Letter from the 2026 Conference Chair, Roya Bahreini

Dear Colleagues,

The last few months have been busy for everyone involved in the planning of the 44th AAAR Annual Conference in Pasadena, CA (October 26-30, 2026). We have received a record number of abstracts and are excited to showcase the work of all the presenters at the upcoming Conference. The Conference Program is available online. If you have not registered yet, please note that the Super Early Bird Registration deadline is July 30th. I encourage you to take advantage of the low registration rates we offer through Super Early Bird and Early Bird (August 27th) deadlines by visiting the AAAR Registration page.

The details of the technical program and all the exciting Conference Events are coming together nicely. We will start on Monday with Tutorials, from 10 am-6 pm. Given the short lunch break on Monday, we will provide lunch to the tutorial attendees. During registration, you can sign up to attend up to four of the 18 different tutorial sessions. The tutorials include fundamental topics in aerosol science as well as applied modeling and hands-on instrumentation sessions.

We will host the inaugural AAAR Career Fair and Mentoring event on Monday evening. The event is free to all participants. We already have an exciting and diverse group of industrial partners, research labs, and State/District regulatory agencies participating in the Fair. You can check out all the perks associated with being a participating organization or a job seeker on the website linked above. The website allows the participating organizations to post their job openings as well as the job seekers to upload their resumes ahead of the conference. If planning to attend this event, please indicate it during your registration.

Starting on Tuesday, we hold a series of exciting Plenary Lectures delivered by top experts in our field. The Plenary abstracts and bios of the speakers are provided on the Plenary Sessions page, but I give you a preview of each lecture below:

1. Tuesday: AEESP Lecture: The Great Smog Caper by Richard Flagan (Caltech)
2. Wednesday: Lundgren-Marple Lecture: The Aerosol Aqueous Phase and the Curious Behavior of Fine Particle Acidity by Rodney J. Weber (GaTech)
3. Thursday: The Changing Face of U.S. Air Quality: Two Decades of Rising Contributions of Mineral Dust by Jenny Hand (CSU, CIRA)
4. Friday: Friedlander Lecture: The Indoor Air Microbiome by Jordan Peccia (Yale University)

Our technical program will showcase parallel Platform and Poster Sessions in our usual topical areas as well as the following five Special Symposia:

1. Honoring Prof. Benjamin Liu and his Contributions to Aerosol Science
2. Dust in Earth and Celestial Systems: Sources, Sinks, Characteristics, Environmental and Climatic Impacts
3. Interplay Between Aerosol Thermodynamics and Aging
4. The Breath of Fire: Aerosol, Health, and Protection in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
5. The Up-Goer Five Challenge: Making Big Aerosol Ideas Simpler

In addition, we have a number of research-oriented events organized by various AAAR Committees and members throughout the week. On Tuesday, the Representation and Equity Affairs Committee will hold a panel at noon on “Enabling Stronger Communities through Community Engaged Research in Aerosol Science,” while on Thursday the Committee discusses how representation and equity are addressed at AAAR. On Tuesday afternoon, Aerosol Magee Scientific will hold a special pre-reception event on “Advancement in Carbonaceous Aerosol Measurements”. Thursday afternoon/evening, we will have the ASCENT Meeting, followed by a panel on WUI- Fires, “Frontlines of WUI Fires: An Interactive Panel on Emissions, Response, and Impacts”. You can find more details on these events on the Conference Events page.

As in previous years, we will showcase companies and exhibitors offering instrumentation and services in aerosol science and technology in the Exhibit Hall. The Exhibit Hall will be open Tuesday through Thursday of the conference, allowing everyone to engage with and learn from these exhibitors throughout the week, and especially during Tuesday evening’s Welcome Reception as well as the Exhibitor and Instrument Application Showcase sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.

During the Welcome Reception, we will also have the Meet the Job Seekers and Student Chapter Posters Session. The Job Seekers can present their background and expertise to potential employers across academia, government, and industry while potential employers can meet the Job Seekers. Furthermore, Student Chapters will get a chance to increase their engagement with the broader AAAR community.

