Conference Description

In honor of the retirement of Professor John Dickey, a distinguished contributor to our understanding of the Milky Way's interstellar medium (ISM) and Galactic magnetism, we aim to gather the world's experts in the structure of the Galactic ISM, polarization, and Galactic magnetic fields for a one-week collaborative conference. This unique scientific event will offer a platform to highlight Professor Dickey's achievements, share recent/upcoming research, and foster collaborative efforts to advance our knowledge of the spatial, chemical, and magnetic properties of the Galactic ISM. The conference will include focused sessions and ample time for collaborative work. Participants are encouraged to come with ideas, tools, and data for constructive discussions. To minimize environmental impact, the meetings will be held in two locations, North America (at Stanford University) and Australia (at the Australia Telescope National Facility, Sydney), with an option for remote participation. Both locations will be equipped with teleconferencing support for cross-site interaction.

Key topics include:

- The temperature and structure of the cold neutral medium

- Galactic magnetic fields and their influence on the ISM

- The chemistry of diffuse neutral gas

The conference will run from Feb 10 - 13, 2025 at Stanford, and Feb 11 - 14, 2025 at Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), CSIRO.

This conference is co-hosted and supported by the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) at Stanford. The Stanford portion of the conference is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The ATNF portion of the conference is supported by the Australian Research Council.

Registration closed November 15, 2024. Thank you for the overwhelming interest in this conference!

Schedule

February 10th – 13th, 2025 (U.S. Pacific Time). Please the detailed schedule of talks and collaboration time here.

Each talk will be 12 minutes, plus 3 minutes for questions, with ample additional time in each session dedicated to discussion of all the session talks. All participants -- particularly students and anyone not giving a talk -- are encouraged to contribute a 1-minute fireslide to introduce yourself and/or some research topic of your interest.

Contact

Please email the organizing committee at <johnfest.loc@gmail.com> with any questions.

Conference organizers: Susan Clark, Snežana Stanimirović, J. R. Dawson, Trey V. Wenger, Nickolas M. Pingel, Daniel R. Rybarczyk, N. M. McClure-Griffiths

Stanford LOC: Susan Clark, Katie Brown, Dylan Jow, Kaitlyn Karpovich, Minjie Lei, Mehrnoosh Tahani, Maridee Charlton

ATNF LOC: J. R. Dawson, N. M. McClure-Griffiths, Hiep Ngyuen, Alec Thomson

Travel and Location Logistics

Getting to and from Stanford

Both San Francisco (SFO) and San Jose (SJC) airports are convenient to Stanford. The easiest way to get from the airport to campus is via rideshare (Lyft/Uber) or by renting a car, but there are also public transit options. Stanford Transportation lists directions and options. If you drive to campus, the most convenient visitor parking is in the Via Ortega garage. Instructions on purchasing visitor parking passes can be found on this page. 

Stanford Conference Locations

The Stanford portion of the conference will take place in the Physics & Astrophysics Building (PAB) on Stanford's campus. The Marguerite is Stanford's free shuttle bus service that is convenient for getting to or from campus from many locations. If you are staying at the Guest House, the Marguerite SLAC line travels between SLAC and the quad next to PAB. See here for more information about getting to and from the Guest House. 

In PAB, the primary location for talks and discussions during the overlap time with Australia will be PAB 102/103. We will have additional, Zoom-enabled rooms available before and during the overlap time, to be used for small-group breakout discussions and collaboration space. Please see the detailed schedule of rooms available to conference-goers. Receptions and lunches will be on the PAB patio, weather-permitting. 

Getting to and from ATNF

Marsfield is a suburb ~25 kilometers northwest of Sydney's center. The ATNF is located at the corner of Vimiera and Pembroke Roads in Marsfield. The main entrance is on Pembroke Road.

There are several transportation options to reach the ATNF from Sydney's Kingsford-Smith Airport:

- Train and bus:

+ Take a train to the city (Central station), then a train to Epping Station or Macquarie University Station, then a bus to the Marsfield site.

+ At Central Station, change trains to Epping Station on the T1 line, or catch a train to Macquarie University on the Metro North West line.

+ From Epping station, catch bus routes 288, 289, or 290 along Epping Road. Get off at Vimiera Road, cross Epping Road and walk along Vimiera Road on the other side. The ATNF site is on the corner with Pembroke Road.

