Overview

COFFIES (Consequences of Fields and Flows in the Interior and Exterior of the Sun) DSC members are gathering for our 4th annual meeting!
The meeting will be held on January 20-23, 2026, at Stanford University, where the 20th will be an in-person workshop.
We look forward to seeing you all!

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED
Note that early bird registration ends on January 9, 2026. The registration fee will then increase.

Venue

Stanford University - Physics & Astrophysics Building (PAB)
Conference Room 102/103
452 Lomita Mall
Stanford, CA 94305
Google Map

Registration

In person attendance is strongly encouraged; however, we plan to support virtual attendance for those who cannot travel.

Registration is no longer available

For in-person attendees, we will be hosting a Group Dinner on Thursday evening after the meeting adjourns for the day. Deadline for indicating your attendance at the Group Dinner is EOD on January 19, 2026.
We will also be hosting an in-person workshop on January 20, 2026, the day before the meeting begins.
Please note that the registration form includes options to indicate your attendance at the Group Dinner and/or Workshop.
Intent to submit a poster is also collected via the registration break and due by EOD on January 11, 2026.

The registration fees are as follows: Registration Fees
Registration Type Early Bird Fee (until Jan 9) Regular Fee (Jan 10-20) On-site Fee (Jan 21-23) Group Dinner (Thu, Jan 22)
In-Person Registration* $110 $140 $165 registration + $65
Student Registration $0 $0 $0 $65
Remote Registration $0 $0 $0 N/A
Notice! The registration payment system is now available. The link to the payment page is at the end of the registration form.
* For in-person attendees, be aware that registration is not complete until you have received payment confirmation.
If you have any questions about registration or payment, please contact us .
Metcalf funding opportunity

We encourage applications for the SPD Thomas Metcalf Travel Award to support attendance at the 4th Annual COFFIES Meeting. The application deadline is December 15.
The Metcalf Travel Award will support one early-career scientist to attend the meeting and present an invited talk (the Metcalf Lecture). This lecture will be viewable as a Zoom webinar and included in the COFFIES YouTube archive.
Preference will be given to applicants working in:

  • Detection and interpretation of inertial modes on the Sun
  • Comparative Sun–star studies
  • Bridging dynamo models across solar interior layers
Eligibility requirements:
  • Not a funded member of COFFIES
  • PhD earned within 4 years of the meeting date, or within one year of completing your degree
  • SPD member (regular/affiliate/student)
  • Not a previous recipient of a Metcalf Travel Award
To apply (by Dec. 15):
Email a one-page proposal to todd@sun.stanford.edu that includes:
  • Your interest in COFFIES science
  • Talk title & abstract
  • Requested travel support
  • Confirmation of eligibility
Decisions will be announced December 19.
Metcalf awardees are expected to submit (after the meeting) a one-page report to the MTAC Chair suitable for public distribution describing their contribution to the meeting. See examples from previous Metcalf awardees here (scroll down to the bottom half of the webpage):

Lodging

We do not have room blocks reserved at a specific hotel for the meeting. We provide the following list of nearby lodging options, accessible to campus within a 10-minute walk and/or via the free Marguerite Campus Bus service.

List of nearby Lodging

See this Google Map for locations and proximity to campus or transit

Transportation

Nearby Airports

  • San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
  • Driving to Campus: ~30 min
  • Uber/Lyft: $50-70
  • Public Transit (Bart+Caltrain+Marguerite): ~1hr, cost: $10.95

  • Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)
  • Driving to Campus: ~30 min
  • Uber/Lyft: $35-50
  • Public Transit (Bus+Caltrain+Marguerite): ~1hr 20min, cost: $8.50

Campus Parking
If you indicate that you will need Workshop Parking (via the registration form), we will contact you the week of the Meeting to collect the necessary information to provide you with a temporary digital parking permit.
Note that there is ad hoc visitor parking on campus as well ($4.46/hour up to $35.68/day).

Click the button below for more transportation details. Primary public transit stops and parking locations are also indicated on the Google Map above.

