The Recovery Innovation Technology Summit (RITS)

JOIN US FOR THE
RECOVERY INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT (RITS 2026)
THIS SEPTEMBER.

The summit, organized and hosted by the UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project, brings together a diverse assembly of academics, independent scholars, and non-profit recovery and identification groups devoted to researching cold cases and innovating technologies that contribute to the recovery of our missing. It’s aimed at creating a networking opportunity for interdisciplinary groups and scholars who do similar work and welcome participants from both researchers and individuals who focus on the recovery of missing individuals.

Check out the Summit Schedule

Grateful to have the support of our sponsors

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Keynote Speaker: Dr. Owen O’Leary

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)

Biography

Ph.D., Archaeology, University of Glasgow, 2014

M.A., Anthropology, University of Hawaii Manoa, 2004

B.A., Anthropology, University of California Santa Cruz, 2001

Dr. Owen O’Leary is currently the DPAA Laboratory Field Sciences Manager and supervisory forensic archaeologist.  Prior to this role he served as the Material Evidence Manager from April 2020 to October 2024.  Dr. O’Leary oversees the scientific component of all DPAA organic field missions throughout the world.  Additionally, he deploys worldwide to investigate and excavate locations associated with missing American service members.  Since starting with DPAA in 2007, he has conducted operations in Belgium, Cambodia, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, India, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.  Prior to DPAA, Dr. O’Leary was employed in cultural resources management throughout California, Nevada, and Hawaii.  Dr. O’Leary earned a B.A. in anthropology from the University of California in Santa Cruz in 2001.  He earned an M.A. in anthropology, with a specialization in archaeology, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2004.  In 2014, he earned his Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.  Dr. O’Leary is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Society for American Archaeology, and the Register of Professional Archaeologists.

Additional Presenters and Panel Members

Dr. Brett Hoffman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln – DPAA Partnership Recovery Missions Research and Innovation: Current Approaches and Future Opportunities

Erik Dykeman – Cold the Day the Body Is Still Warm: How American Death Investigation Loses Cases Before Anyone Knows They Exist

Dr. Sayali Sangmnerkar, Florida State University – Rapid Spectroscopic Screening of Skeletal Remains to Support Species Identification and DNA Preservation Assessment in Recovery Contexts – A Conceptual Framework

Justin Taylan – Pacific Wrecks Finding and Identifying P-38J “Marge” 42-103993 assigned to Major Richard I. Bong and Solving U.S. MIA Cases

Dr. Harry Jol – Subsurface imaging of unmarked “burial” sites: Case studies from conflict zones, Holocaust mass execution/burial trenches, Potter’s Fields, and within cemeteries

Lauren Jentsch, University of Wisconsin-Madison – UW MIA Undergraduates: Expanding Research

Dr. Todd Ahlman, Texas State University – Methods in Determining the Location of Lost Aircraft Related Features from World War II

Dr. Jordan Karsten, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh – International Collaboration and the Cases of 1st Lt. Nathan Baskind and Pvt. Sam Apstein

Dr. Gregg Jamison, University of Wisconsin-Madison – DPAA partners in PNG: lessons from a terrestrial aircraft crash site

Thomas Sime, University of Wisconsin-Madison – An Undergraduate Account of Conducting Missing-In-Action Investigations

Michael Darter, University of Illinois – Vanished In Valor: Cold Case Search for My MIA Brother