Smart Cities MIAMI 2026: 10 Years of Smart Cities: Lessons, Leaps, and the Road Ahead

Keynote Speakers

Reid Ewing is a Distinguished Professor of City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah and Distinguished Chair for Resilient Places. He is the first Distinguished Professor in the College of Architecture and Planning’s history.

Earlier in his career, he was director of the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, associate professor at the National Center for Smart Growth, state representative from northwest Tucson, and analyst at the Congressional Budget Office.  His areas of specialization are land use, transportation, and urban design. A recent citation analysis found that Ewing’s work has been cited more than 47,000 times, making him the 3rd most highly cited among about 1,050 planning faculty in the U.S. and Canada.

Former Congressman Patrick Erin Murphy is the CEO and Founder of Togal.AI, where he leads the company’s day-to-day operations. He also serves as Executive Vice President of Coastal Construction, the largest general contractor in Florida. Patrick comes from a multi-generational construction family and grew up working across the business—from laborer to project engineer, estimating assistant, and accounting manager. After graduating from the University of Miami, he joined Deloitte, earning his CPA license, which he maintains today.

From 2013 to 2017, Patrick represented Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast in the U.S. House of Representatives and was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2016. After leaving office, he chaired the Future Forum Foundation, a nonprofit researching issues affecting millennials, including automation, artificial intelligence, and the evolving economy. In 2023, he was appointed to the President’s Export Council under President Joe Biden, advising on strategies to strengthen American exports and support job creation through trade.

Patrick founded Togal.AI to modernize preconstruction by bringing AI-powered efficiency to takeoffs—helping contractors save thousands of hours and win more bids. Today, he blends real-world construction experience with cutting-edge technology to transform how projects get built. Under his leadership, Togal.AI has earned major industry recognition, including first place at the 2022 eMerge Americas Global Startup Showcase, The Big 5’s 2022 Startup City Global Pitch Competition, recognition from BuiltWorlds, and Most Innovative Contractor of the Year at the 2024 RED Awards. Beyond business, Patrick serves on the board of Miami Bridge Youth & Family Services, supporting vital community programs.

Dr. Dan Frangopol is the inaugural Fazlur R. Khan Endowed Chair of Structural Engineering and Architecture Emeritus at Lehigh University. Before joining Lehigh University in 2006, he was Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He is recognized as a leader in the field of life-cycle engineering of civil and marine structures. Dr. Frangopol is the Founding President of both the International Association for Bridge Maintenance and Safety (IABMAS) and the International Association for Life-Cycle Civil Engineering (IALCCE).

Frangopol is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Construction, and a foreign member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Mexican Academy of Engineering, Academy of Europe (London), Engineering Academy of Japan, Royal Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, Romanian Academy, and Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences. He is a distinguished member of ASCE, founder and editor-in-chief of Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, and holds 5 honorary doctorates and 14 honorary professorships from major universities. He has authored/co-authored 5 books, more than 70 book chapters, and over 500 articles in refereed journals including 15 award-winning papers.

In 2023, ASCE established the Dan M. Frangopol Medal for Life-Cycle Engineering of Civil Structures.

Read Dr. Frangopol’s full profile here.

Speakers

Brian Freed, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), has a career path that reflects a unique blend of experience in business analysis as well as successful operational execution in the establishment and growth of new businesses focused on data-centric applications.

As the CEO of Illuminex AI, Brian is committed to democratizing the implementation of Computer Vision and AI with a focus on bespoke applications where challenges such as data scarcity and technical integration hinder the development of precise and cost-effective solutions. He has a proven track record of driving growth in both startup and globally established environments. His extensive financial background and broad technical knowledge make him a proven leader in solution development, strategic alliances, go-to-market strategies, and sales.

Before joining Illuminex AI, Brian held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Eagle Aerospace, a company specializing in Airfield Technology solutions. He also served as the COO for Phizzle, a developer of IoT software that facilitated remote monitoring and control of quality and compliance solutions used in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Prior to these roles, Brian was the General Manager of the High-Performance Data Analytics (HPDA) business unit at SGI. He established this unit from scratch and successfully grew it to a $50M annual run rate.

In addition to his experience in the tech industry, Brian spent 13 years on Wall Street as a Chartered Financial Analyst. During this time, he focused exclusively on research, financial modeling, and stock recommendations for companies specializing in High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Data Lifecycle technologies.

