CHPS is pleased to announce the Summer Symposium on Solar System Planets and Planet Formation, a half-day event bringing together researchers from the new Center for Habitable Planetary Systems here at UMich. This symposium is open to faculty and students.

The symposium will feature a series of talks highlighting current research on topics spanning the formation and evolution of planetary systems to connections between protoplanetary disks and Solar System bodies. The goal is to foster interactions between our different departments and hopefully encourage new collaborations.

Whether your work focuses on the Solar System, extrasolar planetary systems, protoplanetary disks, or related areas, we hope you'll join us for an afternoon of scientific discussion. Refreshments will be provided during the coffee break!

Date: Wednesday August 19th, 2026
Time: 1:30 - 5pm
Location: Beth Brown Seminar Room (West Hall 411)

Schedule of talks
1:30 - 2:00: Michael Meyer (Astronomy) - They Might be Giants: Demographics of Very Low Mass Companions vs. Host Star Mass
2:00 - 2:30: Jackie Li (Earth and Environmental Sciences) - The Soot Line: Bridging Astronomy and Geology
2:30 - 3:00: Cheng Li (Climate and Space Sciences) - Composition of Jupiter’s Deep Atmosphere: Volatiles and Alkali Metals
3:00 - 3:30: Ke "Coco" Zhang (University of Wisconsin - Madison) - Mapping the Evolution of Planet-Forming Disks: From Global Gas Reservoirs to Inner Chemistry

3:30 - 3:50: Coffee break

3:50-4:05: Marbely Micolta (Astronomy) - Building Blocks in Motion: Tracing Rocky Material Through Planet-Forming Disks
4:05-4:20: Will Meynardie (Astronomy) - Tracing Formation of Widely Separated Companions Through Composition
4:20-4:35: Chengyan Xie (University of Arizona) - From Young to Older Disks: JWST/MIRI Evidence for Fading Molecular Emission and Hints for Elevated C/O in Upper Sco
4:35-4:50: Mayank Narang (JPL) - Investigating the evolution of outflows from YSOs with JWST