This year’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Conference (LPLC) was held August 21 and 22 in the Kuiper Space Sciences Building. Forty-seven talks and two posters were presented over the two days, culminating in a keynote talk by LPL's Dr. Travis Barman. The talk, titled "Imaging Exoplanets," described the science and technology of direct imaging extrasolar systems. A reception jointly hosted by LPL and Steward Observatory followed.

Five invited talks were given, with speakers from LPL, Steward Observatory, and the Department of Geosciences. Contributed talks also included speakers from College of Optical Sciences and the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.

A graduate student talk competition was held the first day of the conference, judged by Drs. Travis Barman, Joe Giacalone, and Ilaria Pascucci, with eleven LPL graduate students participating. James Keane won the award for Best Talk, with Sarah Morrison and Melissa Dykhuis receiving honorable mentions.

“It couldn’t have happened without some of the best organizers I’ve worked with,” said Michelle Thompson about her experience working with co-organizers, Kelly Miller and Margaret Landis.

Registration and abstracts for the 2015 LPLC will open late summer 2015.