Dear Colleagues-

On behalf of my co-organizers, Lahouari Krim and Brandon Carroll, I'm pleased to announce an invitation for contributed talks and posters for a dedicated astrochemistry session at the 2015 Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon), entitled "Interstellar Chemical Evolution:  Astrochemistry from Atoms to Amino Acids," to be held June 15 - 19 in Chicago, IL, USA.  A detailed summary follows this message.

Abstract submission is now open, and details, as well as a list of other session topics, are available at the AbSciCon website (http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2015/).

AbSciCon is a unique conference, offering participants exposure to research occurring across an incredibly diverse array of fields from chemistry, astronomy, biology, geology, and beyond, all working toward the same goal of understanding the origins of life. Observational and Laboratory Astrophysics have historically been under-represented disciplines at AbSciCon, especially in the areas of interstellar chemical evolution.  By organizing this session, we hope to change that, and to showcase the important contributions of our fields to understanding the very beginnings of chemical evolution.

Contributions from students are especially encouraged, and AbSciCon makes available a limited number of travel grants to help defray the cost of attendance in addition to providing roommate matching services to share housing expenses.  Details will be available on the AbSciCon website (http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2015/) in the coming days.

Finally, I'd like to draw your attention to the announcement of the 2015 Astrobiology Graduate Conference (AbGradCon) to be held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison later this summer (http://abgradcon.org/).  AbGradCon is a product of graduate students who attended AbSciCon, and wanted an opportunity to host a conference by graduate students, for graduate students.  Indeed, several of the previous organizers of AbGradCon are hosting sessions at AbSciCon this year.  The expenses for the vast majority of US-based participants are fully covered by AbGradCon.

Our apologies if this message has reached you multiple times, it has been cross-posted through many different channels.

Please let us know if there are any questions or concerns, and we hope very much to see you all at AbSciCon 2015!

Theme:  How to Build a Habitable Planet 

Session Title:  Interstellar Chemical Evolution:  Astrochemistry from Atoms to Amino Acids

Topic Short Title (listed on abstract submission form):  Interstellar Chemical Evolution

Organizer:  Brett A. McGuire (National Radio Astronomy Observatory/California Institute of Technology), [log in to unmask]

Summary:  The seeding of nascent worlds by (pre-)biotic molecules as the genesis of life-essential biopolymers has been an exciting line of inquiry for decades.  The detection of the simplest amino acid, glycine, by the Stardust mission has only intensified this interest in recent years.  Yet the chemical-evolutionary routes leading to the formation of glycine, and other (pre-)biotic molecules in the interstellar medium, remain an open question.  As these chemical inventories comprise the building blocks from which habitable planets may eventually form, understanding their formation and reaction pathways is critical. This session invites contributions from observational, laboratory, and theoretical astrochemistry examining all aspects of complex chemical evolution in the interstellar medium.  Special emphasis is placed on the role of physical environment, in particular the chemistry occurring on and within the icy mantles of dust grains, and the interplay between these reactions and the gas-phase chemistry, in driving molecular inventories toward increased complexity.  This session is co-organized by Lahouari Krim (Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris VI) and Brandon Carroll (California Institute of Technology).