More information on Parking, Public Transit & Airports

Agenda

Note, this is a draft agenda and may change before the start of the meeting.
We will provide a more detailed agenda to registered attendees.


COFFIES '26 - Day 1 (Jan 21st, 2026)
COFFIES '26 - Day 1 (Jan 21st, 2026)
Agenda
Time (PT) Topic
08:30 OVERVIEW
Meeting Goals
Todd Hoeksema
08:45 OVERVIEW
COFFIES Milestones
Dave Lauben
09:00 SESSION 1.1
Tachocline Reports
Nic Brummell & Gustavo Guerrero
09:00 Invited Talk
Tachocline Theme Progress Overview
Nic Brummell
09:15 Invited Talk
Tachocline Helioseismology Updates
Sylvain Korzennik
09:35 Invited Talk
Tachocline Theory and Simulations Update
Loren Matilsky
09:55 Invited Talk
Tachocline Instabilities Update
Mausumi Dikpati
10:15 Invited Talk
Tachocline Brief Updates, Questions, Future etc.
Bhishek Manek, Brad Hindman, Nic Brummell
10:30 BREAK
Break
11:00 SESSION 1.2
FT&E Reports
Bill Abbett & Aimee Norton
11:00 Invited Talk
FT&E PINN-Based Active Regions Distribution Simulator
Mausumi Dikpati
11:20 Invited Talk
FT&E Clustering Pattern of Solar Active Regions & Connection with Solar Magneto-inertial Modes
Junwei Zhao
11:40 Invited Talk
FT&E Moderate Nesting & Cross-Equatorial Asymmetry of Active Regions
Aimee Norton
12:00 Invited Talk
Beyond 60 Degrees: High-Quality HMI Polar Magnetograms for the Solar Community
Sushant Mahajan
12:30 BREAK
Lunch
13:30 SESSION 1.3
Metcalf Scholar Lectures
13:30 Invited Talk
Effects of density stratification on Rossby waves in deep atmospheres
Catherine Blume
13:50 Invited Talk
Understanding the variabilities of solar‑type stars using dynamo modeling
Vidya Vashishth
14:15 SESSION 1.4
Beans Session - Hybrid Talks
Slava Sadykov
14:15 Invited Talk
Beans / Early Career activity updates and lightning talks
Beans Steering Committee
14:24 Invited Talk
Generative AI-based Prediction and Reconstruction of Time-evolving Solar Surface Magnetic Fields
Hyun-Jin Jeong
14:35 Invited Talk
Ca ii K Polar Network Index of the Sun: A Proxy for Historical Polar Magnetic Field
Dibya Kirti Mishra
14:46 Invited Talk
Diagnostics of Propagating High-Frequency Acoustic Waves and the Phase Difference Turnover Problem
Jessica Hamilton
14:57 Invited Talk
Solar Oscillations in Strong Magnetic Field Regions
Arman Manookian
15:08 Invited Talk
Validation of Doppler Shift Estimation Methods and Helioseismic Techniques for Inversions of Solar Sub-Surface Flows using 3D RMHD Simulations
Isaac Asante
15:19 Invited Talk
Tilt Angle of Large Ephemeral Regions Studied Through AutoTAB
Rambahadur Gupta
15:30 BREAK
Break
16:00 SESSION 1.5
NSSL Reports
Nick Featherstone & Rudi Komm
16:00 Invited Talk
Overview
Nick Featherstone & Rudi Komm
16:10 Invited Talk
Evidence for Magnetic Modulation of the Sun’s Narrow Near-Surface Shear Layer
Cristina Rabello Soares
16:30 Invited Talk
Effects of the near-surface shear layer and differential rotation on the inertial and Rossby modes
Sasha Kosovichev
16:50 Invited Talk
Assessing Thermal Wind Balance in NSSL
Kinfe Teweldebirhan
17:10 Invited Talk
Origin of solar differential rotation in the absence of turbulent convection
Luca Menicucci
17:30 BREAK
Adjourn
18:00 BREAK
Beans Activity - Game Night & Pizza!
COFFIES '26 - Day 2 (Jan 22nd, 2026)
COFFIES '26 - Day 2 (Jan 22nd, 2026)
Agenda
Time (PT) Topic
08:30 Invited Talk
NASA Update - A Word from Our Sponsors
Therese Morretto Jorgensen, Katya Verner & Janet Kozyra
09:00 SESSION 2.1
Dynamo Reports - Krishnendu Mandal, Chair
Alexander Kosovichev & Gustavo Guerrero
09:00 Invited Talk
Dynamo Team Progress and Roadblocks
Alexander Kosovichev
09:30 Invited Talk
