2026 NSF CEDAR Workshop Agenda
21-26 June, 2026
Des Moines, Iowa
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| Time | Agenda | Presenter / Convener | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00-18:00 | Registration/Check-in | ||
| 08:30-08:40 | Introduction and Logistics | Student Reps | Jr. Ballroom |
| 08:40-08:45 | Getting organized for icebreaker | Jr. Ballroom | |
| 08:45-09:15 | Icebreaker | Student Reps | Jr. Ballroom |
| 09:15-09:45 | What is CEDAR? | Lynn, Student Reps | Jr. Ballroom |
| 09:45-10:00 | Coffee Break | ||
| 10:00-10:20 | Introduction to Space Physics Concepts | Mike Lundquist | Jr. Ballroom |
| 10:20-10:35 | Polar Ionosphere and Thermosphere | Charles Acomb | Jr. Ballroom |
| 10:35-10:50 | Mesoscale Structures in the Ionosphere | Grace Kwon | Jr. Ballroom |
| 10:50-11:15 | Coffee Break | ||
| 11:15-11:30 | Thermospheric Processes | Sophie Phillips | Jr. Ballroom |
| 11:30-11:45 | Madrigal Data Access | Katherine Cariglia | Jr. Ballroom |
| 11:45-12:00 | Magnetosphere-Ionosphere coupling | Brenna Royersmith | Jr. Ballroom |
| 12:00-14:00 | Catered Student Lunch | 106 | |
| 14:00-14:45 | Remote and In-Situ Instrumentation | Charles Acomb, Tedi Godfrey, Cameron Westerlund, Jenna Burgett, Kylee Branning | 101 |
| Data Access and Analysis | Katherine Cariglia, Alanah Cardenas-O'Toole, Enrique Rojas | 102 | |
| 14:45-15:00 | Coffee Break | ||
| 15:00-15:45 | How to Make Informative and Clear Plots | Brenna Royersmith | 101 |
| Student Funding Avenues (FINESST, GRFP, etc.) | Sophie Phillips, Isaac Wright | 102 | |
| 15:45-16:00 | Coffee Break | ||
| 16:00-17:00 | Modeling | Charles Acomb, Aaron Bukowski | 101 |
| Student Instrumentation Projects | Rick Marcusen, Alex Mule | 102 | |
| Computational Tools | Ben Martinez, Aaron Kirchman | 103 | |
| 17:00-19:00 | Welcome Reception (Light Appetizers) | Jr. Ballroom |
| Time | Agenda | Presenter / Convener | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00-18:00 | Registration/Check-in | ||
| 8:00-9:40 | Plenary Session | Jr. Ballroom | |
| 8:00-8:20 | NSF Update (PDF) | Shikha Raizada | Jr. Ballroom |
| 8:20-9:05 | NASA Heliophysics Division Update (PDF) | Nicki Rayl and John McCormack | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:05-9:10 | ONR Space Weather (PDF) | Bruce Fritz | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:10-9:15 | AFOSR Programs Overview (PDF) | Julie Moses | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:15-9:20 | NOAA Space Weather (PDF) | Irfan Azeem | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:20-9:40 | Agency Q&A | All Agencies | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:40-10:00 | Break | ||
| 10:00-12:00 | Breakout Workshops | ||
| GC1A: Impact of Terrestrial Weather on the Space Weather of the Ionosphere-Thermosphere-Mesosphere | Jens Oberheide | Jr. Ballroom | |
| Storm-Time Polar Upward Coupling: How Does the Ionosphere-Thermosphere System Regulate Magnetosphere, Zoom Link | Yu Hong | 101 | |
| Long-term variation in the ionosphere-thermosphere-mesosphere (ITM) system, Zoom Link | Chih-Ting Hsu | 102 | |
| 12:00-13:30 | Lunch on own | ||
| 12:00 - 13:30 | Judges lunch | 104 | |
| 13:30-15:30 | Breakout Workshops | ||
| GC1B: Impact of Terrestrial Weather on the Space Weather of the Ionosphere-Thermosphere-Mesosphere | Jens Oberheide | Jr. Ballroom | |
| Equatorial Aeronomy in Data Sparse Regions | Dustin Hickey | 101 | |
| Community-Driven maintenance and enhancement of GLobal AirglOW Model for Ionosphere-Thermosphere Science | Sunip Mukherjee | 102 | |
| 15:30-16:00 | Break | ||
| 15:30 - 18:30 | Poster session | 107 & 108 and the foyer | |
| 15:30-20:30 | Poster judging | Poster judges | 104 |
| 17:00-18:00 | CEDAR database hands-on training | Larisa and Katherine | 101 |
| 18:30-21:00+ | Excursion: Iowa Cubs baseball game | Principal Park |
| Time | Agenda | Presenter / Convener | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00-18:00 | Registration/Check-in | ||
| 8:00-9:30 | Plenary Session | Jr. Ballroom | |
| 8:00-8:40 | Science Highlight III: Space-Atmosphere Metal Layer Physics and Wave Dynamics from Boulder to McMurdo | Xinzhao Chu, Jackson Jandreau, Yingfei Chen | Jr. Ballroom |
| 8:40-9:10 | CEDAR Early Career Prize Lecture: Wave-Driven Circulation in the Lower Thermosphere: A Dynamical Pathway for Whole-Atmosphere Coupling (PDF) | Jack Wang | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:10-9:30 | Science Highlight IV：Collective Impacts of Atmospheric Waves and Geomagnetic Disturbances on Space Weather | Xian Lu | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:30-10:00 | Break | ||
