ACT4Aero
AI and Compute Technologies for Aerospace Conference
An exclusive, invite-only summit uniting pioneers in academia, government, and private industry to solve aerospace’s most critical operational challenges.
ACT4Aero is the DoD's premier conference on AI, autonomy, and computing for aerospace applications. Held annually at Stanford, it convenes experts from industry, academia, and government to explore cutting-edge technologies and accelerate their transition to operational use.
"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. 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.
2026 Recap
DownloadTuesday, March 31
Thresholds of Success
Col Jason Hansberger
Director, DAF Stanford AI Studio
Brig Gen Douglas “Beaker” Wickert
Director of Air, Space, and Cyberspace Operations, Air Force Materiel Command
Col Maryann “Yetti” Karlen
Commandant, USAF Test Pilot School
Col Dave “Maddog” Madson
Commandant, USAF Weapons School
Strategic Horizons: Harnessing Emerging AI for National Competitiveness
Professor Juan Alonso
Department Chair, Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics
Dr Charles Ball
Senior AI Advisor, NNSA Administrator
.png)
Dr Patrick Lincoln
Director, DARPA I2O
Dr Brian Spears
CTO, Genesis Mission
Mission Driven Discovery: Closing the Loop Between S&T and T&E
Dr Stephen Zoepf
CEO, DZCO | Former Director/Analyst at Department of Transportation
Major General Scott Cain
Commander, Air Force Test Center
Dr Victoria Coleman
Associate Provost of Berkeley Air & Space Center and Former Chief Scientist of the AF
Opportunities for Physical AI
Lt Col John “Heater” Alora, Ph.D
Director of Operations, DAF Stanford AI Studio
Joseph Duncan
Performance & Flying Qualities Technical Expert, 773rd Test Squadron
Dr Andrew Wissink
CREATE Air Vehicles Project Manager, US Army
Dr Luc Peterson
Physicist, LLNL
Lt Col Joshua “Phoenix” Strafaccia
Experimental Test Pilot, USAF
Problems Lightning Talks
Lt Col John “Heater” Alora, Ph.D
Director of Operations, DAF Stanford AI Studio
Maj Nick “Bane” Caraballo
Director of Integration, Warfare Center
Dr Scott Nivison
Senior Research Scientist, AFRL
Kristopher Luo
Founder, Null Labs
Modernizing Test & Acquisitions for the Physical AI Age
Lt Col Raven “Rost” LeClair
Test Pilot / Commander 370 FLTS, USAF
Col Timothy “Ivy” Spaulding
Program Executive Office Bombers
AI Studio Ribbon Cutting
Celebrate the official unveiling of the AI Studio and USSF AI Accelerator
Wednesday, April 1
Physical AI for Design and Simulation
Professor Juan Alonso
Department Chair, Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics
Professor Charbel Farhat
Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics
Dr Nathan Kutz
Director, Physics Informed AI, Autodesk Research
Dr Sanjeeb Bose
Distinguished Engineer, Cadence R&D
The Path to Trustworthy Autonomy
Professor Marco Pavone
Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics
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
Prof Somil Bansal
Professor, Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics
Mike Haley of Autodesk
Professor Juan Alonso
Department Chair, Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics
Mike Haley
SVP of Research, Autodesk
Computing and Edge AI
Adj Professor Ali Keshavarzi
Stanford Electrical Engineering
Professor Tom Lee
Stanford Electrical Engineering
Professor Sayeef Salahuddin
UC Berkeley
Professor Thierry Tambe
Stanford Electrical Engineering
Tom Tomazin
Vice President of Engineering, NVIDIA
Thursday, April 2
The Prime Imperative: Delivering Capability at the Speed of Relevance
Professor Charbel Farhat
Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics
Dr Todd Citron
Former CTO, Boeing
Founders at the Frontier: Building Deep Tech for Aerospace & National Security
Dr Natalya Bailey
Founder, Squawk AI / Revolution Space
Dr Sertac Karaman
President and CTO, Tycho AI
Denis Mars
CEO, Apex Ultra
Dr Will Roper
CEO, Istari Digital
Dr Reza Zadeh
CEO, Matroid
Funding Deep Tech & National Security
Ernestine Fu
Co-Director, Stanford Frontier Technology Lab
Joe Malchow
Investor, Hanover
Peter Shannon
Managing Director, Radius Capital
T.J. Rylander
General Partner, N47
Katie Gray
Senior Partner, In-Q-Tel
Engage at Will: Autonomous Space Systems for the Contested Environment of 2030
1Lt Devrin Chullanandana
Deputy Chief, GenAI Integration, USSF SAF/SQ
Colonel Brendan Hochstein
Commander, Space Combat Power
Dr Nate Golovich
Space Program Physicist, Lawrence Livermore National Labs
Adam Koenig
Staff RPO Algorithms Engineer, True Anomaly
Adam Thurn
Chief Engineer of Space Missions, Anduril
Al Tadros
CTO, Redwire
In-Orbit Cloud Computing
Lori Gordon
Sys. Director for Space Enterprise Evolution, Aerospace Corp.
Philip Johnston
Co-Founder and CEO, Starcloud
DJ Bush
Space Leader, NVIDIA
Rob DeMillo
Co-Founder and CEO, Sophia Space
Dennis Gatens
President, Voyager Technologies
Dr Kiruthika Devaraj
VP of Space Systems and AI, Planet Labs — Google Project Suncatcher
Closing Thoughts from the Director
Col Jason Hansberger
Director, DAF Stanford AI Studio
Workshop Committee
John Alora
Director of Operations, Pilot
DAF-Stanford AI Studio
Jason Hansberger
Studio Director, Pilot
DAF-Stanford AI Studio
Juan Alonso
AA Dept, Chair
Stanford
Charbel Farhat
Professor
Stanford
Marco Pavone
Associate Professor
Stanford
Key Takeaways
Operators
Translate your most urgent needs directly to the technologists who build solutions.
Gain a tactical advantage by discovering novel applications of Al and autonomy.
Forge alliances with industry leaders and investors fueling your mission.
Technologists
Align your R&D with the highest-priority challenges communicated straight from the source.
Showcase your products to a curated audience of investors and government stakeholders.
Accelerate your pathway to scale by connecting with investors and acquisition experts.
Investors
Pinpoint specific operational gaps the government is most motivated to fund and solve.
Lower the risk of investment decisions by gaining insider knowledge of government acquisition pathways.
Evaluate a technology's potential by meeting both the problem-holders and solution-builders in one room.