The Schedule 

Traveling to Madison

Registration 2:00 - 6:00 

[2nd floor entrance, Memorial Union]

Tour to the Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center (WCIC)

(for people signed up for the tour)

Please meet Ray Collier at the PSNA registration desk by 2 pm (Annex room, 2nd floor of Memorial Union). He will guide you to the bus, which will take you 20 min to WCIC, for a ~75 min tour and a discussion about transformation of various species.  Buses will return you to the conference site prior to 4:30 pm.

If you missed the bus (and if you have own transportation), you may drive direct to WCIC, located at 8520 University Green, Middleton, WI 53562. Parking at WCIC is free. Upon arrival, please call Sally Muller at 608-358-4697, who will welcome and bring you into the facility.

Welcome Reception - with heavy appetizers, salads, sliders, dessert, bar

[Tripp Commons/outside terrace, Memorial Union]

Coffee, tea, juice, whole fruits, scones, egg bites 

[Profile room, just outside of the lecture room Tripp Commons]

Natural product chemistry and artificial intelligence (AI)

Discussion leader: Lucus Busta (University of Minnesota-Duluth)

• Gaurav Moghe (Cornell University)

• Hannah Wayment-Steele (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

• Lucus Busta (University of Minnesota-Duluth) - 2026 Arthur Neish Award presentation

Talks selected from submitted abstracts

AM break - with coffee, tea, juice

[Tripp Commons, Memorial Union]

Workshop 1 - with buffet lunch (for workshop attendees)

Join us a series of 60–80 minute interactive workshops during the PSNA lunch break on June 16, 17, and 18. Please sign up for individual workshops at the online registration or before the meeting. These sessions focus on active engagement and small group discussion rather than lectures. Lunch is included for workshop attendees. There will still be 30-60 min after these workshops before the afternoon session, leaving you plenty of time to relax and connect with peers.

“Forest from the Trees” Integration of A.I. into phytochemical research

This workshop aims to catalyze interdisciplinary research and collaboration, especially to integrate artificial intelligence (A.I.) into phytochemical research. After brief presentations by two to three scientists integrating computational analyses in their research, participants will engage in group discussion by choosing one of few topics related to integrating A.I. into our phytochemical research: i) Reimagining research pipelines with A.I., ii) Routes and resources to learn about A.I. models and how to use them, iii) Ethics and responsible integration of A.I. into phytochemical research.

Facilitator: Lucus Busta (University of Minnesota-Duluth) 

[Tripp Commons, Memorial Union]

Chemical Ecology: Molecular Mechanisms and Ecological Functions

Discussion leader: Dorothea Tholl (Virginia Tech)

• Kathy Darragh (Indiana University)

• Amy Trowbridge (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

• Xu Yuan (Michigan State University) - 2026 TPJ-PSNA Award presentation

PM break - with coffee, tea, juice

Talks selected from submitted abstracts

[Tripp Commons, Memorial Union]

Coffee, tea, juice, bagels/cream cheese, mini croissants 

[Profile room, just outside of the lecture room Tripp Commons]

Workshop 2 - with box lunch (for workshop attendees)

“Work in Progress” Career workshops for both academic and non-academic jobs

Students and early career attendees can directly interact with panelists from industry, governmental agencies, academia, publishers, intellectual property firms etc. to broaden career perspectives. Students at this workshop will receive specific, actionable feedback on how best to prepare for their future career. This workshop will be separated into three concurrent sessions based on career stage: 1) students and postdocs before having an independent position, who are still exploring and deciding the direction of their career, 2) undergraduate students or new graduate students, who are exploring a possibility of or navigating the beginning of graduate school, and 3) new, pre-tenured principal investigators, who are establishing their own new research programs.

Facilitator: William Hay (USDA ARS, Peoria, IL) 

Group 1. Graduate students/postdocs [Tripp Commons ]

• Mentors: Laura Remis (Science Advances), Margaret Robinson (Quarles & Brady LLP), Bobby Wei (Metware), Sarah Whitcomb (USDA-ARS, Cereal Crops Res.), Greg Robinson (Shimadzu), Hailey Truman (Shimadzu), Heejin Yoo (Univ. of Utah), Yang Qu (Univ. of New Brunswick), Brenda Winkel (Virginia Tech)

Group 2. Undergraduate students [Founders Room, 2nd floor, behind registration desk ]

• Mentors: Madelyn Schaut (UW Madison), Elizabeth Siaw (State Univ. of New Jersey), Tyler Wintermute (Michigan State Univ.)

Group 3. Early career PIs [National Panhellenic Council ]

• Mentors: Natalia Dudareva (Purdue Univ.), Philipp Zerbe (UC Davis), Toshihiro Obata (Univ. Nebraska), Gloria Muday (Wake Forest Univ.), Gaurav Moghe (Cornell Univ.)

Evolution of plant natural product pathways 

Discussion leader: Hiroshi Maeda (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

• Stacey Smith (University of Colorado)

• Craig Schenck (University of Missouri) - 2026 Arthur Neish Award presentation

• Peters Reuben (Iowa State University)

Talks selected from submitted abstracts

PM break - with coffee, tea, juice

[Tripp Commons, Memorial Union]

Coffee, tea, juice, coffee cake, mini muffins 

[Profile room, just outside of the lecture room Tripp Commons]

Workshop 3 - with buffet lunch (for workshop attendees)

“Seeds to Harvest” Discovery to commercialization

The third workshop aims to explore ways to move phytochemical discoveries into commercialization for the production and/or use of economically important phytochemicals. This workshop will start with a short talk describing a success story of phytochemistry-related commercialization. Following, small groups of five to seven people will be formed to outline step-by-step routes toward commercialization of a certain compound or pathway of interest that each participant picked. At the end of the workshop, each group will be invited to share their commercialization plan to the entire group.

Facilitator: Charlay Wood (University of Wisconsin-Madison) 

• Dave Hallahan (Entomol LLC) 

• Cecily Brose (Commercialization Specialist at UW-Madison, Discovery to Product) 

• Dave Sausen (Regional iCorps Mentor at UW-Madison Technology Entrepreneurship Office)

[Tripp Commons, Memorial Union]

Take down posters in the Great Hall by 1:00 pm for preparation of banquet.

Bar opens

[Great Hall, 4th floor, Memorial Union]

Banquet Dinner / Award ceremony - with a seated, plated dinner & bar

[Great Hall, 4th floor, Memorial Union]

Traveling back home or exploring Madison!

The Farmers Market on every Saturday at the capitol square.