2025 FutureTech Agenda
Schedule Subject to Change
Full Agenda Coming Soon
Monday, May 5, 2025
1:00 PM
5:00 PM
5:00 PM
Table Top Set-Up
Grand Ballroom A
6:00 PM
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Registration Open
Grand Ballroom A
6:00 PM
7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Welcome Reception
The opening night reception is the perfect opportunity to meet and mingle with attendees before the event officially kicks off on Tuesday morning. Pick up your badge, grab a beverage and enjoy some casual face-to-face conversations.
Yosemite
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
7:30 AM
8:30 AM
8:30 AM
Networking Breakfast
Exhibit Hall Open 7:30 AM - 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall Open 7:30 AM - 6:30 PM
Grand Ballroom A
8:30 AM
8:40 AM
8:40 AM
Welcome Remarks
Scott Seltz
Publisher, Engineering News-Record
Publisher, Engineering News-Record
Grand Ballroom B
8:40 AM
9:25 AM
9:25 AM
Opening Keynote
What Owners Want: "Digital Transformation" Isn't a Buzzword. It's a To-Do List
Sadia Janjua
Chief of Digital Transformation, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Dimitra Karachaliou
Associate Vice President/Digitial Tranformation Advisory, AECOM
Yanan Ma
Digital AI Lead for AECOM East & LATAM region; Business Transformational Consultant, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Chief of Digital Transformation, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Dimitra Karachaliou
Associate Vice President/Digitial Tranformation Advisory, AECOM
Yanan Ma
Digital AI Lead for AECOM East & LATAM region; Business Transformational Consultant, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Grand Ballroom B
9:30 AM
10:15 AM
10:15 AM
Panel
Grand Ballroom B
10:15 AM
10:45 AM
10:45 AM
Networking Break in Exhibit Hall
Grand Ballroom A
10:45 AM
11:15 AM
11:15 AM
Keynote
Fusion Energy: There's a New Game in Town
Valerie Roberts
COO, Longview Fusion Energy Systems
COO, Longview Fusion Energy Systems
Grand Ballroom B
11:20 AM
11:40 AM
11:40 AM
Presentation
Grand Ballroom B
11:50 AM
12:30 PM
12:30 PM
Breakout Session
Mentoring Meets AI
Rich Scopelliti
Project Manager, Consigli
Steve Dell'Orto
Founder, ConCntric
Patrick Murphy
Chief Investment Officer, Coastal Construction; Co-founder and COO, CodeComply
Project Manager, Consigli
Steve Dell'Orto
Founder, ConCntric
Patrick Murphy
Chief Investment Officer, Coastal Construction; Co-founder and COO, CodeComply
Grand Ballroom B
12:30 PM
1:30 PM
1:30 PM
Networking Lunch
Yosemite
1:30 PM
3:00 PM
3:00 PM
Breakout Sessions
Grand Ballroom B
1:30 PM
2:10 PM
2:10 PM
Breakout Session 4
Possibilities: Bluesky Island
Hamzah Shanbari
Director of Innovation, Haskell
Kohichi Matsui
COO, Ken Robotech Corp.
Director of Innovation, Haskell
Kohichi Matsui
COO, Ken Robotech Corp.
3:00
3:30 PM
3:30 PM
Networking Break in Exhibit Hall
Grand Ballroom A
3:30 PM
4:15 PM
4:15 PM
Panel
4:20 PM
4:50 PM
4:50 PM
Panel
Picking Up the Pace of Today's Reality Capture Technology
Patrick Krzyzosiak
Director of Virtual Design, Construction & Technology, Rudolph & Sletten
Brian Beck
Associate, Project Coordinator – VDC/BIM, US West Technology Team, Stantec Architecture
Stan Khlevner
Co-founder and COO, Remote Optix Inc.
Director of Virtual Design, Construction & Technology, Rudolph & Sletten
Brian Beck
Associate, Project Coordinator – VDC/BIM, US West Technology Team, Stantec Architecture
Stan Khlevner
Co-founder and COO, Remote Optix Inc.