Matching Solar Differential Rotation with Dynamo Models
Valentin Aslanyan
09:45 Invited Talk
3D Dynamo Modeling
Russell Hankey
10:00 Invited Talk
Modeling the Global Sun Dynamics
Aidan Paoli
10:15 Invited Talk
Radiative and MHD Effects of Extreme Events
Samuel Granovsky
10:30 BREAK
Break
11:00 SESSION 2.2
Model Integration Reports
Irina Kitiashvili & Viacheslav Sadykov
11:00 Invited Talk
Modeling Integration Team Progress Report & Plans
Irina Kitiashvili
11:36 Invited Talk
Machine Learning Models for Predicting Magnetic Flux and Continuum Intensity during the Emergence of Solar Active Regions
Spiridon Kasapis
11:54 Invited Talk
Radiative Transfer Modeling and Machine Learning for COFFIES at GSU: Progress and Next Steps
Viacheslav Sadykov
12:12 Invited Talk
Cluster-Weighted Training of Deep Surrogate Models for Subgrid Turbulent Transport
Rimsha Syeda
12:30 BREAK
Lunch
13:30 SESSION 2.3
Surface Links Reports
Todd Hoeksema & Bill Abbett
13:30 Invited Talk
Meridional Flow
Lisa Upton
13:45 Invited Talk
Surface Flux Transport
Marc deRosa
14:00 Invited Talk
Helicity
Yang Liu
14:15 SESSION 2.4
CET Reports
Shea Hess Webber & Oana Vesa
14:40 SESSION 2.5
Broadening Impacts Reports
Bryan Mendez
15:05 SESSION 2.6
Education Reports
Dan Zevin
15:30 BREAK
Break
16:00 SESSION 2.7
Helioseismology Reports
Rudi Komm & Ruizhu Chen
16:00 Invited Talk
Overiew
Ruizhu Chen & Rudi Komm
16:10 Invited Talk
Helioseismic Inferences on the Coupled Dynamics of Large-Scale Flows and Magnetic Fields in the NSSL
Rajaguru
16:30 Invited Talk
Dynamics of Subsurface Flows in Solar Active Regions during the 2024 May Storm
Lekshmi Biji
16:50 Invited Talk
Helioseismology of Inertial Waves
Krishnendu Mandel
17:10 Invited Talk
Updates on Studying GONG-HMI Phase Anomalies and Constructing a Deeper Time-distance Pipeline
Ruizhu Chen & Junwei Zhao
17:30 BREAK
Adjourn
19:00 BREAK
Conference Dinner - Buca di Beppo
COFFIES '26 - Day 3 (Jan 23rd, 2026)
COFFIES '26 - Day 3 (Jan 23rd, 2026)
Agenda
Time (PT) Topic
08:30 OVERVIEW
Year 4 Update and Plans
Todd Hoeksema & Dave Lauben
09:00 SESSION 3.1
Model Integration - Goals & Collaborations
Viacheslav Sadykov & Irina Kitiashvili
09:00 Invited Talk
Artificial Intelligence as infrastructure that advances COFFIES science
Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo
09:18 Discussion
Discussion
Viacheslav Sadykov
09:30 SESSION 3.2
Dynamo - Goals & Collaborations - Krishnendu Mandal, Chair
Alexander Kosovichev & Gustavo Guerrero
09:30 Invited Talk
Solar-Cycle Changes in the Sun’s Thermodynamic Structure
Kyle Villamayor
09:45 Invited Talk
Evolution of Global and Local Magnetic Helicity
Hannah Suresh
10:00 Invited Talk
Solar-Cycle Variations of Solar Convection Spectrum
JT Stefan
10:15 Invited Talk
Origin of Solar Dynamo in Tachocline
Krishnendu Mandal
10:30 BREAK
Break
11:00 SESSION 3.3
Inertial Modes - Reports & Plans
Oana Vesa
11:00 Invited Talk
Inertial Mode Eigenfunction Calculation
Kyle Augustson
11:20 Invited Talk
Nonlinear simulations of solar inertial modes: effects of shear and magnetic fields
Conrado Finotti
11:40 Invited Talk
Structural Tilting and Depth-Dependent Behavior of Equatorial Rossby Waves
Oana Vesa
12:00 Discussion
Discussion Topics - Identify Topics for Afternoon Discussions
Todd Hoeksema, Baristas, All
12:30 BREAK
Lunch
13:30 SESSION 3.4
Connections Discussions
Nic B., Nick F., Bill A. & Aimee N.
13:30 Discussion
Discussion Seed
14:00 Discussion
Group Discussion
15:00 BREAK
Break
15:20 SESSION 3.5
Planning Discussions
TBD
15:20 Discussion
Discussion Seed
15:50 Discussion
COFFIES End Products
17:00 OVERVIEW
Wrap Up
Todd Hoeksema & Dave Lauben
17:30 BREAK
Adjourn

