Message from the President

Dear Colleagues,

The start of Spring has brought some challenges and uncertainty for our membership, and I hope that everyone is managing well.  The AAAR executive committee and I are committed to ensuring that AAAR’s actions account for our members’ well-being in every way possible.

That sentiment was an overwhelming consideration of the AAAR Board when we met in-person for our Winter Board Meeting in early March.  The meeting predominantly focused on the upcoming conference and its planning during a time of significant budget uncertainty. We focused on ensuring that the Pasadena conference has the best programming and attendance while remaining affordable for our community.  Some of the related highlights of the upcoming conference are listed below.

In support of our members’ career growth and progress, we are working on a new Career Fair and Mentoring session event on Monday (Oct 26, 2026) of the conference.  This event will connect students and post-docs with opportunities in industry, research labs, and academia.  We have several companies and organizations that have signed up to participate. If you are interested in exploring internships or full-time positions, or just mentoring related to job applications, please fill out this short survey.  If you are looking to attend the event as a hirer (industry representative, etc), you can learn about the event details, including benefits we will provide for your attendance, and sign up at this link.

We also have a lineup of exciting plenary sessions and symposiums that Roya will share more details about in her update. One highlight I want to mention is a fun and engaging symposium called Up-Goer Five, where presenters will share their work using only the 1,000 most common words. This challenge encourages researchers to communicate their ideas in ways that anyone can understand, an increasingly valuable skill. Participants in this symposium will be eligible for special prizes. To encourage Up-Goer Five presentations from students and senior researchers, AAAR will waive the abstract fee for submissions to this symposium.

The board voted to continue supporting travel grants for domestic researchers, international scientists, and underrepresented groups.  Also, we will continue with the social media ambassador program that will support students’ travel and participation in the conference.  Please look out for the announcement related to these opportunities in late May/early June.  

The AAAR team, including our past president Amy, conference chair Roya, and the Virtual team members Maeve and Taylor, recently visited Pasadena and came away very impressed with the convention site and the surrounding area, which offers many excellent dining options. In addition to an exciting technical program, we will offer a post-conference trip to Mt. Wilson on Friday evening.  Additionally, the greater Los Angeles area offers several family attractions that make it well worth extending your stay for the weekend.

The call for AAAR awards is now open. Please consider nominating a colleague for one of our eight annual awards. These awards recognize our members’ excellence in research, teaching, and service in different stages of their careers, and I hope you will think about nominating a deserving candidate.  Additionally, please consider nominating a colleague’s AS&T paper for an Outstanding Publication Award.  Please note that we have significantly simplified the nomination process for this award relative to past years.

We look forward to seeing your AAAR abstracts (due May 8th!), submissions to the social media ambassador program and travel grants, and early conference registration.

Please feel free to reach out to me (sdhaniya@clarkson.edu) with any questions you might have. I am very happy to help.

Sincerely,

Suresh Dhaniyala

President, AAAR Board of Directors