University of Maryland Baltimore County
What is a All Hands Meeting?
iHARP is a highly collaborative multi-institutional research institution that encompasses a broad range of domain expertise. Because we are not co-located at one site, we often are left to working virtually. To tackle virtual fatigue and to offer an opportunity to deep connects, every year we host one large in-person meeting where all members are able to break out of their virtual meeting box and have face-to face conversations.
What: iHARP 4th In-Person All Hands
When: Thursday, September 24 & Friday, September 25, 2026
Venue: Williams Village at the University of Colorado
Address: 500 30th Street, Boulder, CO 80309
All Hands Agenda
Please note the below is the agenda and subject to change. All times listed reflect Colorado Mountain Time
7:45 am
Shuttle Pick-up from Hilton Homewood Suites
8:00 am
Shuttle Drop off at Williams Village
8:00 am
Breakfast
8:30 am
Opening Remarks
8:35 am
State of the Institute by Dr. Vandana Janeja
9:10 am
iHARP Full Cycle Presentations (Session Chair: Dr. Jianwu Wang)
- Emulating Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt Using Graph Transformer
Authors/ Collaborators: Ziqi Yin, Aneesh Subramanian, Rajashree Tri Datta, Vandana P. Janeja, Miren Vizcaino
Presenter: Dr. Aneesh Subramanian, Assosiate Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
- Causal Inference for Analyzing Drivers of Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt
Authors/ Collaborators: Omar Faruque, Ziqi Yin, Sahara Ali, Yiyi Huang, Aneesh Subramanian, Nicole-Jeanne Schlegel, Md Osman Gani, Vandana Janeja, and Jianwu Wang
Presenter: Omar Faruque, PhD Candidate, University of Maryland Baltimore County
- Title: TBD | Project Area: Sea Level Rise
Presenter: Subhankar Ghosh, PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota
10:15 am
Break & Group Photograph
10:30 am
iHARP Full Cycle Presentations (Session Chair: Dr. Andy Aschwanden)
- From Radargrams to AI-Ready Ice-Layer-Annotation Datasets
Authors/ Collaborators: Muhammad Behroze Hassan, Bayu Adhi Tama, Sanjay Purushotham, Vandana P. Janeja
Presenter: Muhammad Behroze Hassan, Research Assistant, University of Maryland Baltimore County
- Research progress in Greenland subglacial bed mapping: From DeepTopoNet to BedMachine-free Reconstruction Techniques
Authors/ Collaborators: Bayu Tama, Mansa Krishna, Mostafa Cham, Jianwu Wang, Mathieu Morlighem
Presenter: Dr. Bayu Tama, Research Assistant Professor, University of Maryland Baltimore County
- Empowering iHARP’s Research Through High-Performance Computing
Authors/ Collaborators: Scalable Deep Learning Project: Homayra Alam, Bayu Adhi Tama, Sikan Li, Mostafa Cham, Omar Faruque, and Jianwu Wang | PINNs Project: Mansa Krishna, Gong Cheng, and Mathieu Morlighem
Presenter: Sikan Li, Research Engineering, Scientist Associate III, Texas Advanced Computing Center - Physics Informed Neural Networks for Ice and CLimatE
Presenter: Mansa Krishna, PhD Candidate, Dartmouth College
- Understanding the Trajectory of a Glacier
Authors/ Collaborators: Rohan Putatunda; Sanjay Purushotham; Ratnaksha Lele, Riya P. Desai, Vandana P. Janeja
Presenter: Riya P. Desai, Research Assistant, University of Maryland Baltimore County
12:05 pm
Lunch
12:55 pm
Panel: Envisioning the Future Frontiers (Moderator: Dr. Vandana Janeja )
Panelists:
Dr. Beth Plale
Executive Director, School of Computer & Data Sciences, University of Oregon
Dr. Shashi Shekhar
Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Minnesota
Dr. Shaowen Wang
Professor, Department of Geography and Geographic Information
Science and the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
