Europa ICONS Workshop 2026

July 28- July 30, 2026

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Schedule

2026 Europa ICONS Conference

Logistics

The 2026 EuropaICONS conference will take place in the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building located in the East Campus of the University of Colorado Boulder. The street address is 3415 Colorado Avenue, Boulder, CO 80303. The building is located within walking distance from the LASP (LSTB) and Astrophysical Research Laboratory (ARL) buildings, where organized tours will be held.

Getting To and From the Conference

Especially for the first conference day, using Uber/Lyft/Taxi to get to the conference building might be a good option if you do not yet know who else is staying in your hotel with a rental car to carpool. The cost of getting around can, of course, be reimbursed. If you like to use other mobility options, the Boulder bus system is reliable and a route planner is available here. There is also a city shared ebike system. Information is available here.

The easiest way to get between Denver airport and Boulder is the AB Bus ($10 for one way; exit Denver airport southward and you’ll find a long escalator that leads to a lower level. Turn left, find the ticket machine and bus schedule) and Uber/Lyft is generally around $100 per day (plus tax/tip) between Denver airport and Boulder.

Parking and Floor Plan

Please park in lot 543 as shown on the map above. Please use the QR code or the link below for parking payment. The arranged event parking is charged by day, $10 per day. The license plate information is needed for the payment.

From the parking lot, please follow the yellow signs to the building entrances at the level for the meeting. Other entrances may lead you to the lower level.

Sign in and badge pick up

The sign-in desk will be located outside the breakout room B115 (green square), where you can pick up your badge and check-in from 8:30 – 9:00 am each day.

Auditorium

The conference will start every day in the auditorium A115 (green circle). The ICONS presentations and most of the other agenda items will also be at the auditorium. If other rooms are used during the conference, we will guide you to them.

Breakout rooms

Breakout rooms will be used during the challenge scenario on Day1 (Tue) and Day 2 (Wed) mornings A104, B115, and B331. On Day 3 (Thu), breakout rooms will be in A115, B115, and B231 – Purple ✓.

Outside of these scheduled activities, B115 will be available for participants who need to take meetings, make calls, or step away briefly

Quiet Spaces

Apart from the opportunity to sit in B115 where it should be relatively quiet, the Biotech building offers many quiet spaces. You are most welcome by the facility managers to wander throughout the building and find a place that’s comfortable to sit and get some work done or decompress.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Refreshment

During the conference, we will provide:

Breakfast and lunch each day
Light afternoon snacks
Beverages available throughout the day

Getting to SwRI

SwRI is located in Downtown Boulder at 1301 Walnut St., Suite 400, Boulder, CO, 80302. There are two parking lots (paid and reimbursable) within less than 5 minutes walking distance from SwRI. Alternatively, you can look for street parking (paid or free, depending on where exactly you find a spot). The drive from the Biotech building to SwRI should take approximately 10 minutes.

When you arrive at the SwRI building, please find the entrance (indicated below) and take the elevator or the stairs up to the 4th floor. Once there, you will be checked in at the front desk (foreign visitors should identify themselves at the front desk to get a different badge). A tour guide will then show you the SwRI office space, where may scientists work on NASA grants. With your tour guide, you will circle down through the 3rd and 2nd floors and eventually make your way into the lower level conference room, where Dr. William Bottke, Executive Director of SwRI, will give you a presentation.

Afterwards, you are invited to join the crowd and head over to the Avanti rooftop bar across the street, where you can also buy food in the first floor food hall and bring it upstairs.

The green arrow points toward the entrance after which you find the lobby with the elevators or stairs to go up to the 4th floor.

Indicated are parking lots (green circles):
1) 14th and Walnut Parking Garage (RTD) and
2) 15th & Pearl Parking Garage

The entrance to SwRI is marked by a green arrow.

Photographs

We will take photos of the participants of the ICONS conference, mainly during presentations. If an ICONS student does not wish to be photographed, please come find the Staff members during the meeting and before the presentations. After the conference, pictures will be shared with all meeting attendees.