With more than thirty years of experience committed to achieving strategic growth and technology objectives for MIA, Maurice Jenkins has been a keen adopter to self-service technologies and has encouraged airlines serving the airport to embrace innovation also. Prior to his role as a CIO, Mr. Jenkins was responsible for defining and managing IT capital assets and IT management processes to ensure their successful implementation and project integration. In addition, he served as the Aviation Department’s Chief Information Officer/Director of Information Systems, responsible for the development and implementation of standards‐based policies and procedures that support business operations which improved the overall quality of service of enterprise IT systems. His strategic vision has successfully culminated in the integration of new technology in the opening of the new South and North Terminals at Miami International Airport. In addition, the success of these new system implementations such as Biometrics, Virtual Queuing and new innovating technologies show his technical acumen and dedication to serve the residents of Miami‐Dade County.

Mr. Jenkins has implemented an area wide marketing information service to both hotels and conventions centers using current flight information data from Miami International Airport. AAAE and ACI best in practice initiatives are strictly adhered to that display his commitment to providing the highest level of service governed by industry standards. He graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Computer Information Systems. He also earned certifications in Strategic Management from Florida International University and Human Resources Management from Nova Southeastern University. He served as the Chairman of the Business Information Technology Committee (BIT), which was established by Airports Council International (ACI) to set strategic objectives future technology direction for airports. He was also served as Chairman of the Florida Airports Council’s Information Technology Committee from February 2019 until December 2021. Mr. Jenkins has given presentations on implementation solutions to key IT leaders and airport IT conferences in the U.S. and internationally sharing his proven successful practices with his peer group.

Dr. Man Luo is a Senior Machine Learning Scientist at Abridge. She was previously a Senior AI Scientist at Intel and completed her postdoctoral training at Mayo Clinic. She received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University.

Her research focuses on multimodal and language model post-training, with applications in healthcare, including clinical documentation (e.g., SOAP note generation) and model evaluation. Her work aims to make AI systems more reliable, clinically useful, and aligned with real-world medical practice.

Dr. Helena Solo-Gabriele is a Professor at the University of Miami Department of Environmental Engineering where she teaches courses in environmental measurements, environmental engineering microbiology, and in water treatment systems.  Her research focuses on problems that relate the environment to human health.  She conducts studies to identify sources of microbial contamination, uses wastewater to understand the spread of disease in communities, and evaluates sources and movement of arsenic in the environment.  Her current active projects focus on evaluating the use of ultraviolet light for disinfecting street and sidewalk surfaces, using wastewater to track dengue virus spread, and evaluating the fate of arsenic at beaches from the seaweed called sargassum.

Lightning Talks

Minghui Cheng, PhD | University of Miami College of Engineering + School of Architecture

Prof. Cheng is an Assistant Professor jointly appointed by the College of Engineering Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and by the School of Architecture at the University of Miami, with an affiliation with the Climate Resilience Institute. Previously, he was a postdoctoral associate at Systems Engineering, Cornell University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Lehigh University in 2021 and his B.E. in Civil Engineering at Hunan University in 2016. His research focuses on the system digital twin of infrastructure systems, life-cycle management, and AI agents for structural analysis. He is on the International Scientific Committee of IALCCE 2023 and 2025, Organizing Committee of IABMAS 2026, and a member of the Task Group 1 of ASCE Tech Council On Life-Cycle Performance, Safety, Reliability.

P.I., Structural and Infrastructure Intelligence Lab (Si² Lab)

TALK TITLE: Civilbot: an AI agent for Structural Modeling and Analysis

From ancient pyramids to modern skyscrapers, structural engineering has shaped human civilization for millennia. Yet, existing workflow of structural modeling and analysis remains highly manual and time consuming. CivilBot addresses this challenge by deploying AI agents that automatically translate design intent into structural analysis models. By combining advanced AI with engineering knowledge, CivilBot produces reliable results that engineers can trust. By accelerating structural design cycles from months to days, CivilBot enables Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) firms to increase project throughput and revenue without being constrained by workforce capacity.

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Eddie  is Founder and CEO of EG3A, an analytics, advisory, and architecture firm specializing in healthcare, public safety, and civic infrastructure across Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean. With more than 30 years of experience, he works at the intersection of health systems, climate resilience, and smart city strategy.

He has led major initiatives for the University of Miami’s Health System – UHealth, the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital System, the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, the City of South Miami, the Town of Bay Harbor Islands, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as international hospital master planning efforts in Chile, Brazil, Panama, and Puerto Rico.

