Conference: CEDAR Workshop

The CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) Workshop is an annual event that plays a critical role in building and sustaining a collaborative scientific community focused on Earth’s upper atmosphere. Managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) through its Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS), the workshop serves as a platform for scientific exchange, professional development, and training, particularly for undergraduate and graduate students. By supporting student travel, organizing educational programming, and fostering mentoring opportunities, the workshop strengthens the pipeline of early-career researchers in geospace science. The workshop disseminates scientific resources including lectures, tutorials, and data tools via a publicly accessible website and YouTube channel, significantly amplifying its impact beyond the event itself. The CEDAR Workshop is the premier annual convening for a global community of more than 2,000 scientists engaged in studying the interactions and dynamics of Earth's upper atmosphere. Each year, UCAR's CPAESS coordinates and facilitates the workshop in collaboration with the CEDAR Science Steering Committee (CSSC), which curates a scientific agenda that includes plenary sessions, breakout workshops, student poster competitions, and tutorials. The workshop provides a forum to present recent research, introduce new data products and empirical or numerical models, and plan collaborative experiments. It fosters interdisciplinary collaboration between ground-based observational scientists, modelers, and satellite mission teams. The workshop awards travel support to several students annually and helps them to build networks while advancing their professional development. UCAR’s CPAESS provides the critical logistical, planning, and administrative support necessary to execute the workshop, ensuring it continues to be a cornerstone event for community engagement, scientific advancement, and the professional development of the next generation of Earth system scientists. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.