Upcoming SwRI Boulder Colloquia

Colloquia are normally on Tuesdays at 11:00 am in the 4th-floor conference room, except as indicated below in bold text.
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For questions or suggestions for speakers, please contact the SwRI colloquium organizers:
Raluca Rufu, 303-226-0879 or raluca(at)boulder.swri.edu
Julien Salmon, 720-208-7203 or julien(at)boulder.swri.edu
Kelsi Singer, 303-226-5910 or ksinger(at)boulder.swri.edu
Sierra Ferguson, sierra.ferguson(at)swri.org
Rogerio Deienno, rogerio.deienno(at)swri.org
Sam Van Kooten, 303-226-5909 or svankooten(at)boulder.swri.edu

To be added to the SwRI Boulder Colloquia email list, please contact Kelsi Singer, ksinger(at)boulder.swri.edu

Suggest a New Speaker HERE

Tue Jun 24, 2025 11:00 am Prachi Chavan Diego Portales University From Disks to Comets: A Multi-frequency Study of Dust from Ophiuchus Molecular Cloud to the Oort Cloud

Abstract: Planet formation, both in our Solar System and in extrasolar systems, is strongly influenced by the initial conditions of protoplanetary disks (PPDs)—including their mass, size, surface density, and temperature profile. Their subsequent evolution is governed by processes such as radial drift, vertical mixing, and grain growth. A major challenge in this context is understanding how dust grains grow into millimeter- to centimeter-sized particles. Such large grains, found in comets, serve as local analogs to solids in young disks and offer insights into early grain growth. Yet, such particles, which also dominate the total coma mass, remain largely unexplored. Large particles also contribute to the grain size distribution, a key factor in estimating dust mass in PPDs. Accurate dust mass estimates are essential to evaluate the potential to form planetesimals, rocky planets, and giant planet cores, but current estimates are highly uncertain and insufficient to explain the observed high incidence of massive exoplanets. These challenges—uncertainties in PPD dust masses and limited characterization of large particles—can be addressed through multi-frequency analysis of dust in both PPDs and comets. I will present the statistical results on dust surface density, maximum grain size, and temperature profiles for PPDs in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud observed with ALMA, emphasizing differences between single- and multi-frequency dust mass estimates. In parallel, I will present ALMA dust continuum observations of two long-period comets, C/2023 A3 (2024.1.01166.S, PI: Chavan, P) and C/2017 K2, alongside key results of their composition from mid-infrared spectroscopy with VLT/VISIR (113.26LA, PI: Chavan, P).

Tue Jul 15, 2025
In Room 4.615 11:00 am Jacob Shultis Johns Hopkins University The Dynamics and Transport of the Stratospheric Polar Vortices on Titan

Tue Jul 22, 2025
In Room 4.615 11:00 am Rutu Parekh Jet Propulsion Laboratory TBD

Tue Jul 29, 2025
In Room 4.615 11:00 am André Izidoro Rice University TBD

Tue Aug 12, 2025
In Room 4.615 11:00 am Antonio F. Bertachini A. Prado Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - INPE TBD

Tue Aug 19, 2025
In Room 4.615 11:00 am Erin Leonard JPL TBD

Tue Jun 24, 2025	11:00 am	Prachi Chavan	Diego Portales University	From Disks to Comets: A Multi-frequency Study of Dust from Ophiuchus Molecular Cloud to the Oort Cloud
	Abstract:	Planet formation, both in our Solar System and in extrasolar systems, is strongly influenced by the initial conditions of protoplanetary disks (PPDs)—including their mass, size, surface density, and temperature profile. Their subsequent evolution is governed by processes such as radial drift, vertical mixing, and grain growth. A major challenge in this context is understanding how dust grains grow into millimeter- to centimeter-sized particles. Such large grains, found in comets, serve as local analogs to solids in young disks and offer insights into early grain growth. Yet, such particles, which also dominate the total coma mass, remain largely unexplored. Large particles also contribute to the grain size distribution, a key factor in estimating dust mass in PPDs. Accurate dust mass estimates are essential to evaluate the potential to form planetesimals, rocky planets, and giant planet cores, but current estimates are highly uncertain and insufficient to explain the observed high incidence of massive exoplanets. These challenges—uncertainties in PPD dust masses and limited characterization of large particles—can be addressed through multi-frequency analysis of dust in both PPDs and comets. I will present the statistical results on dust surface density, maximum grain size, and temperature profiles for PPDs in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud observed with ALMA, emphasizing differences between single- and multi-frequency dust mass estimates. In parallel, I will present ALMA dust continuum observations of two long-period comets, C/2023 A3 (2024.1.01166.S, PI: Chavan, P) and C/2017 K2, alongside key results of their composition from mid-infrared spectroscopy with VLT/VISIR (113.26LA, PI: Chavan, P).
Tue Jul 15, 2025 In Room 4.615	11:00 am	Jacob Shultis	Johns Hopkins University	The Dynamics and Transport of the Stratospheric Polar Vortices on Titan
Tue Jul 22, 2025 In Room 4.615	11:00 am	Rutu Parekh	Jet Propulsion Laboratory	TBD
Tue Jul 29, 2025 In Room 4.615	11:00 am	André Izidoro	Rice University	TBD
Tue Aug 12, 2025 In Room 4.615	11:00 am	Antonio F. Bertachini A. Prado	Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - INPE	TBD
Tue Aug 19, 2025 In Room 4.615	11:00 am	Erin Leonard	JPL	TBD