Science Organizing Committee Members [alphabetical]

  • Todd Hoeksema (Stanford; SOC Chair)
  • Shea Hess Webber (Stanford; LOC Chair)
  • Chet McLeskey (TDI)

Local Organizing Committee Members [alphabetical]

  • Shea Hess Webber (Stanford; LOC Chair)
  • Ruizhu Chen (Stanford)
  • Todd Hoeksema (Stanford; SOC Chair)
  • Alex Koufos (Stanford)
  • Dave Lauben (Stanford)
  • Sushant Mahajan (Stanford)
  • Haruko Makitani (Stanford)
  • Hao Thai (Stanford)
  • Oana Vesa (Stanford)

Workshop Organizing Committee Members [alphabetical]

  • Shea Hess Webber (Stanford; LOC Chair)
  • Edgar Carden (TDI)
  • Todd Hoeksema (Stanford; SOC Chair)
  • Sushant Mahajan (Stanford)
  • Chet McLeskey (TDI)
  • Bryan Mendez (SSL/Berkeley)
  • Michael O’Rourke (TDI)
  • John "JT" Stefan (NJIT)
  • Lisa Upton (SwRI)
  • Oana Vesa (Stanford)
Contact the SOC and LOC chairs via coffies-info@sun.stanford.edu

Workshop

Join us for a pre-annual meeting, in-person workshop co-led by our collaborators at TDI.
The day will be structured around two interactive workshop sessions, featuring a TDI-led discussion and a CET-facilitated activity, focused on:

  1. Shared values, community norms, and code of conduct
  2. Effective science communication across career stages, disciplines, and communities
Additional details will be announced closer to the event date. Please check back soon for updates.

Agenda

COFFIES '26 - Pre-Meeting Workshop (Jan 20th, 2026)
COFFIES '26 - Pre-Meeting Workshop (Jan 20th, 2026)
Agenda
Time (PT) Topic
09:00 OVERVIEW
Reflections on a COFFIES Collaborative Agreement
09:30 Discussion
Dialog
TDI
10:45 BREAK
Break
11:15 SESSION 0.1
Co‑creation Activity
CET
12:30 BREAK
Lunch
13:30 OVERVIEW
Advancing Interdisciplinary Communications in COFFIES
14:00 Discussion
Dialog
TDI
15:15 BREAK
Break
15:45 SESSION 0.2
Co‑creation Activity
CET
17:00 BREAK
Adjourn