Message from the President, Suresh Dhaniyala

Dear Colleagues,

What a wonderful week we had in Buffalo, NY, when we gathered there for the 43rd Annual Conference. The weather was terrific all week, and for the first time ever at one of our conference hotels, we had free breakfast for attendees! Despite challenges in federal funding, I’m delighted to share that we had over 830 attendees, making this one of our largest conferences ever. This illustrates the resilience and dedication of our community.

This year, AAAR made a strong investment in growing its membership and supporting early- and mid-career aerosol researchers. Thanks to a generous grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), together with support from the President’s Fund, we awarded a record number of travel grants to researchers affiliated with federal agencies, early-career researchers, and students. We are proud to help ensure broad representation and opportunity across our community.  We hope to continue this level of support for the next conference also.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our immediate Past-President Amy P. Sullivan for her dedication throughout the year in helping plan the conference behind the scenes, and to Jason Surratt for his hard work in putting together a fantastic program that included community engaged research, latest topics in aerosol science via five symposia, and grand summaries of advances in aerosol science through four excellent plenaries. The conference ended on a light note with a hugely successful trip to Niagara Falls. Many thanks also to the AAAR Board for guiding us through a challenging period, and for their leadership and dedication. For those who couldn’t attend, or would like to revisit key sessions, many of the conference presentations are now online. I encourage you to explore them.

Looking ahead, I am thrilled to invite all of you to our 44th Annual Conference that will take place in Pasadena, CA, from October 26–30, 2026. This will mark the first time AAAR convenes in Pasadena. The Conference Chair, Roya Bahreini, has already started planning for tutorials, plenaries, and special symposia, and we anticipate an even bigger audience than this year. 

Following that, our 2027 meeting will bring us back to the Great Lakes region: for the first time ever, AAAR will convene in downtown Cleveland, OH. More details on the site and program will come in due course.  Over the past few years, we have made several improvements to our website and member services. The most important update is the expansion of the job board, which now lists over 20 opportunities, and the continued updates to the VMX membership directory. If you are interested in joining a working group or getting more involved, please contact Amy Sullivan.

As we look forward to the year ahead, I’m excited to work with Andrew Ault, the new AAAR Board, and the AAAR management team to guide the Association through another successful year. The work AAAR members do, on public health, climate, energy and more, touches on some of the most pressing issues facing society. It is a real honor to be part of this community and to serve you, and to help ensure that your contributions are fully recognized and amplified.

Thank you all for your commitment, your scientific contribution, and your community spirit. I can’t wait to see you in Pasadena next October.

Sincerely,

Suresh Dhaniyala

President, AAAR Board of Directors