin, Vice President of Engineering, NVIDIA
Thursday, April 2
10:00 - 11:00
Entrepreneurs and startup ceos
Moderator
Dr Natalya Bailey, Founder, Squawk AI / Revolution Space
Panelists
Dr Sertac Karaman, President and CTO, Tycho AI
Denis Mars, CEO, Apex Ultra
Dr Will Roper, CEO, Istari Digital
Dr Reza Zadeh, CEO, Matroid
12:00 - 1:00
Moderator
Ernestine Fu, Co-Director, Stanford Frontier Technology Lab
Panelists
AJ Bertone, Managing Partner, In-Q-Tel
Funding deep tech & national security w/ vcs
1:15 - 2:45
DAF Acquisitions
Capt Chris Dylewski, Chief of Staff, DAF Stanford AI Studio
with
Deidra Eberhardt, Acting Executive Director and Director, Atlas, Space Force
3:00 - 3:30
Ending keynote
General John Lamontagne, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force
3:30 - 4:30
Fireside Chat
Col Jason Hansberger, Director, DAF Stanford AI Studio
with
General John Lamontagne, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force
Key Takeaways
Workshop Committee
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John Alora
Director of Operations, Pilot | AI Studio
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Jason Hansberger
Studio Director, Pilot | AI Studio
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Juan Alonso
AA Dept, Chair | Stanford
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Charbel Farhat
Professor | Stanford
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Marco Pavone
Associate Professor | Stanford
Helpful Details
Date
March 31 - April 2, 2026
Location
389 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305
Registration
Attendance at ACT4Aero is complimentary but is strictly limited to invited guests. Registration is mandatory and must be completed through Stanford's Cvent system to confirm your place.
Due to the curated nature of this event, space is extremely limited. To avoid disappointment, we urge you to request your invitation ASAP by using the form at the bottom of this page.
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Parking is limited on the Stanford Campus. Details to secure permit parking are forthcoming.
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Additional details to come.
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Attendance at ACT4Aero is free of charge; however, space is limited and is solely for invited guests. Registration must be completed through Stanford's Cvent system to secure your spot. To request an invitation, contact us using the form below.
Get In Touch
Whether you have an invitation request or a general question, please don't hesitate to reach out, and we’ll respond as soon as possible.