LSST Discovery Alliance awarded four 2025 Science Catalyst meeting support grants to strengthen community preparation for early science with Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time.
Bringing Together the Rubin Time Domain Community to Enable Early Science
Principal Investigator: Gautham Narayan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Meeting Location: SkAI Institute, Chicago, Illinois
Award Amount: $7,500
This workshop will bring together members of the Rubin time-domain community and experts in Rubin science tools to help prepare researchers for early science with LSST data. The meeting will focus on community-selected projects in time-domain astronomy, with an emphasis on hands-on work, training, and sustained collaboration across institutions.
The workshop will involve participants from multiple Rubin Science Collaborations, including the Transients and Variable Stars Science Collaboration, Strong Lensing Science Collaboration, Information and Statistics Science Collaboration, and Dark Energy Science Collaboration. The award will support early-career researchers by helping waive registration fees and subsidize housing costs.
LSST@Europe7
Principal Investigator: Agnieszka Kryszczyńska, Adam Mickiewicz University
Co-Investigator: Johan Knapen, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Meeting Location: Poznań, Poland
Meeting Dates: September 15–19, 2025
Award Amount: $7,500
LSST@Europe7 is the seventh conference in the LSST@Europe series and will serve as a major gathering for the European Rubin Observatory community. The meeting will focus on first scientific results from LSST, Rubin Observatory operations and data releases, European in-kind contributions, and collaborative tools and projects.
The conference will support both in-person and remote participation, with an emphasis on broad access and early-career engagement. LSST Discovery Alliance will provide registration grants for early-career researchers and participants from under-resourced institutions, as well as support virtual participation infrastructure.
Second LSST Latin American Meeting: LSST@LATAM — The Dawn of Discovery
Principal Investigator: Fernanda Urrutia, NOIRLab/Rubin Observatory
Meeting Location: Palacio de Minería, Mexico City, Mexico
Meeting Dates: December 1–5, 2025
Award Amount: $7,500
The second LSST Latin American Meeting will gather researchers, students, postdocs, faculty, and Rubin community members from across Latin America and the global LSST community. The meeting is designed to strengthen regional scientific collaboration, expand participation in LSST early science, and support new research connections across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and the broader Latin American astronomy community.
The meeting will combine a school, workshop, and education and public outreach activities. Sessions will include hands-on training with LSST data products and analysis tools, Science Collaboration-led discussions, and activities designed to broaden participation. LSST Discovery Alliance support will fund registration and accommodation support for junior researchers, along with limited travel assistance for participants who would otherwise be unable to attend.
Science with Rubin-LSST@JHU/STScI: From Transients to Cosmology
Principal Investigator: Alessandra Corsi, Johns Hopkins University
Meeting Location: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Tentative Meeting Dates: April 27–30, 2026
Award Amount: $7,500
This four-day meeting will bring together students, postdocs, faculty, staff scientists, and invited representatives from the Rubin LSST ecosystem to help the Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute communities connect with Rubin early science opportunities.
The meeting will focus on training young researchers and their advisors in Rubin data analysis tools and software, identifying opportunities for Rubin early science projects, and connecting JHU/STScI scientific priorities with the broader Rubin ecosystem. Topics will include time-domain and multi-messenger astronomy, galaxy and AGN science, stellar activity and archaeology, and cosmology. The award will support invited Rubin LSST ecosystem participants who will help lead hands-on activities, introductory talks, and discussions.