Salon '26
Salon '26: AI From Insight to Impact That Matters
The Center for Health Outcomes and Informatics Research is proud to present Salon '26: AI From Insight to Impact That Matters. The event features hands-on workshops, a poster session, a resource and career expo, a panel discussion, and a networking dinner designed to connect attendees with peers, mentors, and collaborators.
This FREE, university-wide event welcomes students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members, data scientists, and AI practitioners to explore the real-world impact of data science across sectors.
Event details
Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026
Time: Program runs from 12:30 to 7:15 p.m. Register for the whole day or parts of it.
Location: Loyola University Chicago, Water Tower Campus
Schreiber Center, 16 E. Pearson St., Chicago
Please continue scrolling to see the full schedule. Register now.
Keynote
Charles Elwood
President: Solismatica AI | Microsoft AI MVP
Responsible AI: From Promise to Practice
Panelists
Melinda Rodriguez
Vice President, Senior Manager at Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago | Data Transformation | Data as a Product Advocate | Chicago Innovation Fellow
Diana Acosta-Navas
Assistant Professor of Management, Business Ethics | Loyola University Chicago
Mohammad Hosseini
AI Ethics | AI in Scholarly Publishing | Research Ethics & Integrity Assistant Professor at Northwestern University
Odhran Reidy
Product Marketing @ Cresta | AI Agents - Human Agents, in one unified Contact Center AI platform
Schedule Overview
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 12:30pm - 1:00pm | Workshop Kickoff & Coffee |
| 1:00pm - 3:30pm | Hands-On Data Science Workshops Scroll down to see the workshop schedule |
| 3:30pm - 4:30pm | Posters and Expo |
| 4:35pm - 4:45pm | Welcome Reception |
| 4:50pm - 5:30pm | Panel: Responsible AI: Promise to Practice |
| 5:30pm - 5:45pm | Presentation of CHOR Awards |
| 5:45pm - 6:20pm | Dinner + Networking |
| 6:20pm - 7:00pm | Keynote: Giving People Their Voice, Human-Centered AI in Schools and Health Systems Charles Elwood, President, Solismatica AI and Microsoft AI MVP |
| 7:00pm - 7:15pm | Closing Remarks |
Workshops
Workshops run from 1–3:30 p.m., with a kickoff and coffee at 12:30 p.m.
Kickoff
| Time | Name | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM | Workshop Kickoff & Coffee | All | Join us for light refreshments and kickoff remarks |
Workshop Session 1
| Time | Name | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM | Building AI Agents | Beginner | Build your own AI agent to help you analyze data |
| 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM | Interacting with LLMs in Python | Intermediate/Advanced | Learn how to use basic programming to interact with ChatGPT or other LLMs in python |
| 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM | No Code Machine Learning | Beginner | Explore basic prediction techniques using machine learning using a visual tool |
Workshop Session 2
| Time | Name | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM | Basic Programming In Scala | Intermediate/Advanced | Learn the basics of Scala; a Language that is widely used in big data processing and distributed systems |
| 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM | Chain of Thought: Prompt Engineering | Beginner/Intermediate | Learn how to apply the chain-of-thought technique to prompt engineering to obtain reliable answers from an LLM such as ChatGPT |
| 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM | Responsible AI | Beginner | A hands-on workshop to understand and assess the safe and ethical development and deployment of AI |
Schedule Overview
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 12:30pm - 1:00pm | Workshop Kickoff & Coffee |
| 1:00pm - 3:30pm | Hands-On Data Science Workshops Scroll down to see the workshop schedule |
| 3:30pm - 4:30pm | Posters and Expo |
| 4:35pm - 4:45pm | Welcome Reception |
| 4:50pm - 5:30pm | Panel: Responsible AI: Promise to Practice |
| 5:30pm - 5:45pm | Presentation of CHOR Awards |
| 5:45pm - 6:20pm | Dinner + Networking |
| 6:20pm - 7:00pm | Keynote: Giving People Their Voice, Human-Centered AI in Schools and Health Systems Charles Elwood, President, Solismatica AI and Microsoft AI MVP |
| 7:00pm - 7:15pm | Closing Remarks |
Workshops
Workshops run from 1–3:30 p.m., with a kickoff and coffee at 12:30 p.m.
Kickoff
| Time | Name | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM | Workshop Kickoff & Coffee | All | Join us for light refreshments and kickoff remarks |
Workshop Session 1
| Time | Name | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM | Building AI Agents | Beginner | Build your own AI agent to help you analyze data |
| 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM | Interacting with LLMs in Python | Intermediate/Advanced | Learn how to use basic programming to interact with ChatGPT or other LLMs in python |
| 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM | No Code Machine Learning | Beginner | Explore basic prediction techniques using machine learning using a visual tool |
Workshop Session 2
| Time | Name | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM | Basic Programming In Scala | Intermediate/Advanced | Learn the basics of Scala; a Language that is widely used in big data processing and distributed systems |
| 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM | Chain of Thought: Prompt Engineering | Beginner/Intermediate | Learn how to apply the chain-of-thought technique to prompt engineering to obtain reliable answers from an LLM such as ChatGPT |
| 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM | Responsible AI | Beginner | A hands-on workshop to understand and assess the safe and ethical development and deployment of AI |