ICON Student Research Conference 2026
Thursday January 29th - Friday January 30th, 2026 at the Rice Design Studio (MSEE 190), Purdue University.
Mission Statement
The conference will offer students the chance to present their research and network with faculty members and keynote speakers to explore new research avenues and interdisciplinary partnerships. A diverse array of topics will be covered during presentations, aimed at fostering communication and collaboration between researchers from diverse backgrounds. These topics include complex networks, multi-agent system optimization, reinforcement learning, data science for autonomy and control, resilient and secure autonomy, human-autonomy interaction, infrastructure systems control and optimization, and autonomy validation and verification.
Schedule and Location
Date: Thursday, January 29th - Friday, January 30th, 2026
Location: Rice Design Studio (MSEE 190), Purdue University
Day 1
| Event | Time Start | Time End |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | 09:00 | 09:30 |
| Keynote Session #1 | 09:30 | 10:30 |
| Break | 10:30 | 10:45 |
| Student Presentations #1 | 10:45 | 12:15 |
| Lunch | 12:15 | 13:15 |
| Student Presentations #2 | 13:30 | 15:00 |
| Break | 15:00 | 15:15 |
| Student Presentations #3 | 15:15 | 16:15 |
| Break | 16:15 | 16:30 |
| Poster / Demo session | 16:30 | 17:30 |
| Networking Event + Dinner | 18:00 | 19:00 |
Day 2
| Event | Time Start | Time End |
|---|---|---|
| Keynote Session #2 | 09:00 | 10:00 |
| Break | 10:00 | 10:15 |
| Student Presentations #4 | 10:15 | 12:00 |
| Lunch | 12:00 | 13:00 |
| Industry Demonstration | 13:00 | 16:30 |
| Award Announcement / Closing | 16:30 | 17:00 |
Event Information
Keynote Speakers
Our keynote speakers this year are Dr. Anuradha Annaswamy and Dr. Mark W. Mueller.
Poster & Demos
A dedicated session for diving into cutting-edge research and live demonstrations.
ICON SRC Committee
The conference is organized by students in the Institute for Control, Optimization and Networks.
- Joshua Chang: General Co-chair
- Vittal Srinivasan: General Co-chair
- Zar Nigar Ahmad: Industry Demo
- Hoin Jung: External Students
- Gayatri Sreenivasan: Student Lectures
- Yash Mathur: Awards and Rewards
- Allison Davis: Posters
- Neelima Kuttappa: Logistics
- Joel Jeffrey: Organizer
- Junyoung Kim: Organizer
- Sreehari Manikkan: Organizer
Corporate Partnership
Partnership Tiers
- Company logo and profile featured on ICON's website and LinkedIn profile
- 10 complimentary passes to attend ICON weekly technical seminars (25 seminars per year)
- Distribution of up to 10 job or internship postings per year to ICON's internal list (reaching 1,000+ students and 125+ faculty across 15 departments)
- Up to 10 complimentary registrations to the ICON Student Conferences (about 50+ poster presentations and 200+ attendees annually)
- Option of 1-hour annual consultation with ICON co-directors to explore research or hiring interests
- Option to submit up to 1 whitepaper call per year for faculty project proposals (average response rate: 10-15 abstracts)
- All Boilermaker tier benefits
- Premium logo placement on ICON digital media and select physical banners for ICON events (e.g., weekly seminars, Student Conferences/Symposiums)
- 1 invited talk opportunity per year at an ICON event (seminar, symposium, or professional development session)
- 1 reserved table or booth at ICON Student Conferences
- 2 exclusive passes to ICON's Purdue football tailgate event with Professional MS students (approx. 60 students across Robotics, Autonomy, and IoT programs)
- Access to the ICON student resume book (updated annually, includes ~100 excellent MS/PhD students)
- Invitation to participate in joint grant proposals or industry-university consortia, when aligned with mutual priorities
- Option to visit ICON faculty labs and facilities
- Option to host 1 private virtual networking session per year with up to 50 excellent ICON students
- All Gemini 8 tier benefits
- 1 full-year research sponsorship for a Purdue PhD student (selected by the company from all applicants) working on a company-priority research topic; engagements include bi-monthly check-ins, joint publications, and IP discussions
- Host up to one in-person event per year dedicated to the industry partner to help recruiting (with interactions up to 100 ICON-affiliated faculty and students)