Annual Northwestern SPS Symposium
The 2026 Northwestern SPS Symposium will be October 8-10. Corresponding with Northwestern Reunion Weekend (Homecoming), the SPS Symposium is an opportunity to meet students outside of your courses, engage with exciting speakers, and experience the Chicago campus.
Schedule of Events
- Welcome Reception
Thursday, 10/8, 5:30 to 7 p.m. CT
Chicago campus, Prentice Harris Family Atrium
- Conference
Friday, 10/9, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT
Chicago campus, Wieboldt Hall
- Homecoming Pre-party and Football Game
Saturday, 10/10, time TBD
Evanston campus, location TBD
The academic conference on Friday will feature academic presentations and discussion sessions presented by SPS guest speakers, faculty, and students. The event is a great opportunity to engage in topics not covered in a typical course, enrich your professional development, and connect with SPS faculty, staff, alumni, and fellow students.
See the tentative program for this year's academic conference below. Questions? Feel free to reach out at spsevents@northwestern.edu.
Welcome Reception
Thursday, October 10, 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. CT
Prentice Harris Family Atrium (250 E Superior St, Chicago)
Welcome Reception details
Kick off Symposium weekend by gathering with fellow SPS students, faculty, and staff. Come meet new people and reconnect with familiar faces.
Conference
Friday, October 9, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. CT
Wieboldt Hall (339 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago)
Conference schedule
Conference Schedule
| 9–10am |
Breakfast
Wieboldt 704
|
| 9am–1pm |
Complimentary Professional Headshots
Wieboldt 7th floor lounge
|
| 10:00–10:40am |
Machine Learning for Early Prediction of Alzheimer's Disease Progression Using Multimodal ADNI Data
(Warda Saeed)
|
Betting Big, Starting Small: Quantum Computing's Capital and Its Classifiers
(Dr. Melvin Ott)
|
Crisis, Coordination, and Adaptation: Organizational Theory in Action During COVID-19
(Mollie Foust)
|
Transfer Mobility: The Transfer Portal, NIL, and the Reshaping of College Football Careers
(Max Mitchell)
|
| 10:40–10:50am |
Break |
| 10:50–11:30am |
Comparative Accuracy of Reasoning v. Non Reasoning Models for CPT Coding Assignments
(Abdalrahman Katranji & Apoorv Saraogee)
|
Community-Based Participatory Research: Tools & Techniques Using AI & Data
(Dr. Andy Sharma)
|
Built to Compete: What You're Pretending Not to Know About Your Own Next Move
(Annette Corbin)
|
Plain Language, Better Communication
(Kelly Hazenfield)
|
| 11:30–11:40am |
Break |
| 11:40am–12:20pm |
When Healthcare AI Fails: Strengthening RAG Pipelines Against PHI Exposure, Hallucinations, and Compliance Risks
(Avik Datta)
|
Panel Discussion, TBD
(Dr. Abid Ali, Michael Peri, Frank Bernhard, Dr. Behice Ilhan)
|
Strategic Evolution in the NFL: The Offensive-Defensive Chess Match and Its Implications for Modern Football Analytics
(Aakash Adhia)
|
| 12:20–1:30pm |
Lunch Break
Wieboldt 704
|
| 1:30–2:10pm |
Evaluating Sequencing and Tokenization Strategies for EHR Foundation Models
(Maddie Stapulionis)
|
World Model Reinforcement Learning for Industrial Optimization
(David Van Dyke)
|
GenAI in Group Projects: Bridging Faculty Expectations and Student Realities
(Dr. Rachel Goc, Mark Schumacher)
|
AI Entrepreneurship: Why This Moment Matters
(Dr. Kimberly Chulis)
|
| 2:10–2:20pm |
Break |
| 2:20–2:50pm |
Keynote: Philip Rathle, Chief Technology Officer at Neo4j
Wieboldt 704
|
| 2:50 - 3pm |
SPS Alumni Award Presentation and Closing Remarks
Wieboldt 704
|
Homecoming Pre-Party & Football Game
Saturday, October 10, time TBD
Homecoming details
We’ll wrap up Symposium in Evanston with one of Northwestern’s most spirited traditions: Homecoming. Join fellow SPS students, faculty, alumni, and staff for a pre-party before the option of heading to the football game. This year, you’ll have the chance to experience Homecoming at the brand-new Ryan Field, the first NFL-type stadium in college football. Limited tickets in the SPS block will be available for pre-purchase in September.
Pre-Party: Evanston campus
Time and location TBD
Football Game: Northwestern vs. Ball State
Ryan Field
1501 Central St
Evanston, IL 60208
Time TBD
Travel and Accommodations
Travel arrangements
Please refer to the Northwestern University Reunion Weekend's webpage on travel and accommodations. Preferred Chicago hotels can be found on this page. These are suggestions and accommodations made by the University to make booking your stay easier. You are not obligated to stay in these recommended hotels to attend the SPS Symposium. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements.
Parking on the Chicago campus
A discounted daily and evening rate will be available for parking at the Erie Ontario Garage and the Huron Superior Garage from 4:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. or daily from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. You must park and exit within the specified time to receive the discounted rate. If you enter before the rate takes effect, or exit after the specified end time on the date of entry you will be charged the full public rate for the entire time you are parked. If parked for 12 hours or more, regular garage rates will apply. See the Chicago campus parking map.
Parking discount instructions
Parking discount instructions for the Chicago campus:
- Park in the eligible garage and obtain a parking ticket at entry.
- While at Symposium in Wieboldt Hall, obtain a QR code from the check-in desk, the Symposium Guidebook app, or the Erie-Ontario or Huron Superior Customer Service Offices.
- When ready to exit, go to a garage pay station on the ground level and insert your parking ticket.
- Once the pay station has stated parking fee, scan the QR code on the pay station scanner. Once scanned correctly, the pay station will reduce the parking fee.
- Pay the fee with payment card or cash following the machine instructions.
- Collect the parking ticket back from the machine after your transaction is complete.
- Insert the parking ticket at the exit gate as you leave the garage with your vehicle.
Parking on the Evanston campus
