Dear Astrobiology, Origins of Life, and Space Exploration Enthusiasts,

The ExplOrigins early career group invites you to join the 2023 Exploration and Origins Colloquium! This colloquium will have events on two days: a poster session and reception on the evening of February 9^th and talks throughout the day on February 10th. Talks and the poster session will be held in person at Georgia Tech, with a possible virtual viewing/presenting option for talks. We are thrilled to feature keynotes from Dr. Amy Williams and Dr. Heather Abbott-Lyon. Our aim is to bring together researchers from around the Atlanta regional area, and to highlight early career projects from any field that explore, conceptualize, celebrate, and discover pieces of space, life’s origins, and astrobiology. Through this colloquium, we hope to:

• forge relationships between diverse individuals of various fields, experience levels, and backgrounds
• expand our awareness of local work and innovations
• encourage collaboration and interdisciplinary understanding
• provide a professional growth opportunity for early career individuals including undergraduates, graduates, and post-docs

General registration and abstract submission are through this form. All early career individuals (undergrads, grads, postdocs, research scientists, and more) are highly encouraged to submit abstracts, due by noon on January 19th. Late submissions for posters will be accepted through February 8th. To prepare your abstract you will need a title, author/affiliation list, and one descriptive paragraph. Announcement of selected speakers will be made on January 20th.

ExplOrigins’ inclusion of a wide breadth of fields joins our commitment for inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, (dis)ability, sexual orientation, and experience.

If you have any questions about the abstract submission process or any other aspect of the colloquium, please email the conference organizers at gtexplorigins@gmail.com.

Thank you for your consideration. We hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

The organizing committee

Christina Buffo, Claire Elbon, Tatiana Gibson, Becca Guth-Metzler, Emmy Hughes, Sarah Kingsley, Jordan McKaig, Vahab Rajaei, Micah Schaible, and Sharissa Thompson