Sol’s 2024 Symposium

November 22-23 at The Fort Mason Center, San Francisco

(Scroll down for schedule)

Over the last year, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) have become more visible in our world, with sightings on the increase and government, academia, and media taking notice as never before. This growing acceptance of a UAP presence, however, foregrounds just how little we understand about these enigmas, the alleged science and technology that make them possible, and what the United States and other governments may have learned about them over the years. We also are only beginning to anticipate the likelihood of a future in which UAP are taken for granted, with all the radical changes to our world and self-understanding that will bring.   More details at the bottom of this page.

Join the Sol Foundation to explore one of the great challenges of our time at our second annual symposium, which will take place November 22-23 at the Fort Mason Center, in San Francisco. Led by some of the most prominent and thoughtful voices on UAP from government, academia, and technology, Sol’s meeting this year reinvigorates the UAP conversation by showcasing new scientific discoveries, proposals for government reform, ideas for social action, and visions of technological innovation.  

Organized by Sol’s board of directors, Dr. Garry Nolan, Dr. Peter Skafish, and Jonathan Berte, the symposium features them as speakers as well as other prominent and new UAP voices, including:

Yoshiharu Asakawa, General Secretary of the UAP Caucus, Parliament of Japan
Dr. Eric Davis, theoretical and applied physicist, Earthtech, formerly the Aerospace
Corporation
Dr. Stephen Finley, Chair of African and African American Studies, Louisiana State University
Rear Admiral (ret.) Dr. Tim Gallaudet, former administrator, National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration
Ryan Graves, Executive Director, Americans for Safe Aerospace
Leslie Kean, journalist and author, UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record
Kirk McConnell, staff member (retired), Senate Armed Services Committee
Eric Schrock, Advisor, Quantum Frontier
Dr. Jacques Vallée, computer scientist and author, Passport to Magonia and The Invisible College
Dr. Beatriz Villarroel, astronomer, the Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations (VASCO) Project
Rizwan Virk, entrepreneur and investor, founder of Play Labs at MIT, and author of Startup Myths and Models and The Simulation Hypothesis
Dr. Alexander Wendt, Mershon Professor of International Security and Professor of Political Science at The Ohio State University (remote)

Due to limited room capacity, in-person attendance at the Fort Mason Center is by invitation only (video of the symposium will be made available at a later date). Requests for an invitation should be made using the form below. Please indicate if you would be consider spillover seating in our adjacent networking space, where talks will be livestreamed .

Media inquiries should be directed to

Schedule (some times subject to change):

Friday, November 22

DOORS OPEN at 8:30 AM

9:00-9:10
Opening Remarks
Dr. Garry Nolan and Dr. Peter Skafish

9:10-9:40
Update from the Frontlines: Aviation Safety and UAP
Ryan Graves, in conversation with Leslie Kean
9:40-10:10
A Proposal for a Whole of Government UAP Policy
Rear Admiral, retired Dr. Tim Gallaudet
10:10-10:25
Panel with Graves, Gallaudet, and Kean
10:25-10:45
Break
10:45-11:25
The Politics of Executive Branch UAP Secrecy
Dr. Eric Davis and Kirk McConnell, fireside with Peter Skafish
11:25-11:40
Q&A with Davis and McConnell
11:35-12:00
Japan’s Role in Creating International Cooperation on the UAP Issue
Yoshiharu Asakawa, former General Secretary of the UAP Caucus, Parliament of Japan
12:05-12:20
Q&A with Asakawa

Philosophical Investigation and UAP

1:45-2:15 pm
Title TBA
Dr. Peter Skafish
2:15-2:45 pm
UAP and “Human Security”
Dr. Alexander Wendt, (remote)
2:45-3:15 pm
Introducing the Archives of the Impossible
Dr. Jeff Kripal and Karin Austin
3:15-3:30 pm
Session Q&A
3:30-4:00 pm
Break
4:00-4:40 pm
Interreligious Dialogue Session (Title TBA)
Dr. Stephen C. Finley
Dr. Ted Peters (remote)
Special Guest Moderator
4:40-5:30 pm
Plenary Fireside Conversation with Jacques Vallée

6:00-8:00

Wine Reception

8:00-10:00 pm
Special Evening Event

Saturday, November 23

DOORS OPEN AT 8:30 AM

9:00-9:10 am
Opening Remarks
Dr. Garry Nolan and Dr. Peter Skafish

Science and UAP

9:10-9:40 am
Varieties of Scientific Evidence: Verifying UAP
Dr. Garry Nolan
9:40 am-10:10 am
New Results from the Galileo Project Observatory and Pacific Ocean Expedition
Dr. Avi Loeb
10:10 am-10:40 am
Civilian Astronomers’ Guide to UAP Research
Dr. Beatriz Villarroel
10:40 am-11:10 am
Panel Discussion
Loeb, Nolan, Villarroel
11:30-12:00 pm
Title TBA
Dr. James Beacham
12:00-12:15 pm
Q&A

At The Threshold of a New Future? UAP-related Technology and Investment

1:45-2:15 pm
Widening the Information-Energy Spectrum: Perspectives on UAP Technology Development
Eric Schrock
2:15-2:45 pm
Investment in UAP-Related Ventures: Opportunities, Models and Challenges

Rizwan Virk
2:45-3:15 pm
Using Competitive Artificial Intelligence to Combat UAP Misinformation

Jonathan Berte
3:15-3:45 pm
Panel Discussion with Schrock, Virk, and Berte
3:45-4:15
Break

4:15-5:00 pm
A Research Challenge for the 21st Century: UAP/NHI Hilbert Problems
Karl Nell in conversation with Garry Nolan

To apply for an invitation, fill in this form (please note that seats are nearly sold out):

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