ConGregate 12: Full Schedule

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11:30am EDT

Spaceship Design

Sunday July 19, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT

High Point Room (Panels)

Be it a military frigate or Exploration vessel, all spaceships require life support systems and a means of locomotion. Explore these and other critical infrastructure needed to carry humanity beyond our atmosphere.

Moderator: Gray Rinehart

Speakers

Gray Rinehart

Literary Guest

Gray Rinehart is an award-winning author, an editor, a singer/songwriter, and a retired Air Force officer. He is the only person to have commanded a USAF satellite tracking station, written speeches for Presidential appointees, devised a poetic form, and had music on The Dr. Demento... Read More →

Dennis M. Myers

Literary Guest

Born and raised in central Minnesota, Dennis M. Myers developed a serious reading habit early in life due to the influence of his grandmother. In late high school he read one particularly "awful" book and, with all that teenage hubris, decided that he could do better.After spending... Read More →

Jennifer Whitworth

Science Guest

Jennifer Whitworth is an engineer and writer from Huntsville AL. Currently working at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, she supports Artemis and Gateway Payload Integration working directly with the science teams to help them through the various processes to design, build, test... Read More →

Dr. Philip A. Kramer

Science Guest

Dr. Philip A. Kramer is a biomedical researcher who studies aging, oxidative stress, and metabolism. In addition to his academic works, he is a hard science fiction author with two published novels (under the name P. A. Kramer), and several award-winning short stories. His blog (... Read More →

Jim Beall

Science Guest

Jim Beall (BS-Math, MBA, PE) has been a nuclear engineer for 50 years, beginning as a nuclear engineering officer in the US Navy. Civilian experience includes design, construction, inspection, enforcement, and assessment with a nuclear utility, an architect engineering firm, and the... Read More →

Sunday July 19, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
High Point Room (Panels)

Science

12:00pm EDT

"Weird" Science: Unexpected Ways to Put Science in Science Fiction

Sunday July 19, 2026 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT

Piedmont Salons 1-2 (panels)

In science fiction, we like to see FTL spaceships, strange alien species, resurrected extinct species, instantaneous communication, and similar things. But a lot of everyday items are afterthoughts in sci-fi. How will technology affect clothes? Food? Ordinary medical care? And what about the "soft" sciences, like industrial safety, environmental science, anthropology, or political science? How will those change the landscape of the future?

Moderator: Robert Hampson

Speakers

Angela Giddings

Film Guest

A.M. Giddings is a writer, scientist, cellist, independent filmmaker and aspiring swamp hag from North Carolina. She has a PhD in Microbiology and has authored multiple scientific articles in virology, cell line design, and gene therapy. She enjoys writing stories that live within... Read More →

Dave Dobson

Literary Guest

A native of Ames, Iowa, Dave loves writing, reading, boardgames, computer games, improv comedy, pizza, barbarian movies, and the cheaper end of the Taco Bell menu. Also, his wife and kids.Dave has written ten novels including fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, and thrillers. In addition... Read More →

EJ Isaacs

Literary Guest

EJ Isaacs is at heart, a geek. As a child I grew up with classics in science fiction from Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark and Robert Heinlein. A late comer to role playing, he enjoyed creating backgrounds to the characters he was playing. For a three-year period, he was involved with... Read More →

Dr. Robert Hampson

Literary Guest

Professor, Neuroscientist, and Unofficial Penguin WhispererWhen not advancing the frontiers of neuroscience or constructing elaborate multiversal portals in his office, Dr. Rob can be found lecturing to an elite audience of penguins in lab coats. An advocate of hands-on learning... Read More →

Sunday July 19, 2026 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
Piedmont Salons 1-2 (panels)

Science

Tech Needs sound system

11:30am EDT

12:00pm EDT

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