Innovation trends in aviation: Kent Seminar Series Spring 2026 lineup

Illinois Center for Transportation is proud to present the Kent Seminar Series’ Spring 2026 lineup.

Each Thursday of the spring semester transportation leaders will share their expertise from 2 to 3 p.m., beginning Jan. 22 and concluding April 30.  There will be no seminar on March 19, the week of spring break.

This semester is set to feature 14 presentations, exploring a range of topics that address innovation trends in aviation. 

All presentations will be held on Zoom, with some speakers delivering their talks in person at ICT.

To access each week’s Zoom credentials, speaker abstracts and bios, and to stay informed about upcoming presentations, join ICT’s Kent Seminar mailing list or visit our website.

All lectures will be available on ICT’s YouTube channel. Below is a list of all speakers and presentation dates:

• Jan. 22: Yanfeng Ouyang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Jan. 29: Greg White, University of the Sunshine Coast
• Feb. 5: Kevin Spitz, Mead & Hunt’s Aviation Group
• Feb. 12: Navneet Garg, Federal Aviation Administration
• Feb. 19: Ali Azhar Butt, University of California, Davis
• Feb. 26: TBD
• March 5: Matthew Clarke, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• March 12: R. John Hansman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• March 26: Mark Hansen, University of California, Berkeley
• April 2: Daniel Bodony, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• April 9: Yang Zhou, Texas A&M University
• April 16: Jeb Tingle, U.S. Army Research and Development Center
• April 23: Kiruba Haran, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• April 30: TBD

For more information, contact ICT Communications.