The annual ISSNAF "Young Investigator Awards Finalists Poster Conference," where award finalists meet with prize presidents and sponsors, will be held on November 14 at the Italian Embassy in Washington DC (3000 Whitehaven Street, NW).

The event will begin at 2:30 PM with opening remarks from Italian Ambassador to the United States Mariangela Zappia, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy Fausta Bergamotto, and ISSNAF President and NASA/JPL member Cinzia Zuffada, along with a video message from Italian Minister of University and Research Annamaria Bernini.

The conference will feature three main sessions: A debate on "Promises and Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence"; Presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award; Announcement of the Young Investigator Awards winners

The AI debate will be moderated by Elisa Bertino, Professor of Computer Science at Purdue University, and will include distinguished panelists: Vincenzo Del Monaco, MIMIT Diplomatic Advisor and G7 Digital and Technology Working Group Co-Chair; Eva Spina, Head of MIMIT's Digital Connectivity and New Technologies Department and G7 Digital and Technology Working Group Co-Chair; Fil Menczer, Professor of Computer Science at Indiana University; Pietro Perona, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computation and Neural Systems at California Institute of Technology; Karen Perry, Chief Architect for Intel Health and Life Sciences (HLS) Solutions; Giorgio Quer, Associate Professor of Digital Medicine at Scripps Research Institute

This year's Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Riccardo Dalla-Favera, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at Columbia University.

The Young Investigator Awards will then be announced, with three finalists competing in each of the following categories: Embassy of Italy Award for AI Research; Franco Strazzabosco Award for Engineering Research with focus on Sustainable Energy; INFN Bruno Touschek Award for Fundamental Physics Research; Mario Gerla Award in Computer Science; Paola Campese Award for Research in Malignant Hematological Diseases; RnB4 Culture Award for Innovation in Italian Cultural Studies.