Conference Schedule

Breaks

We have intentionally planned to begin the meeting an hour later than most meetings, so 9am rather than 8am, to provide time for folks to transition time zones. Lunch breaks are also planned to be longer when possible. It is our hope that lunch breaks help to facilitate networking and socializing opportunities between participants. In lieu of short 15 min breaks, we are intentionally planning on one 30 min afternoon break. It is our experience that short breaks feel rushed. It is our hope the longer break gives folks the time needed for the restroom, snacks, decompress, and network. Of course, please don’t feel restricted by the schedule.

If you need to step away at any point, for any reason, you are welcome to do so.

Tours

Participants will be divided into three groups, each of which will rotate between three tour locations:

Astrophysics Research Lab (ARL)
LASP Science and Technology Building (LSTB)
Dust Impact Lab

Tour schedule

Day 1 (7/28 Tue) Two tour rotations will take place on Tuesday afternoon, where each tour will last ~30 minutes, with a 15 minute buffer in between to accommodate travel time to each location. By the end of the two rotations, the tour will continue to the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in downtown Boulder. Carpool will be organized for transport.
Day 2 (7/29 Wed) – No tour
Day 3 (7/30 Thu) The final CU/LASP tour rotation will take place on Thursday after lunch.

During the tour, please

Stay with your group and follow the directions of your tour leaders.
Do not wander or enter areas not part of the tour route.
Photography policy:
- ARL: Photography is not permitted
- LSTB: Only in the lobby area
- Dust Lab: No restrictions
Please be mindful of your volume as some tour locations include active work areas and offices.

Wednesday Evening Social Event at Fiske

A Wednesday evening social event will be held at the Fiske Planetarium. Located in the CU Boulder Main Campus, the planetarium is about 6 minutes drive from the conference (street address: 2414 Regent Dr, Boulder, CO 80309). Metered parking is available at the nearby Lot 308 and car pool is recommended.

A light reception with snacks will be held in the planetarium lobby starting at 6:00 pm.

We have the great pleasure to offer you an exclusive screening of the Sci-Fi short film Europa. The 20-minute long movie will be followed by a Q&A with the director of the movie, Jacqueline Elyse Rosenthal.

Detailed program:

6:00-6:25 pm: Reception in the Fiske Lobby
6:30-6:50 pm: Sci-Fi short film Europa
6:50-7:20 pm: Q&A with film director Jacqueline Elyse Rosenthal
7:20 pm: Individual formation of dinner groups.

For dinner, there are many good restaurant options in Boulder. Some ideas: Avanti (we will gather there informally on Tuesday night), Boulder Social, Chez Thuy, Folsom Thai, Rincon Argentino, Boulder Pho, Osaka, Busaba (on Pearl St.), Sherpas, Rosetta Hall, Zoe Ma Ma, Leaf and Rayback. Finally, Walnut Cafe is a great breakfast option.

Grad School Panel

The panel will be held on Day 1 July 28th (Tue) from 1:30pm – 2:45pm.

The Graduate school panelists are:

Rhali Attar, University of Colorado Boulder.
Camille Yoke, University of Colorado Boulder. SUDA Graduate Associate
Dr. Kristian Chan, APL; REASON Postdoc Associate
Prof. Fabian Klenner, University of Califronia Riverside; SUDA Professional Associate
Prof. Carol Paty, University of Oregon; PIMS and REASON co-I

The goal of this panel is to share lessons learned, advice, and reflections on different paths through grad school. Below is the draft schedule:

1:30 – 1:40pm = Introduction to the panelists
- panelists to kick off the conversation
2:00 – 2:45pm = Panel Q&A

If you need ideas for a question to ask, consider:

How did you decide what kind of program was right for you?
What did you look for in choosing which grad schools to apply to?
Were there things that made your application stand out, or that you wish you had done differently?
How did you find mentors or letter writers who really supported your application?
What’s something that helped you thrive once in grad school?
What was the hardest part of applying or being in grad school, and how did you manage it?
How did you finance grad school, and what should I know about funding options?

Space Mission Career Panel

The Space Missions Career Panel will be held on Day 3 July 30th (Thu) from 3:30 – 4:30pm.

The panelists include:

Sally Haselschwardt, LASP. SUDA system engineer.
Dr. Bill Goode, former SUDA PhD student.
Dr. Alyssa Rhoden, SwRI Boulder, Europa Clipper pre-definition team.
Prof. Andrew Dombard, G/RS co-I
Scott Tucker, LASP, Senior Director of Technology

The intent of this panel is to expose participants to real-world experiences and career trajectories in NASA missions and planetary science/engineering.

