
Welcome!
We are excited to announce our 3rd international conference of the AOTI series…

This year, we will be focusing on the UFO — or UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) — an aspect of the phenomenon receiving increasing coverage in the media as new whistleblowers are stepping forward to share credible testimony regarding their interactions with the Impossible. Officials operating within political and legal circles on the Hill have been paying attention and are beginning to take the subject matter seriously. Plausible deniability is, apparently, no longer plausible.
To address this emerging shift in the cultural dialogue, this year’s conference will be guided by several questions: What role do UAP and experiencers play in our understanding of the phenomenon? Might the influence of UAP or Non-Human Intelligences (NHIs) be traced back to religious traditions of the past? How does this possibility change our understanding of religion’s past, present and future? What kinds of intellectual, socio-cultural and existential shifts does such knowledge ask us to make? What does the inquiry lend to new conversations between science and religion?
Above all, the AOTI conference series functions as a community builder, connecting a diverse, international collective of intellectuals and seekers who transcend any professional or private category. Presenters from previous events have included physicists, physical anthropologists, biologists, archivists, experiencers, historians, philosophers, and humanists whose areas of study range from: literary theory, American military history, and analytic philosophy, to Buddhism, African American religions, and American-Mexican history.
The first conference featured our archival donors and announced the AOTI collection to the world. The second conference, on transdisciplinarity and transnationalism, featured a series of models or theories of anomalous phenomena from the arts, sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
Because these events are very expensive to host, and we want to have more of them in the future, we are charging a registration fee of $175. This will not cover all of our costs, but it will help us pay for some of our catering and venue expenses. We will close the registration after 230 commitments, as our auditorium only holds enough space for that number. We will also livestream the conference which is not bound in the same way. Registration fee for the online event is $50.
Any and all financial gifts to the Archives of the Impossible are greatly appreciated, and much needed!
You can support us now via the button below.
"The UFO and the Impossible"
April 3-5, 2025
Thursday
4:00 Welcome:
- William B. Parsons (Harry and Hazel Chavanne Professor of Religion, Rice University)
4:15 Introductions:
- Diana Pasulka (Professor of Religious Studies, UNC-Wilmington)
4:30 Plenary 1.
- Garry Nolan (Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professor Endowed Chair in the Department of Pathology, Stanford University)
5:30 Plenary 2.
- Timothy Gallaudet (Retired Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy)
6:30 Drinks and Hors D'Oeuvres
Friday
9:30 Plenary 3.
- Karl Nell (Retired Colonel, U.S. Army)
10:30 Break
11:00 Astronomy, Physics, and Ontology
- Wes Watters (Professor of Astronomy, Wellesley College)
- Kevin Knuth (Professor of Physics, State University of New York at Albany)
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Experiencers and AOTI Metadata Research Panel
- Karin Austin (Project Manager, Archives of the Impossible, Rice University)
- Kimberly Engels (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Molloy University)
- Amanda Focke (Head of Special Collections, Woodson Research Center)
- Elliot Hauser (Assistant Professor of Information Science, University of Texas, Austin)
- Charles Yokoyama (Professor of Neuroscience, Fujita Health University)
3:00 Break
3:30 The Ethics of Contact
- Matthew Roberts (Retired Cryptologist, U.S. Navy)
- Kimberly Engels (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Molloy University)
- Darren King (Subject Specialist & Podcaster “Exoacademian”)
Saturday
9:30 Plenary 4.
- Peter Skafish (Co-Director of the Sol Foundation, Stanford University)
10:30 Break
11:00 Religion and the UFO
- Darnise Martin (Loyola Marymount University, Emeritus)
- Hussein Ali Agrama (Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago)
- James Madden (Professor of Philosophy, Benedictine College)
- Matthew Bowman (Howard Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate University)
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Introduction:
- Jeffrey J. Kripal
Fireside Chat:
- Paul H. Smith (Retired Major, US Army Remote Viewing Program)
- Michael C. Cifone (Founder and President of the Society for UAP Studies, Editor-in-Chief of Limina)
2:30 Break
3:00 Plenary 5.
- Brenda Denzler (Author of The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs)
4:15. Final Thoughts on "The UFO and the Impossible"
- Diana Walsh Pasulka (Professor of Religious Studies, UNC-Wilmington)
- William B. Parsons (Department of Religion, Rice University)
- Jeffrey J. Kripal (Department of Religion, Rice University)

Thank-you!
We look forward to connecting with you soon at AOTI 2025!
Conveners:
Prof. William B. Parsons, Rice University
Karin Austin, Project Manager, Archives of the Impossible, Rice University
Prof. Diana Pasulka, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Prof. Jeffrey J. Kripal, Rice University