TRETC 2026 kicked off on Thursday, January 15 at the headquarters of Aurora Technology in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. For close to 30 years the Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference (TRETC) has brought together K-20 educators, community partners, and business partners to showcase emerging technologies making a difference in the learning community.
After time for schmoozing, Marie Pelloni, the conference coordinator for the Pittsburgh Technology Council, introduced Matt Blackburn, Senior Manager for Government Relations at Aurora. In her introduction Marie highlighted the importance of collaboration in this year’s conference. According to Marie: “Tonight is about bringing people together-educational leaders, innovators, and partners to recognize the power of collaboration and to experience firsthand how emerging technologies are shaping the future of learning and work. At Aurora, that future is very real. Through their leadership in self-driving freight, Aurora is redefining how goods move across the country while creating new possibilities for safety, efficiency, and the workforce of tomorrow.“
Matt welcomed the group explaining that he has a special appreciation for educators since his wife is a teacher. He then explained how Aurora has set the standard for autonomous trucks building on the rich robotics tradition in Pittsburgh thanks to the research from Carnegie Mellon University.
After Matt’s presentation the attendees had a chance to jump inside an Aurora truck and have photos of themselves. The final part of the Network event featured a series of awards for Innovation in Education. Marie Pelloni and Norton Gusky, one of the original founders of TRETC, gave out the awards. According to Marie: “At its core, the awards are rooted in a simple but powerful belief: education transforms lives through collaboration. The most meaningful and lasting progress in education doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens when schools, communities, businesses, and organizations come together around a shared vision of student success.“
This year the awardees included:
- Cybertactics – K12
- Mars -Norton Gusky Friend of Education
- CMU INI-Higher Ed
- Mascaro – Industry
Kayleigh Gaborek, the Start on Success teacher for grades 6-12 at Pittsburgh Westinghouse Academy and a presenter at this year’s conference summarized the opening for TRETC 2026: “Such a great networking event at Aurora to kick off TRETC 2026! I met plenty of people doing wonderful things for our youth and got to learn about a self-driving truck!“
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