NASA’s Physics of the Cosmos Program, in collaboration with the Physics of the Cosmos Program Analysis Group Executive Committee, is pleased to announce the Third Early Career Workshop. Participants will benefit from engaging interactive sessions covering essential topics including grant opportunities, navigating data archives, and effective strategies for career advancement.
Location
Virtual
Dates
22-24 September 2026
1:00pm-4:00pm ET / 10:00am-1:00pm PT
Community
Physics of the Cosmos
Type
Workshop
Physics of the Cosmos
Inspiring the Next Generation of Astrophysicists
The workshop will be held on September 22 – 24, 2026, from 1:00PM to 4:00PM Eastern Time and will be fully virtual.
This workshop aims to provide early career scientists with valuable insights into the groundbreaking research conducted within the Physics of the Cosmos Program, demonstrate essential tools and resources available to them, and address their questions and concerns.
Registration about Inspiring the Next Generation of Astrophysicists
This third workshop will discuss three topics—Science, Missions, and Career Development— and will also showcase the importance of collaborations.
This workshop is tailored for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scientists looking to enhance their professional trajectory in astrophysics.
Workshop Schedule
The workshop will include a tutorial on the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) Science Explorer (SciX), talks on upcoming missions including the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) and the Ultraviolet Explorer (UVEX), updates on NASA programs for students and postdocs, a CV writing mini-workshop, presentations by your fellow early career researchers on exciting science and technology development projects, and much more!
Day 1: September 22, 2026
PhysCOS Science
Chair:
| Time | Topic | Speaker |
| 1:00 PM | Welcome | Shawn Domagal-Goldman (NASA, HQ) |
| 1:15 PM | Physics of the Cosmos Program Overview | Francesca Civano (NASA, GSFC) |
| 1:25 PM | Physics of the Cosmos Program Analysis Group Overview | David Pooley (Trinity University) |
| 1:40 PM | X-ray Evidence from NuSTAR for a Mach 3 Shock in Merging Galaxy Cluster ZWCL 1856.8 | Aysegul Tumer (NASA GSFC) |
| 2:00 PM | Break | |
| 2:05 PM | Using SciX and ADS to Accelerate Your Research | Jennifer Bartlett (Harvard CfA) |
| 2:45 PM | Break | |
| Early Career Scientists Presentations on Science Projects | Chair: Johannes Ulf-Lange (UA) | |
| 2:50 PM | Invited: Strong B-field QED effects in the X-ray emission of a radio-loud magnetar | Rachael Stewart (GWU), Dinh Thi Hoa (Rice) |
| 3:10 PM | Modeling the Multi-Wavelength Signature of Sagittarius A* | Eleni Antonopoulou (University of Athens) |
| 3:20 PM | Anticorrelation between Photon Index and Flux in the Crab Nebula revealed by multiple X-ray instruments | Koothodil Abhijith Augustine (National Tsing Hua University) |
| 3:30 PM | Mapping the Gravitational Wave Sky from Primordial Black Holes | Cassandra Moats (Fisk University) |
| 3:40 PM | The IXPE View of Active Galactic Nuclei | Dawoon Kim (INAF) |
| 3:50 PM | Discovery of New Gamma-Ray Burst X-ray Rings in the Swift-XRT Archive Data | Nora Miljanić (University of Dubrovnik) |
| 4:00 PM | End |
Day 2: September 23, 2026
Missions and Technology
Chair:
| Time | Topic | Speaker |
| 1:00 PM | Welcome & Plan for the Day | Brian Humensky (GSFC) |
| 1:05 PM | Roman Space Telescope | Julie McEnery (GSFC) |
| 1:30 PM | The UltraViolet EXplorer (UVEX) Mission | Dan Weisz (UC Berkeley) |
| 2:00 PM | Break | |
| 2:05 PM | Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory & Link Reboost | Brad Cenko (GSFC) |
| 2:25 PM | A Look into the Compton Spectrometer and Imager: Science, Detectors, and a Live Tour | Nicole Rodriguez Cavero and Felix Hagemann (UC Berkeley) |
| 2:50 PM | LISA Mission Update | Ann Hornschemeier (NASA GSFC) |
| 3:10 PM | Break | |
| Early Career Scientist Presentations on Science/Tech Projects | Chair: | |
| 3:15 PM | GRAMS: Gamma-Ray and Anti-Matter Survey | Yinrui Liu (Columbia) |
| 3:25 PM | Analysis of the Galactic Center Excess with CALET Data | Audrey Coleman (WUSTL) |
| 3:35 PM | T-REX Early Ground Prototyping: Developing and Validating the Software and Instrumentation Pipeline for Future Space-Space VLBI | Amelia Frickey (Brown University) |
| 3:45 PM | TIGERISS Expected Observation Prediction Model Updates | William Labrador (WUSTL) |
| 4:00 PM | End |
Day 3: September 24, 2026
Careers
Chair:
| Time | Topic | Speaker |
| 1:00 PM | Welcome & Plan for the Day | Brian Humensky (GSFC) |
| 1:05 PM | Internships and Other Opportunities at NASA Centers | Katie McKee (GSFC) |
| 1:30 PM | NASA Programs for Students & Postdocs | Nino Cucchiara (NASA, HQ) |
| 1:55 PM | Break | |
| 2:00 PM | Building a Better CV: Practical Steps for Career Growth | Tiffany Lewis (MTU) |
| 2:10 PM | * First prompt (breakout rooms) | |
| 2:25 PM | * First prompt (breakout rooms) | |
| 2:40 PM | * First prompt (breakout rooms) | |
| 2:50 PM | Reconvene and Share-Out of Highlights | Tiffany Lewis (MTU) |
| 2:55 PM | Break | |
| 3:00 PM | AI/ML in Astrophysics Research (& AI/ML STIG) | Jay Wadekar (UT Austin) |
| 3:15 PM | The Responsible Use of AI/ML in Research Panel: | Panelists: |
| * Current trends: How AI is being used in daily research workflows. * Practical applications: How you can use AI to enhance your research. * Best practices: What you should and should not do when using AI/ML tools. | Jay Wadekar (UT Austin) Ryan McClelland (GSFC) Cecilia Garraffo (Harvard CfA, AstroAI) Matt Craigie (JPL) TBC (MSFC) | |
| 4:00 PM | Closing Remarks |
Workshop Connection
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The post Third Early Career Workshop, Sept 2026 appeared first on NASA Science.