To encourage informal, small-group conversations, we will be leveraging a rotating panel style. ICONS students will be split into groups and have the chance to speak with each panelist in small groups. Below is the draft schedule:

3:30pm – 3:45pm = Introduction to the panelists (<1 min. each)
3:45pm – 4:25pm = 10 min. including group hopping (the groups of five to six students will stay at their tables and you will have to move between two different rooms (we will guide you.)
4:25pm – 4:30pm = Reflections and transition to conference close out

If you need ideas for questions to ask, consider:

What was your path to working on a space mission?
What does a “typical day” look like for you?
What was the most exciting or unexpected challenge you’ve faced working on a space mission or with data from a space mission?
How do scientists and engineers collaborate to make a mission like Clipper successful?
What kinds of skills, technical or non-technical, have been the most important in your career?
If you were an undergrad again today, what would you do to prepare for a career in planetary science/missions?
What part of the Europa Clipper mission are you most excited about?
Have you ever had a moment where something didn’t go as planned? What did you learn from it?
What opportunities (internships, classes, clubs, etc.) helped you the most when starting out?
Why does Europa matter to you personally, as a scientist, engineer, or human being?

ICONS Project Talks

Oral Presentation Guide

Sessions will be organized in blocks of three to four 8-10 minute presentations followed by a 10-minute panel-style Q&A. This happens in front of all other ICONS students and mentors, and potential virtual participants. To keep the sessions running smoothly and ensure everyone gets their full Q&A time, all presentations will be stopped at the 10-minute mark.

Audience questions may be asked in the following ways:

In-person via the room mic
Virtually by submitting questions in the Teams chat.

You will be able to press ‘next slide’ on your own. Presenters will not use their own

laptops to display slides. Please upload your slides as a *.pdf, *.pptx or *.key by 7/27 (Mon) end of the day. The upload link can be found in the Welcome Package.

Make sure the file follows the naming convention: [Wed/Thu]_lastname_firstname.

If your presentation is scheduled on 7/29 Wednesday, the file should start with “Wed_”.

The presentation schedule is provided below.

Notes:

ICONS presenters do not need to include your exact project title on your presentation slides.
We will ask the respective mentor to briefly introduce their student before the presentation.

Presentation Schedule

7/29 Wednesday afternoon, Block 1

7/29 Wednesday afternoon, Block 2

7/30 Thursday morning, Block 1

7/30 Thursday morning, Block 2

Tips and Resources

We’ve gathered some tips and resources to help you prepare:

Practice aloud several times, ideally with a peer or mentor.
Time yourself to ensure you stay within the 10-minute limit. We recommend aiming for ~8 minutes to leave some buffer room for yourself.
Tell a story: We often say, “Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them.
Then tell them what you told them.”
Avoid jargon: Your audience will include people from various science and engineering backgrounds.

View your slides 10–20 feet away from your computer screen to ensure readability.

Avoid using small fonts, which may not be visible from the back of the room.
For text, bullets, and headings, use sans serif fonts such as Arial or Calibri at a minimum font size of 20 points.
Avoid placing key info at the bottom of slides, which may be obscured from the back of the room.
Colorblind-friendly design: Use distinguishable color palettes. Oracle is a free color blindness simulator that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Speak your science: How to give a better conference talk
Best practices for creating presentations
The Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) includes advice for presentations at the bottom of this page:
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2025/oral-presenters/
Watch other people give talks! Several conferences, like Modern Brines have their talks available to view for free. To view the recorded talk, click the “Presentation” hyperlink at the end of the talk title in the agenda.

Dress Code: Business extra casual. Please wear closed-toe shoes, though.
Be kind to yourself: Nerves are normal, and everyone in the room is rooting for you!
Network: We are all here for you! Take the time to meet folks.

Challenge Scenario

In the spirit of the ICONS conference 2025, we have prepared a Challenge Scenario (new content from last year)! Over two mornings, you’ll participate in a hands-on, collaborative Challenge Scenario that simulates the data analysis process behind real NASA missions such as Europa Clipper. This scenario sends you and your team into the future – to the year 2032. You will take on the role of a science team member and collaborate in various thematic groups (Composition, Interior, and Geology) to interpret Europa Clipper data.

