Scientific Program

Thursday – August 20, 2026

Time
(all times in PT)		Location
8:25 amAM Refresher, Registration Table OpenMain Lobby
8:55 – 9:00 amUser Executive Committee Welcome
John Vinson, UEC Chair
National Institute of Standards and Technology		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
9:00 – 9:05 amBerkeley Lab Welcome
Kathy Yelick
Berkeley Lab Director		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
9:05 – 9:30 amDOE BES Perspective
Mikhail Zhernenkov
DOE, Basic Energy Sciences		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
9:30 – 9:55 amMolecular Foundry Update
Ashfia Huq
Molecular Foundry Director		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
9:55 – 10:40 amKeynote
Brandon Wood
Meta		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
10:40 – 11:00 amBreakMain Lobby
11:00 – 11:20 amUser Highlight
Boubacar Kante 
University of California, Berkeley		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
11:20 – 11:40 amUser Highlight
Annelise Barron
Stanford University		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
11:40 am – 12:00 pmUser Highlight
Seung Sae Hong
University of California, Davis		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
12:00 – 1:00 pmLunchBoathouse Restaurant
1:00 – 1:45 pm Keynote
John Hartwig
University of California, Berkeley		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
1:45 – 2:10 pmPostdoc Paper Award Winner
Feng Pan
Stanford University		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
2:10- 2:35 pmStudent Paper Award Winner
Koushik Das
University of California, Berkeley		Islands Ballroom
Zoom
2:35- 2:40 pmAward AnnouncementsIslands Ballroom
Zoom
2:40- 3:30 pmUsers Town HallIslands Ballroom
Zoom
3:30 – 3:50 pmPM refreshment breakMain Lobby
3:50 – 4:25 pmNew Foundry CapabilitiesIslands Ballroom
Zoom
4:25 – 5:00 pmPoster Slam!Islands Ballroom
Zoom
5:00 – 6:45 pmPoster Session and ReceptionBayview Ballroom
6:45 pmEnd

Friday – August 21, 2026

Time
(all times in PT)		Location
8:30 amRegistration Table OpenBallroom Foyer
8:30 – 9:00 amAM RefresherSierra Nevada Foyer (upstairs) & California Foyer (Building 5)
9:00 – 10:30 amAM Symposia/Workshops
• Critical Metals – Characterization, Separation, Purification & Applications
• Behavior and characterization of soft matter – biological applications to advanced materials
• Scalable Solid-State Platforms for Photonic Quantum Technologies
• MBXAS – Simulating X-ray Absorption Beyond Single-Particle Excitations		Various
10:30 – 10:55 amAM refreshment breakSierra Nevada Foyer (upstairs) & California Foyer (Building 5)
10:55 am – 12:25 pmSymposia/workshops continue
Various
12:25 – 1:25 pmLunch and Closing RemarksBoathouse Restaurant
1:25 – 2:55 pmPM Symposia/Workshops, & Foundry Tour
• Biomolecular and Hybrid Strategies for Critical Materials Recovery
• PICKLES (Prediction and Interpretation of Core: K-, L-, … Edge Spectroscopies)
• Materials Challenges in Superconducting Qubit and Sensing Platforms
• AI agents for automating computational materials science workflows		Various
2:55 – 3:20 pmPM refreshment breakSierra Nevada Foyer (upstairs) & California Foyer (Building 5)
3:20 – 4:50 pmPM symposia/workshops continueVarious
4:50 pmEnd