Hello All:
I wanted to extend an invitation to ARSTM members who might be in Aurora on Wednesday to attend the preconference. We will be at the Aloft, Denver International Airport, which is approximately 15 minutes from the Gaylord Rockies Resort. If you can’t make it to the preconference but would like to meet up for the group dinner, please let me know as well.
You can find the preconference schedule below.
Looking forward to seeing folks in Aurora.
Best,
Dustin
Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine
NCA 2026 Preconference: Plastics/Plasticity
Wednesday, November 19th, 2025
Aloft, Denver International Airport
Aurora, Colorado
9:00AM – Registration and Coffee
9:15 -Welcome by the organizer – Dustin Greenwalt, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
9:20-10:35AM – Plasticity in the Wild
Allyson Gross, University of Wisconsin, Madison, “Cryo-chronotopes: Cryonics and the Promise of Bodily Transformation”
Kenny Walker and Olarotimi Ogungbemi, University of Texas, San Antonia, “Rhetorical Practice & Methodological Plasticity in the Urban Bird Project’s Biocultural Field Guide to Borderlands Birds”
Kathryn Lambrecht, Arizona State University, “Elevating Community Voices: A Comparison of AI versus Human-Generated Comments of Extreme Weather”
Marissa Buccilli, Virginia Technological University, “Clinical Trial Disruption as Rhetorical Work: Risk Proxies and Epistemic Plasticity in the Women’s Health Initiative” (hybrid)
Break 10:35-10:45AM
10:45AM-12:00PM – Metaphorical Plasticity
Lynda Olman, The University of Nevada, Reno, “The Plasticity of College English(es)”
Jordan Frith, Clemson University and Sara Read, Portland State University, “Sociotechnical imaginaries and the metaphorical plasticity of a $500 million supercomputer” (hybrid)
Brian Ballentine, West Virginia University, “Rhetorical Force, Malleable Metals, and Lead Ammunition Bans” (hybrid)
12:00PM -1:30PM – Lunch on your own
1:30 – 2:45 Hybrid Panel
Robin Blount Wilson, UNC Chapel Hill, “Fantasies of Plasticity: The Rhetorical Activation of Identity Stability and Brain Plasticity in Robert Kirkman and Simon Racioppa’s Invincible”
Ilija Rascovic, University of Birmingham, “Emergent Forms: Materialising Rhetoric via Self-Assembly and Plasticity”
Daniel Ajayi, Texas Tech University, “Public Agency and the Construction of Health Risk on Nigerian Trans-Scientific Digital Spaces”
Fatima Zohra, University of Waterloo, “Rhetoric Then and Now: (Re)Tracing the Lineage of Rhetorical Persuasion through the Classical, Contemporary, and Algorithmic Eras”
2:45-2:55 Break
2:55-4:10PM Hybrid – The Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine in the Midst of Mass Censorship and Disinformation: A Panel Discussion
Presenters:
Jillian Klean Zwilling, Governors State University
Amy Koerber, Texas Tech University
Kathryn Lambrecht, Arizona State University
Kari Lundgren, Oregon Institute of Technology
Zoltan Majdik, North Dakota State University
Cristina Negoita, Oregon Institute of Technology
6:00PM – Preconference Dinner – Location to be determined
DUSTIN A. GREENWALT
Assistant Professor
HE/HIM/HIS
SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
MAIL CODE 6605
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
2002A COMMUNICATIONS BUILDING 1100 LINCOLN DRIVE
CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS 62901
Dustin.Greenwalt