Grand Ballroom B
4:50 PM
5:10 PM
5:10 PM
Presentation
Window-integrated Envelopes for Affordable Net Zero NOW
Mark Isaacs
Founder and CEO, GS Research LLC
Founder and CEO, GS Research LLC
Grand Ballroom B
5:10 PM
5:15 PM
5:15 PM
Closing Remarks
Scott Seltz
Publisher, Engineering News-Record
Publisher, Engineering News-Record
Grand Ballroom B
5:15 PM
6:30 PM
6:30 PM
Networking Reception in Exhibit Hall
Grand Ballroom A
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
7:30 AM
8:30 AM
8:30 AM
Networking Breakfast
Exhibit Hall Open 7:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Exhibit Hall Open 7:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Grand Ballroom A
8:30 AM
8:40 AM
8:40 AM
Welcome Remarks
Scott Seltz
Publisher, Engineering News-Record
Publisher, Engineering News-Record
Grand Ballroom B
8:45 AM
9:15 AM
9:15 AM
Keynote
Deliver This: Transportation Infrastructure Owners Converge on Construction Tech
Cassidy M. Blowers, P.E.
Construction Resource Engineer, Delaware Dept. of Transportation
Construction Resource Engineer, Delaware Dept. of Transportation
Grand Ballroom B
9:20 AM
10:00 AM
10:00 AM
Panel
Private Eyes: Training a Proprietary AI Detective for Your Data Only
Ray Levitt
Operating Partner, Blackhorn Ventures; Kumagai Professor of Engineering Emeritus, Stanford University
Eric Lamb
Board Member, DPR Construction; President, WND Ventures
Atul Khanzode
CTO, DPR Construction; Vice President, WND Ventures
MODERATOR
Tom Sawyer
Special Correspondent, Engineering News-Record
Operating Partner, Blackhorn Ventures; Kumagai Professor of Engineering Emeritus, Stanford University
Eric Lamb
Board Member, DPR Construction; President, WND Ventures
Atul Khanzode
CTO, DPR Construction; Vice President, WND Ventures
MODERATOR
Tom Sawyer
Special Correspondent, Engineering News-Record
Grand Ballroom B
10:00 AM
10:30 AM
10:30 AM
Networking Break in Exhibit Hall
Grand Ballroom A
10:30 AM
11:00 AM
11:00 AM
Keynote
The Dodge Perspective
Steve Jones
Senior Director, Industry Insights Research, Dodge Construction Network
Senior Director, Industry Insights Research, Dodge Construction Network
Grand Ballroom B
11:05 AM
11:50 AM
11:50 AM
Panel
Field Forward: Driving Vital Data to the Workforce on the Jobsite
Brian Owens
VDC Engineer, The Weitz Co.
Mark Vibber
Senior Project Superintendent, The Weitz Co.
Tessa Lau
Founder and CEO, Dusty Robotics
MODERATOR
Steve Jones
Senior Director of Industry Insights Research, Dodge Construction Network
VDC Engineer, The Weitz Co.
Mark Vibber
Senior Project Superintendent, The Weitz Co.
Tessa Lau
Founder and CEO, Dusty Robotics
MODERATOR
Steve Jones
Senior Director of Industry Insights Research, Dodge Construction Network
Grand Ballroom B
11:55 AM
12:35 PM
12:35 PM
Keynote
It's Time for an RFP Reset: The Owner's Perspective
Amy Marks
SVP of Innovation, Compass Datacenters
SVP of Innovation, Compass Datacenters
Grand Ballroom B
12:35 PM
1:30 PM
1:30 PM
Networking Lunch
Yosemite
1:30 PM
2:15 PM
2:15 PM
Panel
Grand Ballroom B
2:20 PM
3:00 PM
3:00 PM
Closing Keynote
A Structured Approach to Construction Innovation
Rabih Zahnan
President, Wesgroup Construction
President, Wesgroup Construction
Grand Ballroom B
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What Owners Want: "Digital Transformation" Isn't a Buzzword. It's To-Do List
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is an infrastructure giant in terms of annual construction spend and the high value of the many multi-year projects it launches every year. Its innovations help set the course for the industry. The newly established Digital Transformation Unit leads the transformation within the Engineering Department and through this session, the team will present how the Digital Transformation Program and Framework can be scalable and adaptable to any organizations while sharing a series of case studies, showcasing AI-driven solutions the Port Authority has so far implemented within its Digital Transformation program. This should help bidders understand the Port Authority's project-related digital goals and ambitions, so bidders can better address them in their proposals.
