Mississippi State University

AI for All:
Practical and Accessible AI for Research and Education

September 15, 2026
The Mill at Mississippi State University
Starkville, MS

Schedule

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Time (CT)	Activity
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM	Check-In Location: Rodge and Jill Johnson Grand Hall
8:00 - 9:00 AM	Breakfast Location: Ballroom M
9:00 - 9:15 AM	Welcome and Opening Remarks Location: Ballroom M Marisa Brazil (Bio) Director of Strategic Initiatives Reserch Technology Office, Arizona State University Mark Keever (Bio) Executive Director of High Performance & Research Computing Mississippi State University
9:15 - 10:15 AM	Keynote Presentation Location: Ballroom M Joe Stradinger (Bio) Founder and CEO of EdgeTheory
10:15 - 10:30 AM	Break
10:30 - 11:15 AM	Panel How Mississippi's Research Computing Infrastructure is Democratizing AI for Every Mississippi Researcher Location: Ballroom M Moderator Marisa Brazil (Bio) Director of Strategic Initiatives Reserch Technology Office, Arizona State University Presenters Mark Keever (Bio) Executive Director of High Performance & Research Computing Mississippi State University Dr. Kelly Lucas (Bio) Vice President for Research University of Southern Mississippi Dr. Brian W. Hopkins (Bio) Deputy Chief Information Officer for Academic Technology University of Mississippi Description Mississippi's three R1 research universities - Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi, and University of Mississippi - collectively steward powerful AI and research computing resources. But raw compute power means little if researchers at these institutions, as well as Mississippi's smaller colleges and regional institutions, can't access, navigate, or effectively use it. This panel brings together research computing and AI leaders from all three institutions to address that gap. The conversation will start with local infrastructure specs and proceed to examine the human side of the equation — the training programs, support models, and collaborative frameworks that transform university resources into practical tools for a faculty member at a regional campus, an emerging researcher at a liberal arts college, or a graduate student with no HPC background. Attendees will leave with a clearer picture of the AI landscape in Mississippi and what potentially can be supported at their institution, how to navigate on-ramps to national resources, and where the next generation of collaborative research opportunities lies.
11:15 - Noon	Leveraging National Level AI and HPC Resources Location: Ballroom M Juanjo Garcia Mesa (Bio) Research Software Engineer Reserch Technology Office, Arizona State University Description This presentation provides an overview of the national ecosystem of AI and advanced cyberinfrastructure resources available to researchers, educators, and institutions. Participants will learn about major programs and platforms that support AI research through computing, data, training, collaboration, and community engagement, along with practical pathways for accessing and using these resources. Hands-on session on navigating the ACCESS and NAIRR websites, including how to apply for an allocation, plus communities of practice and conferences of interest.
Noon - 1:00 PM	Lunch and Networking Location: Ballroom M
1:00 - 2:30 PM	Beginner Track (Session 1) - Using an API to Communicate with a Model Location: Conference Room 1302 Presenter Juanjo Garcia Mesa (Bio) Research Software Engineer Reserch Technology Office, Arizona State University Description Learn how to call an OpenAI-compatible LLM API from Python and turn it into a repeatable research workflow. The session includes processing preprint abstracts and covers API anatomy, structured output with system prompts, and a quick tour of tools that use the same endpoint.
1:00 - 2:30 PM	Advanced Track (Session 1) - Build an AI Agent Location: Conference Room 1303 Presenter Jeevesh Choudhury Scientific Software Engineer Reserch Technology Office, Arizona State University Description Design an autonomous agent that plans, uses tools, and evaluates its own work. You will wire an LLM to code execution, search, retrieval, and test on a realistic research task. You will leave with a minimal agent scaffold you can extend.
2:30 - 2:45PM	Break
2:45 - 4:15 PM	Beginner Track (Session 2) - Submitting AI Jobs to the Anvil Supercomputer Location: Conference Room 1302 Presenter Juanjo Garcia Mesa (Bio) Research Software Engineer Reserch Technology Office, Arizona State University Description Learn the end-to-end workflow for running AI workloads on HPC. You will log in, transfer data, and submit jobs with Slurm, monitor queues, and check outputs. The session covers best practices for resource requests and basic troubleshooting.
2:45 - 4:15 PM	Advanced Track (Session 2) - Deploying Large-Scale AI Workloads on the Anvil Supercomputer Location: Conference Room 1303 Presenter Jeevesh Choudhury Scientific Software Engineer Reserch Technology Office, Arizona State University Description Move from notebook experiments to production-scale workloads. The session covers monitoring, checkpointing, and safe rollouts on a supercomputing cluster with a focus on reproducible and scalable deployments.
4:15 - 4:20 PM	Break / Transition to Main Ballroom
4:20 - 4:50 PM	Closing Remarks and Networking Location: Ballroom M Mark Keever (Bio) Mississippi State University Marisa Brazil (Bio) Arizona State University

Program Planning Committee

Arizona State University	Purdue University	Mississippi State University
Marisa Brazil Gil Speyer Juanjo Garcia Mesa Amber Carlson Jeevesh Choudhury	Preston Smith Carol Song Eric Adams Laura Theadman Amanda Hassenplug Jennifer Linvill	Julie Jordan Mark Keever James Carskadon Clifton Abbott Cathy Curtis Dawn Reynolds