Event Details | STRATUS Conference

Here you can find many event details for the STRATUS 2026 Conference, including the event synopsis, schedule, program committee, keynote speakers, and field trips.

Register
About the Conference
Event Schedule
Keynote Speakers
Student Prizes
Program Committee

About the Conference

The STRATUS 2026 conference brings together academics, industry representatives, and domain specialists to share perspectives on this rapidly evolving field of a wide range of topics. Since its inception in 2016, STRATUS went from a one-day to a two-day and then to a three-day annual workshop and is now a three-day conference and includes previously recorded field trips. Based on the received request from attendees, we have expanded the workshops to reach entities beyond the original scope of a Western New York audience.

This conference is in-person attendance.

What sets the non-profit STRATUS 2026 Conference apart from other specialized or larger UAS meetings are the important interdisciplinary topics ranging from the latest challenges in UAV platform design and technology to sensor design, information gathering and processing, and modeling to produce data that support decision-making.

The STRATUS 2026 Conference topics include:

Environmental Mapping, Monitoring and Modelling
Remote Sensing
3D and Multi-view Imaging
Platforms, Calibration, Sensor, and Imaging Systems
Multi-sensor Data Fusion
Technologies and Applications
Algorithm and Image Processing
Photogrammetry
Policy, Public Perception and Privacy Issues
K-12 Education
Applications focused on Upstate NY, Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario Regions
UAV Applications in Healthcare

The Special Focus of the STRATUS 2026 Conference is “hazards, environmental mapping, monitoring and forecasting”. We invite participants who are interested in sharing their insight, latest research, and technical challenges to engage in scientific and practical conversations to identify collaborative partners for facing the complex challenges under extreme conditions with holistic approaches in designing and testing integrated UAV mission planning, information gathering and decision making for extreme conditions, rapid response or emergency management.

Our Program includes both oral and poster sessions, student prizes for best paper/poster presentation, break and lunch for networking, keynote speakers, panel discussion, exhibits, live demonstrations, happy hours and social gathering. Thanks to our sponsors, we keep the conference fees affordable.

The STRATUS 2026 Conference is a collaborative organizational effort including researchers from some of the region’s leading universities. The general organizing committee is made up of researchers working at the interface of universities, industries, government agencies, and other community stakeholders from these institutions:

• Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
• SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF)
• University at Buffalo (UB)

And the scientific community converge abroad range of expert from many universities and institutes.

This year’s conference will be at the RIT Inn & Conference Center located 5257 W. Henrietta Road, West Henrietta, NY 14467

We all hope to see you at the STRATUS 2026 Conference.
#STRATUS2026

– the Conference Organization Team

If you have any questions about the conference, please contact ejipci@rit.edu.

Event Schedule

2026 Event Schedule

2026 Technical Program

Keynote Speakers

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

Dr. Steven J. Thomson is a National Program Leader (NPL) with the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and Fellow with the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). His career began as a Research Engineer with the University of Georgia, then moved on for a Ph. D at the University of Florida, where he developed a cyber-physical system that synergized soil-water sensing and soil-water balance modeling in a machine learning scheme to more accurately characterize crop water use for irrigation management. Dr. Thomson has background in sensing and electronic systems, precision crop and water management, remote sensing, applied statistics, and spray drift management for aerial application of crop protection materials. Dr. Thomson received both the Alpha Epsilon Award for his Research/Extension program and Outstanding Faculty Award in the Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) Dept. while on faculty at Virginia Tech. He was a Lead Scientist with the USDA ARS before joining USDA-NIFA as a National Program Leader in 2016. He has authored or co-authored over 100 journal articles, two book chapters, and several Extension publications and software.

President & CEO of NUAIR

Craig Marcinkowski is President & CEO of NUAIR, a nonprofit advancing the integration of UAS, advanced air mobility, and next-generation aviation technologies into the national airspace. NUAIR manages more than 1,900 square miles of FAA-Accepted airspace awareness infrastructure, enabling real-world autonomous operations at scale. With more than 25 years of experience across defense systems, surveillance, and commercial aviation, Craig has held leadership roles at Lockheed Martin, SRC Inc., Fotokite and Saab. He helped establish the first BVLOS drone corridors in the United States and was instrumental in launching New York’s nationally recognized drone corridor ecosystem. He also serves as an executive advisor and judge for GENIUS NY, the world’s largest accelerator for uncrewed systems and robotics companies. Craig holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and an MBA from Binghamton University.