Letter from the 2026 Conference Chair

Dear Colleagues,

Kanomax FMT

There are only a few days left before the deadline (Friday, May 8) for submitting abstracts to the 44th AAAR Annual Conference. Please be sure to submit your abstracts before this date, as there won’t be any extensions. You can submit your abstracts here. As a reminder, each current AAAR member received one free abstract code via e-mail in March.

You may submit abstracts for any of our topical areas, as well as for five Special Symposia that will be featured at the 2026 Conference:

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 

This year, we will have two separate opportunities for job seekers. Thanks to the initiative by our President, Suresh Dhaniyala, we are launching our first Career Fair on Monday night with participation from industry and Research Lab partners to promote interactions between job seekers and potential employers. This event will take place in the Exhibit Hall. If you’re looking for opportunities in industry or research labs, please come prepared with copies of your CV! Then, during Tuesday Evening’s Welcome Reception, we will again have the Meet the Job Seekers Poster Session. We will feature these posters prominently in the front rows of the Exhibit Hall to maximize visibility. Job Seekers can present their background and expertise to potential employers across academia, government, and industry. Potential Employers can meet the Job Seekers. To submit an abstract for this Poster Session, please follow the directions provided on our website linked above.  

The Student Chapters are also encouraged to present posters during the Tuesday Poster Session to help increase engagement with the AAAR Community. Instructions on how to submit an abstract for this Poster Session are provided on our website linked above.

I am excited to invite exhibitors to submit an abstract to take part in the Exhibitor and Instrument Application Showcase (click for more information on how to submit an abstract). Attendees, please note that these sessions will be held in the Exhibit Hall and are designed to foster engagement with Exhibitors, offering hands-on learning opportunities and discussions centered on real measurement applications and challenges. We hope you will plan to check them out!

Similar to previous years, we are working on organizing other fun activities throughout the week, including Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night on Monday, Fun Run on Wednesday morning, AAAR Musical Bingo Bash & Food on Wednesday evening, and a tour to Mt. Wilson Observatory on Friday afternoon. More details to follow in my next updates.

Student, Early Career, and Professional Opportunities

We are coordinating two Student Presentation Competitions again this year: the Student Poster Competition and the Student Oral Platform Competition! Students can sign up to participate in the competitions during abstract submission. Judges can sign up to volunteer during registration.

We are excited to bring back the Social Media Ambassadors Program, designed for students and early-career researchers. This initiative supports a more dynamic and consistent social media presence for AAAR by having ambassadors spotlight and promote key aspects of the conference—before, during, and after the event. Each ambassador will receive free conference registration and a travel grant as part of their participation. Applications will officially open in May. Stay tuned for more information to come.

We are planning for Student Assistants to help out during the tutorials and technical Sessions at this year’s conference. Each Student Assistant will receive admission to two tutorials for free.

In addition, a limited number of Travel Grants for Students and Professionals will be available.  The Call for Student Assistants and Travel Grant Applications will open in June, following the abstract submission deadline.  

Conference Venue and Details

Last month, Amy Sullivan, Taylor Brown, Maeve Carey, and I had a chance to visit Pasadena. We were all very impressed with the convention center and the area. The Conference Center is located within a few blocks of Old Town Pasadena, and within walking distance of many restaurants and shops. This year, we have blocks of room reserved at two hotels: Hotel Dena, Pasadena, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel (which is only a few steps away from the Pasadena Convention Center), and the Westin Pasadena, which is a 5-10 minute walk away through beautiful courtyards. 

The Exhibit Hall is a particularly impressive space in the Conference Center. Companies offering instrumentation and services in aerosol science and technology have already started to sign up for booths in the Exhibit Hall, which you can check out here. It will be open Tuesday through Thursday of the conference, allowing us to engage with and learn from these companies. In addition, several of them will be participating in our popular Hands-On Aerosol Instrumentation Design and Measurement Tutorial. You will be able to sign up for this Tutorial and 16 others when conference registration opens at the end of May, following the abstract submission deadline.

We are continuing to populate the entire conference website. Please keep checking back often.

Lastly, 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. As always, 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.

Sincerely,
Roya Bahreini
AAAR 2026 Conference Chair