Your goal? To observe data, discuss observations with your group, summarize your findings, and synthesize these findings to evaluate the habitability of Europa.

The Challenge Scenario is designed to:

Provide an authentic, insider view of how mission teams work through data interpretation
Foster cross-role collaboration and facilitate networking
Mirror elements of the peer review and strategic decision-making process

The activity unfolds over two days and includes:

Structured small group work, where you’ll evaluate observations, make scientific arguments, and create visual summaries, simulating mission work in a cross-disciplinary team setting
Synthesis with the broader group through a habitability assessment panel exercise and discussion
A “press release” of your findings with Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) science team members!

While fast-paced, this exercise models the realities of rapid science turnaround and community consensus building that mission teams routinely navigate. We hope this scenario gives you a taste of what it’s like to be in the room where mission decisions happen, and how your voice and ideas can help shape what might come next!

ICONS Roles

As an ICONS student, you are the key player during the Challenge Scenario. This exercise is designed to give you an authentic taste of how the analysis of mission data unfolds, including the need to collaborate across mission science teams to arrive at robust scientific conclusions.

ICONS are encouraged to:

Ask questions — no question is too small
Listen actively to your teammates and mentors
Advocate for your ideas, but also make room for consensus
Take risks and propose crazy ideas! The goal is to learn, not be “right”

Most of all, lean in. This is your chance to experience the kinds of scientific discussions that shape real NASA missions.

Mentor Roles

We kindly ask you to not “spoil the fun” by pointing out fictional scenarios. As mentors, you are invited and encouraged to participate in the Challenge Scenario. Your presence helps model collaborative scientific discussions, and your insights from real-world experience are invaluable. That said, we also recognize that power dynamics can shape group interactions — especially when students are paired with mentors in high-trust, fast-paced settings. To support a balanced environment, we ask mentors to adopt the role of subject matter experts and reflective contributors, rather than decision-makers.

Mentors are encouraged to (when appropriate):

Offer technical or scientific insights drawn from experience
Help clarify concepts or frameworks (e.g., instrument characteristics)
Prompt or guide discussions if groups get stuck

Final decisions, including poster content, presentation strategy, and conclusions from the analysis of simulated mission data products, should be left to the ICONS. This approach ensures that students are empowered to lead, take ownership, and engage authentically with the scenario.

Facilitator Roles

Facilitators are here to help keep the scenario flowing smoothly. You’ll see us facilitating group work, offering time checks, answering logistical questions, and nudging teams forward if needed. Facilitators will not provide answers or make content suggestions.

Facilitators are here to:

Clarify the scenario steps or schedule
Provide gentle coaching if teams are stuck or unsure how to proceed
Ensure the space remains welcoming and productive for all participants

If you’re unsure about your group’s progress or process, feel free to flag a facilitator — we’re here to help keep things on track, not to grade you!

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

The meeting coordinators are:

Hsiang-Wen (Sean) Hsu (sean.hsu@lasp.colorado.edu)
Marshall Seaton (marshall.seaton@lasp.colorado.edu)
Kelly Boden (kelly.boden@lasp.colorado.edu)
Caroline Haslebacher (caroline.haslebacher@contractor.swri.org,caroline.h.space@gmail.com)

Please feel free to reach out to us at any of our emails. You can also find us at the meeting at the coordinators and/or registration tables. We will introduce ourselves on the first day and will be wearing “staff” shirts on the first day to facilitate identification.

Acknowledgements

This Welcome Package was produced by the local organizing committee and is based heavily on the Welcome Package from ICONS 2025. We thank Wes Patterson, Edgard Rivera-Valentín, Stefanie Brister, Emily Huntington, Kristian Chan, and Santa Pérez Cortés from the organizing committee of the ICONS 2025 conference at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) very much for providing us with this thoughtfully created, outstanding resource.

We thank everyone of the Europa Clipper team who contributed to the challenge scenario, including Dustin Schroeder, Frank Seelos, Karl Hibbitts, Kelly Miller, Kristian Chan, Paul Schenk, Pietro Matteoni, John Spencer, and Tracy Becker for providing simulated Clipper data products.

Website design and hosting has been provided by LASP.