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Fusion Energy: There's a New Game in Town
Longview Fusion Energy Systems is pulling together the financing and the design and construction teams to commercialize what looks like the next technology for distributed electric utility generation. Since Longview is prescribing the construction tech foundation for this now, we want to quiz them on the choices being made. This is the future and represents an owner creating something brand new that will need the best-in-class construction tech support, and that's what this owner is scoping now.
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Mentoring Meets AI
This session explores how new configurations of tools like AI, machine learning and predictive analytics can change the dynamics of generational knowledge transfer through an ability to "push" context-appropriate company knowledge to users, as planning and execution challenges arise. Modern systems are creating digital mentors of vast experience, whispering proprietary tips and guidance into the next generation professional's ear, based on troves of past project data. Rich Scopelliti, Project Manager at Consigli, will share how his company's approach to using such tools is helping ensure Consigli's next leaders will continue building on the company's intelligence foundations, and end the cycle of data silo creation that otherwise only grows more impregnable with time.
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Possibilities: Bluesky Island
This session will preview some intriguing new construction technologies still in development. One comes from a Japanese company with a solid record for creating and deploying collaborative robots on job sites. Ken Robotech's next invention is to be a rebar-tying robot for vertical and overhead surfaces in tunnel construction. The company is developing the robot with a Japanese partner and plans commercial launch within the next three years, with field tests planned first in Japan and global locations to follow. The developers' goal is to keep the device simple, lightweight, energy-efficient and low cost. Kohichi Matsui, COO, will tell us where the project stands.
We will also get a status report from Hamzah Shanbari, Haskell's Director of Innovation, where a funded development program, now in its second year, is seeking to process signal interference patterns that show up in ambient WiFi mesh blanketing job sites, when the coverage is degraded by interference with new obstructions. Shanbari's work seeks to use WiFi signal analysis to relate new sources of interference to objects in the project model, and track construction progress by using the arrival of new sources of interference to register when those model objects are put in place. The project is based on Shanbari's beautiful blue-sky idea. We will get a report and stand by for the next couple of years to see if he can pull it off.
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Window-integrated Envelopes for Affordable Net Zero NOW
Mark Isaacs' company, GS Research LLC, has been developing and testing window-and-wall assembly designs for achieving net-zero-energy results in tiny and micro homes, whose state-funded support Isaacs believes can support a testbed and path-to-market for rapid prototyping of wall and window designs for more ambitious construction, while helping to address acute housing shortages and affordability at the same time.
The rapid prototyping of structures of 120 sq ft or smaller can speed the learning curve for producing affordable, panelized Net-Zero buildings of larger sizes, as permitting and inspection requirements for micro homes are likely to be minimal, freeing innovation, while still addressing occupant health, safety and welfare as prime concerns.
Isaacs' work builds on multi-layer window designs validated by a CalTestBed-funded FLEXLAB installation at Berkeley Labs, as well as DOE-funded Cooperative R&D with Oak Ridge National Labs and Mississippi State University, which produced Near- and Net-Zero Energy CAD and energy models for Accessory Dwelling Units, multifamily stacked flats, townhomes and 4-story hotels to demonstrate how window-integrated envelopes apply to a wide range of Green Template buildings.