1:40 pm
Break
1:55 pm
iHARP Toolkit Showcase (Session Chair: Dr. Josephine Namayanja)
- PolarIS: a Polar data infrastructure for Interactive and Scalable science
Authors/ Collaborators: Yuchuan Huang, Ana Elena Uribe, Mohamed F. Mokbel, Youssef Hussein, Kareem Eldahshoury, Grant Ogren, Maida Ismail, Adwin Shi
Presenter: Ana Elena Uribe, Research Assistant, University of Minnesota
- The Polar Ice Museum
Authors/ Collaborators: Vandana Jeneja, Lisa Moren, Anita Komlodi, Jessica Kleeman, Sudip Chakraborty, Yusuke Kuwayama, Ryan Zuber, Evan McRae, June Young, Iman Asfari, Brandon Ables, Rishitha Achari, Selin Sam Büyükcengiz, Taylor Goad, Samuel McCarthy, Dax Mikow, Lynn Nguyen, Tobi Williams, Zach Adams, Hank Mink
Presenter: Ryan Zuber, University of Maryland Baltimore County
- CMAD: Advancing Understanding of Geospatial Clusters of Anomalous Melt Events in Sea Ice Extent
Authors/ Collaborators: Maloy Kumar Devnath, Sudip Chakraborty, and Vandana P. Janeja
Presenter: Shanmukhi Gundu, Research Assistant, University of Maryland Baltimore County
- An LLM-Assisted Research Claim Validation System
Authors/ Collaborators: Rhoda Nankabirwa, Tolulope Ale, Josephine Namayanja, Vandana Janeja
Presenter: Rhoda Nankabirwa, Research Assistant, University of Maryland Baltimore County
- PolarKD-An LLM Enhanced Knowledge Discovery Toolkit for Polar Science Literature
Authors/ Collaborators: Khawja Imran Masud, Ajith Kumar Dugyala, Aeshwa Kachhadiya, Gowtham Vupalladhadiam, Harini Varanasi, Sahara Ali
Presenter: Khawja Imran Masud, Research Assistant, University of North Texas
3:00 pm
Travel to the LASP facility
3:30 pm
LASP Tour
5:30 pm
Depart for No Host Dinners. Transportation to no host dinner is up to the individual(s)
Shuttle pick-up from the LASP facility to Hilton Homewood Suites will be available
7:45 am
Shuttle Pick-up from Hilton Homewood Suites
8:00 am
Shuttle Drop off at Williams Village
8:00 am
Breakfast
8:30 am
Keynote by Dr. Twila Moon, Senior Research Scientist, Deputy NSIDC Lead Scientist and CEEE Climate Science Engagement Lead
Title: Integrating data and insights: Creating impact for discovery and decision making
9:15 am
Panel: Convergence & Translation (Moderator: Dr. Vandana Janeja )
Panelists:
Dr. Christine Kirkpatrick
Division Director, Research Data Services at San Diego Supercomputer Center
Dr. Rachel Brennan
Department Head & Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University
Dr. Mohamed Mokbel
Director of Graduate Studies & Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Minnesota
10:05 am
iHARP Fellows Presentations (Session Chair: Dr. Aneesh Subramanian)
- Arctic Predictability with Growing Neural Gas
Authors/ Collaborators: Maria Molina, Jianwu Wang
Presenter: Dr. Maria Molina, University of Maryland College Park
- LLMs and Generative AI in Coastal Communities: Do they want it and will they use it?
Presenter: Dr. Lora Harris, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
11:00 am
Break
11:55 am
Panel: Uncertainty (Moderator: Dr. Sharad Sharma)
Panelists:
Dr. Andy Aschwanden
Research Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Dr. Aneesh Subramanian
Assosiate Professor, Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
Dr. Tolulope Ale
Data Scientist II, Microsoft | Alumni, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Dr. Jianwu Wang
Professor, Data Science, University of Maryland Baltimore County
11:10 am
Breakout Discussion: Envisioning the Next Frontier (Session Chair: Dr. Vandana Janeja)
12:30 pm
Breakout Report Backs: Envisioning the Next Frontier (Session Chair: Dr. Vandana Janeja)
12:50 pm
Lunch
1:35 pm
Open meeting time for disussions (Optional)