IBM Research Scientist to Present AI Solar Storms Prediction

On Feb 17th 2026 at 8pm EST, Theodore van Kessel will be giving a fascinating presentation on "using AI (specifically Surya) to model and predict solar weather" titled: Surya - A Foundation Model for Heliophysics. He will be discussing the Surya foundation model for solar forecasting, data preparation, model architecture and downstream tasks including solar flare prediction. The presentation is being sponsored by the Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association and will be streamed via Zoom to the Coykendall Auditorium at SUNY New Paltz at 8PM and will also be available live for those at home.