Eddie is recognized for advancing a hurricane-resilient hospital concept integrating drone-enabled logistics and distributed emergency response systems, and continues to explore how autonomous technologies and decentralized infrastructure can redefine healthcare delivery in climate-vulnerable regions.

TALK TITLE: Hospitals Without Walls: Reimagining Healthcare Infrastructure for a Hurricane-Prone Future

Coastal cities like Miami face increasing climate volatility — rising seas, stronger hurricanes, and stressed infrastructure that disproportionately impacts healthcare delivery when communities need it most. This talk explores the next evolution of hospital design: facilities conceived not as isolated buildings, but as resilient, adaptive nodes within a smart urban ecosystem.

Building on a hurricane-resilient hospital concept previously featured in Dezeen and WLRN, Eddie Egea will present an expanded vision for “Hospitals Without Walls” — integrating drone-enabled logistics, decentralized energy systems, autonomous supply chains, AI-driven operational modeling, and real-time data integration.

The session examines how distributed infrastructure and resilient design strategies allow healthcare systems to maintain — or even expand — capacity during extreme weather events. As climate risk accelerates, the challenge is no longer simply protecting hospitals from storms, but designing healthcare systems that actively adapt, respond, and lead in times of crisis.

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Dr. Jiayu Li’s research centers on the development and application of low-cost environmental sensing technologies for air and water quality monitoring. Her work focuses on low/moderate cost sensors to measure trace gases, particulate matter, and nutrients, with applications spanning methane emissions, nitrate sensing in watersheds, and bioaerosol characterization. By integrating sensor development with laboratory studies and field deployments, her research enables high-resolution, scalable measurements in complex real-world environments.

TALK TITLE: Low-Cost Environmental Sensing Technologies for Air- and Water-Quality Monitoring

Johnny is Head of Growth at Togal.AI, helping customers get the most of their innovative takeoff software. An estimating expert, he has been working in the construction industry for nearly a decade. Before moving to the U.S., Johnny worked for the largest specialized engineer solutions firm in the Middle East. He received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the American University of Beirut, in addition to an MBA from the Miami Herbert Business School.

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Dr. Sivakumar Ramanathan is an Assistant Professor in Practice in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Miami, Florida. He obtained his Bachelor’s (with honors) in Civil Engineering from SASTRA Deemed University, a Master’s in Construction Technology and Management from IIT Madras, and his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Miami. Before joining the University of Miami as faculty, he was a post-doctoral researcher with Prof. Jason Weiss and Prof. Burkan Isgor at Oregon State University and worked on solutions for the development of low-carbon concrete materials including transport properties of concrete pavements, natural pozzolans, biochar, and cellulose nanomaterials. His research has been funded by the Portland Cement Association, the University of Miami, the United States Endowment for Forestry and Communities, and the California Board of Forestry. He was awarded the PCA J.P. Gleason Fellowship (in 2018), Slag Cement Association Research Project of the Year (in 2020), and American Coal Ash Association Education Foundation Scholarship (in 2020). He is known for his work in the development of SCM reactivity tests, seawater concrete, and the development and use of bio-based materials for sustainable infrastructure materials, among other topics.

TALK TITLE:  MEAMI Initiative Miami Engineering Autonomous Mobility Initiative 

Widespread coral bleaching affected the Florida Keys during the historic 2023 global bleaching event, and with more than half of the world’s reefs disappeared, the need for reef protection is urgent. In response, the Kanopi has been designed to alleviate thermal stress by shielding coral reefs from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Bioinspired by a honeycomb structure, Kanopi is a modular, hexagon-shaped shading system that is designed to cover expansive reef sites. This solution utilizes marine-grade materials alongside innovative strategies that enable rapid deployment and retrieval. This approach shows promise as an effective strategy for protecting these vital, yet fragile, ecosystems. (Read NEWS@TheU story.)

TALK TITLE:  Kanopi: Scalable Coral Reef Protection Against Thermal Stress

Dr. Wei Sun is the Co-Founder and CEO of AIWaysion, Inc. AIWaysion leverages technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and edge computing for safer and more efficient transportation. Prior to founding AIWaysion, Dr. Sun worked as a research associate in the Smart Transportation Applications and Research Laboratory (STAR Lab) at the University of Washington (UW). He has a Ph.D. in transportation engineering from University of Florida and a bachelor’s degree in transportation engineering from South China University of Technology. Dr. Sun is an expert in edge AI, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), transportation data analytics, and traffic operations and safety.

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