+ From Macquarie University station, take a bus (Route 292). Get off at Vimiera Road, cross Epping Road and walk along Vimiera Road on the other side. The ATNF site is on the corner with Pembroke Road.

- Taxi or rideshare: Take a taxi or rideshare service directly from Sydney Airport to the ATNF Marsfield. This is the most convenient but also the most expensive option. See here for more information.

Lodging

At Stanford

We have reserved a block of rooms at the Stanford Guest House at the discounted rate of $183/night. This rate is available until December 11, 2024, while supply lasts. There are many local hotels, but the Guest House is the most affordable option.

Conference participants can book online at guesthouse.stanford.edu, or by contacting the front desk at 650-926-2800, using the group code POLAR. 

Alternatively, follow this link directly to book with the code already applied.

At ATNF

Accommodation options are available at nearby university colleges, typically offering room and breakfast, with rates varying by college. For short-term visitors, nearby motels are also available, with prices starting at around A$175 per night. For more information on the Marsfield site, please refer to the ATNF website. Unfortunately the Marsfield Lodge is unavailable. Please send enquiries on accommodation to <accommodation@atnf.csiro.au>. or reach out to the ATNF LOC members (e.g., Alec Thomson <alec.thomson@csiro.au>, Hiep Nguyen <vanhiep.nguyen@anu.edu.au>) for further information.

Participants

This conference will have in-person participation at Stanford and at ATNF, in addition to remote participants. 

In-Person Participants At Stanford

Dana Balser
Peter Barnes
Katie Brown
Iryna Butsky
Hongxing Chen
Tao-Chung Ching
Susan Clark
Hillary Davis
Ben Dodge
Philipp Frank
Bryan Gaensler
Neeraj Gupta
Carl Heiles
Brandon Hensley
Alex Hill
Dylan Jow
Kaitlyn Karpovich
Minjie Lei
Peter Marinos
Eric Moseley
Marta Nowotka
Anna Ordog
Erik Osinga
Dylan Pare
Vahe Petrosian
Nickolas Pingel
Tim Robishaw
Michael Rugel
Dan Rybarczyk
Ben Sherwin
Snezana Stanimirovic
Ioana Stelea
Mehrnoosh Tahani
Enrique Vazquez Semadeni
Joel Weisberg
Trey Wenger

In-Person Participants at ATNF

Imogen Barnsley
Douglas Bock
Rebecca Booth
Elizabeth Cappellazzo
Jo Dawson
James Dempsey
John Dickey
Ron Ekers
Anne Green
Elizabeth Iles
Simon Johnston
Paul Jones
Jane Kaczmarek
Baerbel Koribalski
Tom Landecker
Callum Lynn
Antoine Marchal
Naomi McClure-Griffiths
Van Hiep Nguyen
Lindsey Oberhelman
Jason Price
Elaine Sadler
Amit Seta
Alec Thomson
Jennifer West

Remote Participants

Dana Alina
Yenifer Angarita Arenas
Wladimir Banda-Barragan
Jordan Bartlett
Adarsh Bathula
Robert Benjamin
Blakesley Burkhart
Ben Burridge
Michael Busch
Jennifer Y. H. Chan
Anahat Cheema
Rohit Chinchwadkar
Alice Curtin
Helga Denes
Kangning Diao
Golshan Ejlali
Simon Ellingsen
Nana Gao
Nikhel Gupta
Upasana Gupta
Haleh Hajizadeh
Marijke Haverkorn
Ka Wai Ho
Yue Hu
Timea Kovacs
Paul Lai
Alex Lazarian
Denis Leahy
Dennis Lee
Min-Young Lee
McCallum Lewis
Jackie Ma
Stacy Mader
Angira Mahida
Elizabeth Mahony
Sui Ann Mao
Dan McCammon
Joseph Michail
Saurav Mishra
Claire Murray
Mohammad Reza Nasirzadeh
Quynh Lan Nguyen
Giles Novak
Elena Orlando
Erik Osinga
Troy Porter
Danny Price
Max Rogozienski
Saurav Sen
Vasundhara Shaw
Lister Staveley-Smith
Dan Stinebring
Xiaohui Sun
Thor Tepper-Garcia
Le Tram
Gia Bao Truong Le
Tasso Tzioumis
Adel Umirbayeva
Tony Willis
Duo Xu