JSI Fall Conference on NICER Legacy

The UMD/GSFC Joint Space Science Institute (JSI) has announced its annual Fall Conference, themed around the legacy of NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission. The conference will take place from November 2-4, 2026 at The Graduate by Hilton in Annapolis.

The conference aims to gather specialists from the astrophysics and physics communities to discuss various aspects of the NICER mission's discoveries and its lasting impact. Topics of discussion include neutron star radii and implications, variable galactic nuclei, outbursting stellar-mass black hole binaries, magnetars and accreting neutron stars, and synergies for the future.

Notable confirmed invited speakers include Slavko Bogdanov from Columbia University, Deepto Chakrabarty from MIT, Joheen Chakraborty from MIT, Javier Garcia from NASA-GSFC, Muryel Guolo from the Institute for Advanced Study, Alice Harding from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Erin Kara from MIT, Tom Maccarone from Texas Tech University, Jaki Noronha-Hostler from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Ethan Partington from the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, and Jim Stone from the Institute for Advanced Study.

The registration deadline for early bird rates and hotel bookings is September 29, 2026. Further information, including registration details, abstract submission, and hotel information, can be found on the conference's official website.