| 10:00-12:00 | Breakout Workshops | ||
| GC2A: Cross-Scale Coupling and Variability in the Upper Atmosphere and Ionosphere: Pathways to Improved Space Weather Predictability, Zoom Link | Soudeh Kamali | Jr. Ballroom | |
| CEDAR Maker's Club - Exchanging designs, code, operating procedures, and hacks useful for CEDAR experimental science | Mark Conde | 101 | |
| Facility updates and coordinating the reservation of ‘World Day’ experiments between incoherent scatter radar operators and interested scientists for 2027, Zoom Link | Lindsay Goodwin | 102 | |
| 12:00 - 13:30 | Lunch on own | ||
| 12:00 - 13:30 | Judges lunch | 104 | |
| 13:30-15:30 | Breakout Workshops | ||
| GC2B: Cross-Scale Coupling and Variability in the Upper Atmosphere and Ionosphere: Pathways to Improved Space Weather Predictability, Zoom Link | Soudeh Kamali | Jr. Ballroom | |
| Machine Learning Applications in Observing and Modeling the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere | Jiahui Hu and Wenjun Dong | 101 | |
| Auroral science and studies of coupled MIT dynamics using sounding rockets and hybrid heterogeneous data techniques | Leslie Lamarche | 102 | |
| 15:30-16:00 | Break | ||
| 15:30 - 18:30 | Poster session | 107 & 108 and the foyer | |
| 15:30-20:30 | Poster judging | Poster Judges | 104 |
| 17:30-20:00 | Student Demo Event | Bryce Halter | 105 |
| Time | Agenda | Presenter / Convener | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00-18:00 | Registration/Check-in | ||
| 8:00-9:30 | Plenary Session | Jr. Ballroom | |
| 8:00-8:10 | Poster Prize Announcement | Erin Lay, Bea Gallardo-Lacourt | Jr. Ballroom |
| 8:10-8:30 | NASA Carruthers Geocorona Observatory Mission Update | Lara Waldrop | Jr. Ballroom |
| 8:30-9:30 | Distinguished Lecture: Choose Your Own Adventure (PDF) | Larry Paxton | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:30-10:00 | Break | ||
| 10:00-12:00 | Breakout Workshops | ||
| Advances in Equatorial, Low and Mid latitude Aeronomy and Ionospheric Irregularities | Zihan Wang | Jr. Ballroom | |
| Meteoroids and Space Debris | Julio Urbina | 101 | |
| From Database to Discovery in CEDAR Research: Interoperability, Metadata, and AI Enabled Workflows Across Geospace Repositories, Zoom Link | Enrique Rojas | 102 | |
| 12:00 - 13:30 | Lunch on own | ||
| 12:00 - 13:30 | CSSC lunch | 104 | |
| 12:10 - 13:15 | Student lunch Sponsored by CPAESS ("State of the Students” - your feedback on CEDAR experience) | 106 | |
| 13:30-15:30 | Breakout Workshops | ||
| GC3A: Redefining Polar Cap Patches: Understanding High-Latitude Irregularities, and their implications for the coupled MIT system | Leslie Lamarche | Jr. Ballroom | |
| New frontiers in the integration of upper atmosphere wind observations with global general circulation models, Virtual Meeting Link | Fabrizio Sassi | 101 | |
| Turning Scientific Vision or Ideas into Funded Research, Zoom Link | McArthur Jones Jr. | 102 | |
| 15:30-16:00 | Break | ||
| 16:00-18:00 | Breakout Workshops | ||
| GC3A: Redefining Polar Cap Patches: Understanding High-Latitude Irregularities, and their implications for the coupled MIT system | Leslie Lamarche | 101 | |
| Multi-decadal Variation, Zoom Link | Susan Nossal | 102 | |
| Incoherent scatter radar science highlights and future applications, Zoom Link | Lindsay Goodwin | 104 | |
| 16:00-17:00 | NSF aeronomy programs office hour | Shikha Raizada | 106 |
| 18:30 - 20:00 | Banquet | Jr. Ballroom |
| Time | Agenda | Presenter / Convener | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00-11:30 | Registration/Check-in | ||
| 8:00-9:30 | Plenary Session | Jr. Ballroom | |
| 8:00-8:20 | Science Highlight V: Earth’s Dynamic Thermosphere-Ionosphere System – What Space-Based Imaging has Revealed and Why Prediction Remains Elusive? | Richard Eastes | Jr. Ballroom |
| 8:20-9:20 | CEDAR Science Going Forward | K Lynch, R Nikoukar, M Conde, B Swartz, E Rojas Villalba, S England, and Aimee Merkel | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:20-9:30 | Announce new CSSC members, Closing remarks | Lynn Harvey | Jr. Ballroom |
| 9:30-10:00 | Break | ||
| 10:00-12:00 | Breakout Workshops | ||
| CEDAR Science Going Forward: Advances, Innovations, and Future Opportunities for Studying Coupled Systems guided by the Decadal Survey ZOOM LINK | Kristina Lynch and Doug Rowland |
101 | |
| Impacts of Natural and Artificial Hazards on the Upper Atmosphere | Sovit Khadka | 102 | |
| Adjourn |