RITS 2026 Schedule

The Recovery Innovation Technology Summit (RITS)

The RITS will begin on Tuesday, September 22, 2026 and will conclude on Thursday, September 24. For a detailed schedule of presentations and events, please refer to our tentative schedule below.

Tuesday, September 22, 2026 – Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street, Tripp Commons (2nd Floor) (view map)

• 6:00 – 7:00 pm – Registration and Arrivals
• 6:00 – 8:00 pm – Keynote Dinner & Cocktails
• 7:00 pm – Keynote Presentation– Dr. Owen O’Leary, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 – Summit Day 1 – Genetics Biotechnology Center Building, 425 Henry Mall (1st Floor) (view map)

• 8:00 am – Registration, Coffee and Opening Remarks
• 9:00 am – DPAA Partnership Recovery Missions Research and Innovation: Current Approaches and Future Opportunities – Dr. Brett Hoffman
• 10:00 am – Cold the Day the Body Is Still Warm: How American Death Investigation Loses Cases Before Anyone Knows They Exist – Dr. Erik Dykeman
• 11:00 am – Rapid Spectroscopic Screening of Skeletal Remains to Support Species Identification and DNA Preservation Assessment in Recovery Contexts – A Conceptual Framework – Dr. Sayali Sangmnerkar
• 12:00 pm – BREAK FOR LUNCH
• 1:00 pm – Pacific Wrecks Finding and Identifying P-38J “Marge” 42-103993 assigned to Major Richard I. Bong and Solving U.S. MIA Cases – Justin Taylan
• 2:00 pm – Sponsor Talk: Daicel Arbor Biosciences
• 2:30 pm – DPAA partners in PNG: lessons from a terrestrial aircraft crash site – Dr. Gregg Jamison
• 3:00 pm – Subsurface imaging of unmarked “burial” sites: Case studies from conflict zones, Holocaust mass execution/burial trenches, Potter’s Fields, and within cemeteries – Dr. Harry Jol
• 4:00 pm – Poster Session / Wine & Cheese Reception
• 6:00 pm – End of Day 1

Thursday, September 24, 2026 – Summit Day 2 – Genetics Biotechnology Center Building, 425 Henry Mall (1st Floor) (view map)

• 8:30 am – Coffee and Collegiality
• 9:00 am – UW MIA Undergraduates: Expanding Research – Lauren Jentsch
• 9:30 am – An Undergraduate Account of Conducting Missing-In-Action Investigations – Thomas Sime
• 10:00 am – Sponsor Talk: New England Biolabs
• 10:30 am – Coffee Break: Thermo Fisher Scientific
• 11:00 am – International Collaboration and the Cases of 1st Lt. Nathan Baskind and Pvt. Sam Apstein – Dr. Jordan Karsten
• 12:00 pm – BREAK FOR LUNCH
• 1:30 pm – Methods in Determining the Location of Lost Aircraft Related Features from World War II – Dr. Todd Ahlman
• 2:00 pm – Vanished In Valor: Cold Case Search for My MIA Brother – Michael Darter
• 3:30 pm – Closing Remarks
• 4:00 pm – End of Day 2