Posted by Maria Kazachenko | January 31, 2026 | AAS/SPD news

The Solar Physics Division (SPD) hereby announces the Thomas Metcalf SPD Travel Award Program for calendar year 2026. The Thomas Metcalf Travel Fund was established in 2007 with generous contributions from his family and many others to help early-career scientists attend meetings relevant to solar physics. In 2026, in addition to two meetings already supported in early 2026, an additional two or three meetings will be selected by the Metcalf Travel Award Committee (MTAC) on the basis of brief proposals submitted by Meeting Organizers to MTAC. The total amount available this year is expected to be about USD $14,000.

Organizers of meetings worldwide relevant to solar physics that will take place before April 1, 2027, are encouraged to submit an application to Maria Kazachenko ([email protected]) for consideration by the full MTAC. Applications should be no more than three pages in length and must be received by April 1, 2026. Please check the application guidelines for additional details.

Briefly, the procedure is as follows. First, an application is submitted by Meeting Organizers to the MTAC. If selected, Meeting Organizers will then seek out qualified early-career scientists who can make a significant contribution to their meeting. Awardees (hereafter, Metcalf Lecturers) will be chosen by Meeting Organizers based on their potential for future contributions to the field of solar physics and the relevance of their work to the topic of the meeting. Prospective Metcalf Lecturers should apply directly to the Meeting Organizers and not to the MTAC. The MTAC, however, will verify the eligibility of each awardee.

Metcalf Lecturers for 2026 must have received their Ph.D. no earlier than January 1, 2022, or be a student within one year of completing their Ph.D. Awardees must be members of the SPD (affiliate membership is OK) and must not have previously served as a Metcalf Lecturer. Awardees must present their work at the meeting, and after the meeting must submit a one-page report describing their contribution. Grants are provided directly to the Metcalf Lecturers by the Treasurer of the SPD upon receipt of their report by the MTAC and copies of the receipts by the Treasurer.

For additional information about the program, please visit the program website, consult the program rules, or contact Maria Kazachenko.

Metcalf Travel Award Committee for 2026: Maria Kazachenko, Michael Kirk, Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo, Lucas Tarr