The 2017 Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Conference (LPLC) took place on August 18. The organizing committee (Margaret Landis, Joshua Lothringer, Maria Steinrueck, Cassandra Lejoly, Nathanial Hendler and Jess Vriesema) kept the one-day format that debuted last year. The August 21 solar eclipse (just three days after the conference) could not keep most people from attending LPLC: in total, 46 participants registered. A broad range of participants, including undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and staff scientists from LPL, Steward Observatory, and the Department of Geosciences, as well as members of the local community, presented a total of 32 talks.

Associate Professor Joellen Russell gave a lively keynote address titled Remote Discovery in Earth's Fiercest Ocean, which presented her research group’s efforts to understand the Southern Ocean with a combination of innovative profiling floats, remote sensing and computer modeling. In addition to the keynote, there were six invited talks, with topics ranging from a seismometer terrestrial analog mission presented by Daniella DellaGiustina to hot Jupiter exoplanets by Vivien Parmentier to analysis of Calcium-Aluminum Inclusions in meteorites by Prajkta Mane. Another LPLC highlight was the invited talk by Gabriella Cázares-Kelly from Indivisible Tohono O’odham. She gave the audience a short introduction to Tohono O’odham culture and provided some cultural and historic context about the region around Kitt Peak, which lies on Tohono O’odham land that has been leased to the observatory.

As in previous years, LPLC also hosted a graduate student talk competition. The judges, Alfred McEwen, Joe Giacalone, and Matt Chojnacki, evaluated ten talks from graduate students in the first session. This year’s winner was Shane Stone and his talk on the Temperature Structure of the Martian Upper Atmosphere from MAVEN NGIMS. The conference concluded with a reception for the attendees. The LPLC organizing committee would like to extend thanks to all who participated and attended. Abstracts and registration for next year’s LPLC will open summer 2018.

The 2017 LPLC Organizing Committee, from left to right: Joshua Lothringer, Jess Vriesema, Nathanial Hendler, Maria Steinrueck, Margaret Landis, Cassandra Lejoly.