From Poster Sessions to Lightning Talks: Meet the Minds Shaping the Future at the 2026 Tulane Research, Innovation, and Creativity Summit in New Orleans
Tulane's 2026 Research, Innovation, and Creativity Summit will bring together students, faculty, industry professionals, and the public for two days of poster sessions, lightning talks, and live pitch competitions spanning everything from AI to Roman archaeology. TRICS takes place April 15–16 at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse, and admission is free.
Interactive poster sessions will represent nearly every discipline at the university, from machine learning to infectious diseases, cancer, engineering, environmental science, public health, architecture and liberal arts. Researchers will be available to discuss their work directly, providing an opportunity to ask questions, make connections, and experience academic inquiry firsthand.
TRICS 2026 Keynote Speaker | John Landrum, Vice President for Business Development at Intralox
The event will open on April 15, with a keynote conversation between John Landrum, Vice President for Business Development at Intralox, a global industrial automation and logistics company, and Kimberly Gramm, the David & Marion Mussafer Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer at the Tulane Innovation Institute. Landrum will discuss how organizations can turn new ideas into solutions that drive business growth, with an emphasis on culture, customer alignment, and talent development—themes he also covers on his “Triple Win Workplace” podcast.
Wednesday afternoon will also feature lightning talks from Tulane faculty members whose work has earned national and international recognition. Classical Studies professor Susann Lusnia, whose analysis of a Roman artifact uncovered in Uptown New Orleans garnered international attention, will discuss her findings. Computer scientist Nicholas Mattei, an associate professor and co-director of the Tulane Center for Community Engaged AI, will examine the societal implications of generative AI. He recently explored this topic at the New Orleans Book Festival, moderating a session with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. Amanda Kruger Hill, Executive Director of the Cowen Institute at Tulane University, and the Endowed Leventhal Executive Director and Jill H. and Avram A. Glazer Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at the Taylor Center, will discuss Advancing Educational Entrepreneurship in New Orleans. And Alexis Culotta, Senior Professor of Practice in Art History, will present her work on visualizing creative connections with the "Artistic Network Toolkit".
Thursday lightning talks will highlight biotech entrepreneurship, featuring four ventures created by Tulane students, alumni, and faculty. Carolyn Bayer and Vinoin Vincely of LumaWave are developing a handheld imaging device for real-time mapping of tissue oxygenation and wound-care monitoring. Alumni Kalen Hall and Leo Williams co-founded Informuta, an AI-driven diagnostics platform that uses machine learning and DNA sequencing to detect antimicrobial resistance. Brian Summa of Magic Scan co-leads federally funded imaging research that earned a $23 million ARPA-H grant and a visit from President Joe Biden. And undergraduate Dylan Murray, co-founder of Exactics, which is developing a rapid, at-home diagnostic for Lyme disease, recently received $250,000 in funding from Tulane Ventures.
The summit will extend beyond the arena on Wednesday evening with the Open Medical Innovation Challenge (Open MIC) Night, a live pitch competition co-hosted with GNO, Inc.’s StartupNOLA Now initiative. The event will be held at the recently renovated Richardson Memorial Hall — once home to the Tulane Medical School and now home of the School of Architecture and the Built Environment — where Tulane innovators will present health and wellness ideas to a panel of industry judges for the chance to earn funding and support. The event includes a networking reception for students, researchers, founders, investors, and community partners. RSVP at innovation.tulane.edu/mic.
Explore the full schedule and register to attend at trics.tulane.edu.
