The UIowa Computing Conference (UICC) is an annual event hosted by ACM@UIowa, ACM SIGGRAPH, Women in Computing Sciences (WiCS), and EPX Studio, bringing together students, faculty, alumni, and industry professionals to celebrate computing education and careers — with a special focus on the thriving tech ecosystem right here in Iowa and the Midwest.
The event welcomed students and community members from across the University of Iowa, alongside four accomplished UIowa alumni representing organizations including Microsoft, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Crusoe AI, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. We were proud to host, right here in Iowa City, speakers whose careers have taken them from these very classrooms to the frontlines of AI infrastructure, national security, human-computer interaction, and computer graphics.
The conference schedule included keynote talks from four UIowa alumni speakers (Tyler Jensen, Kelsey Huebner, Dr. Geoffrey Fairchild, Ernest Petti), panels and workshops across career, technical, and cybersecurity tracks, informal networking, a Capture the Flag competition, and a Student Research Expo and Awards Ceremony.
Attendees engaged with topics spanning artificial intelligence, human-centered design, national security, broadcast technology, cyber defense, and biocomputing — reflecting the remarkable breadth of what a computing career can look like.
"For future UICC events, I think it would be cool to continue showing how students can find jobs and professions in industries that are atypical for CS or CS-related degrees, such as law or creative technologies" - Mikayla Jensen, President of WiCS
The President of SIGGRAPH, echoed this sentiment with an eye toward expanding creative fields.
"More people specialized in computer graphics! I think that there is a lot of interest in the field and given that we haven't had a CG professor in a bit I think it's a good way to expose students to the field." - Fin Deevy, President of SIGGRAPH
A standout moment for many was the alumni panel, which gave speakers room to go deeper than a keynote format allows.
"My favorite part of UICC was the panel. It allowed the speakers to answer thought-provoking questions in depth and build off of each other's responses to create a more balanced and nuanced discussion." - Ben Hourcade, UICC 2026 Attendee
Thank you to our attendees, speakers, and food vendors (Insomnia, New Pioneer, Saj Grill, Subway) for making UICC 2026 a resounding success. Your participation, insights, and enthusiasm were instrumental in fostering an engaging and enriching experience for everyone involved. Thank you again to everyone who played a part in bringing this event to life — we look forward to seeing what our community builds next.