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Picking Up the Pace of Today's Reality Capture Technology
Rudolph & Sletten and Stantec Architecture are prioritizing on tools that reduce the cost and time it takes to bring high quality reality capture data to customers and the workforce for preconstruction planning, risk mitigation, progress documentation and lifecycle operations. Those efforts are leading -- and succeeding -- in many directions, say VDC leaders at both firms; Parick Krzyzosiak at R&S, and Brian Beck, at Stantec. Beck says the growing attraction of digital twins is building pressure to pick up the cadence, improve the quality and reduce the cost of reality capture data acquisition. Stan Khievner, co-founder of R&S's reality capture service provider, Remote Optix will explain how one new technology, "gaussian splat" modeling, may offer a piece of the puzzle. Krzyzosiak is testing gaussian modeling on a few new projects to see if it can help fill in an important gap -- even in its early development stage -- which is to very quickly and inexpensively create flyable models of sites and existing structures for early planning purposes.
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Deliver This: Transportation Infrastructure Owners Converge on Construction Tech
The Delaware Dept. of Transportation is the lead agency on a multi-year, federally-supported, four-state project to rationalize and coordinate the construction technology requirements of public transportation network owners to ensure that they are getting the data and technology support they all need from the construction industry, today and tomorrow. Now in its second year, the program's results are starting to gel. DelDOT's Construction Resource Engineer Cassidy Blowers is at the heart of it and will tell us where things stand -- and what project bidders need to know.
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Private Eyes: Training a Proprietary AI Detective for Your Data Only
Large enterprises in sectors such as engineering, construction, and real estate often possess a wealth of historical data, much of it already in digital form, that can be leveraged to train powerful AI solutions. At the same time, these companies are hesitant to share this valuable data with AI-based startups due to concerns around confidentiality, intellectual property, and competitive advantage., these companies are well positioned to capitalize on this data with increasingly powerful and accessible AI development tools by building in-house AI capabilities. This allows them to maintain full control over their data while developing proprietary solutions tailored to their specific needs. This panel will present three perspectives on this opportunity: Ray Levitt of Blackhorn Ventures, an early-stage Construction Tech VC investor, plus two leaders of DPR Construction, which has made initial investments applying AI to its own data: Eric Lamb, DPR Board Member and Partner in WND Ventures (DPR’s CVC); and Atul Khanzode, DPR CTO.
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The Dodge Perspective
Dodge Construction Network is a recognized leader in forecasting the construction economy and conducting cutting-edge research on the adoption, value and challenges of technology usage by contractors, owners and designers. Steve Jones, Senior Director of Industry Insights Research for Dodge will share highlights of Dodge's forecasts for the construction economy and recent research findings on the digital transformation of the industry.
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Field Forward: Driving Vital Data to the Workforce on the Jobsite
The Weitz Company has been adopting and implementing advanced construction technologies for many years. Recently, it has redirected its tech focus to concentrate on pushing out tools and systems that deliver vital project data directly into the hands of field personnel, improving crew performance and reducing costly jobsite conflicts.
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It's Time for an RFP Reset: The Owner's Perspective
Is there anything more misunderstood and yet more ubiquitous in construction than the Request for Proposals? The industry runs on RFPs. Nothing happens without them; Yet there are countless misconceptions and miscommunication between the owners issuing RFPs and the contractors and tradespeople interpreting and responding to them.
It’s time to press re-set on RFPs so that the two sides of our industry understand each other better. It’s also time for our industry to fully understand and take advantage of RFPs as a powerful tool for driving positive change in the industry, in terms of innovation, sustainability, diversity and much more. Owners have tremendous power to drive positive changes, and RFPs are the key to accomplishing that. And by demystifying RFPs, contractors and tradespeople will be able to more successfully align with owners, win more business and become invaluable partners.
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A Structured Approach to Construction Innovation
Innovation in architectural, engineering and construction organizations is often haphazard, leaving technology decisions to ad hoc committees or scattered departments. This session will explain how Wesgroup Construction has established a formal innovation function that provides structure and accountability, with a mandate to experiment thoughtfully towards quantifiable goals. Zahnan will explain how the company identifies the most impactful operational challenges— those ugly pain points on the jobsite that impede productivity, reduce certainty, or create unnecessary complexity—and matches them with fit-for-purpose solutions that deliver measurable impacts and improve performance for everyone. This session also explains how Wesgroup is scaling successes across multiple projects with quantifiable metrics, and ultimately transforming company culture to embed a spirit of continuous improvement into daily operations, so innovation becomes part of the organizational DNA.