Student, Early Career, and Professional Opportunities

We will again host several events for professional development of students and early career scientists. These events are the New PI Gathering (Tuesday at noon), Mentor/Mentee Meet-Up (Tuesday during Welcome Reception), and the Early Career Event (Wednesday lunchtime). More details on each event are listed on the Conference Events page.

Additionally, we are coordinating two Student Presentation Competitions again this year: the Student Poster Competition and the Student Oral Platform Competition! Judges can sign up to volunteer during registration.

This year, there’s an opportunity on Tuesday (11:30 am-1:00 pm) to participate in a Team-Based Learning Session on Droplet evaporation, offered by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol Science.

Similar to the last few years, we will have Social Media Ambassadors to spotlight and promote key aspects of the conference—before, during, and after the Conference.

Applications for Student Assistants opened last month. We accept applications until the needs of the conference are met, but no later than August 7th. Student Assistants are each required to help with two (2) tutorials and monitor four (4) sessions at the conference. There are also volunteer positions available to help out at the Registration Desk or with the various events on Monday. In exchange, Assistants receive free admission to 2 Tutorials. Please note that Student Assistants are also required to attend the orientation meeting on Monday, October 26, 2026 at 8:00 AM and must stay for the entire conference, which ends on Friday at 12:30 pm. Similar to last year, we are asking applicants to the Student Assistants program to please wait to register for the Conference until a response from the student application process is received.  We will let you know which 2 Tutorials you have been assigned to cover as well as provide a discount code to be used for your registration.

Non-technical Fun Activities!

We have planned various fun activities throughout the week. Monday night, we have the Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night with light refreshments, Tuesday night the LGBTQIA+ Meet-Up with light refreshments, Wednesday morning the Fun Run around neighborhoods close to the Lower Arroyo Park, and Wednesday night the very popular AAAR Musical Bingo Bash with light fare and refreshments. You can indicate your interest in attending any of these free events during registration.

On Friday afternoon, we have organized a tour to Mt. Wilson Observatory. The tour includes a boxed lunch and transportation to and from the Observatory. Since space is limited, please make sure you pay and reserve your spot by August 3rd during registration.

For more details on each of these events, please check out the Conference Events page.

Hotel Information

AAAR has reserved blocks of rooms at two hotels near the Pasadena Convention Center: Hotel Dena, Pasadena Los Angeles (which is adjacent to the Pasadena Convention Center) and the Westin Pasadena (which is ~10-minute walk away and by the historic Pasadena City Hall). The Convention Center and AAAR hotels are located within a few blocks of Old Town Pasadena, and within walking distance of many restaurants and shops.

We have negotiated reduced sleeping room rates at both hotels. We hope you will take advantage of these rooms, as when AAAR continues to maintain a consistent history of filling our room block, it helps AAAR earn credit to reduce costs for renting the Convention Center and being able to receive lower hotel rates at future Conferences. The room cut-off date is October 5^th or when the blocks run out, whichever comes first. You can find more information about the hotels and the link to reserve your room on the Hotels page of the AAAR website.

If you have any questions about abstract submission, reach out to support@AAARabstracts.com, or for AAAR Membership details, reach out to info@aaar.org. If you have any questions about the conference or suggestions on how we can improve the experience, please feel free to reach out to me at bahreini@ucr.edu.

As you can imagine, it takes a village to organize a conference! I’d like to end by thanking everyone involved in the process, especially the Special Symposia organizers, Working Group and Tutorial Chairs and Vice Chairs, the Abstract Team, staff at Virtual, different Committee leads and members, our various Sponsors, and last but not least, our Immediate Past and Current AAAR Presidents, Amy Sullivan and Suresh Dhaniyala!

We continue to populate the entire Conference website as we get closer to October, so please keep checking back often. I look forward to seeing you in Pasadena!

Sincerely,
Roya Bahreini
AAAR 2026 Conference Chair