the lack-of-AbGradCon 2025 that might have unfolded without your early involvement; we’re grateful it didn’t come to that. To Becky Rapf, Graham Lau, Luke Fisher, Meg Birmingham and Sara Miller: We’re not sure if you expected to be bugged by future organizers after your own conference years but thank you for letting us do exactly that. The wisdom and documentation you passed down helped form a strong foundation for us to build on. To Becky McCauley-Rench, Bradley Burcar and Melissa KirvenBrooks: You have our eternal gratitude. Your support and advocacy on our behalf made this conference possible, especially when things got tough. Without you, this conference might have been delayed — or even cancelled. Thank you for believing in us and our visions. To Mike Toillion: Thank you for always being willing to be the A/V guru for AbGradCon. Knowing we could count on you lifted a major stress off our shoulders. We really appreciate you supporting us and past teams with your time and skillset. To Boswell Wing and Jordy Bouwman: Thank you for agreeing to be our PIs and supporting us with your guidance, trust and time. We’re grateful to have had you behind us. To Anne Tavarczky-Barchas, Jason LaClair, Karen Kulby, Karina Provost, Kisa Minardi, Mike Dillon and Susan Sand: We could not have asked for a better village of people to help us navigate every administrative hurdle: creating budgets, managing participant travel, setting up financial accounts and so very much more. Thank you. To Lynda Sovocool and the accounting team at Cornell University: Your amazing communication and willingness to help us through financially dire times has been nothing short of astounding. Thank you. To our sponsors and partners — Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Earth-Life Science Institute, Honeybee Robotics, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, SETI Institute, The International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, The Planetary Society and United Therapeutics: Thank you for your generosity. Without your support, this conference would not have had the resources it needed to flourish. To Nicolle Zellner and Tom Cech: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to be our keynote speakers. It is such an honor to have you. To Barbra Sobhani, Graham Lau, Jack Kiraly and Katherine French: Thank you for accepting the invite to be our panelist speakers. We’re all so excited to hear your stories. To Krysti Joméi, Jonny DeStefano, Amanda Shafer, Julianna Beckert, and the entire Birdy Magazine team: Thank you for lending us your pages, skills and designs to bring science to new audiences through art. You have been patient, generous and enthusiastic collaborators. We’re so grateful that you stayed with us through every schedule change and delay and helped us make something beautiful in the process. To the artists, writers, photographers, researchers and scientists who contributed to this issue and the conference in any way: Thank you for sharing your visions of life among and under the stars. We extend our deepest thanks for making our world a more joyful place. Finally, to everyone who encouraged and cheered us on: Thank you. You helped us carry this theme into reality. You reminded us that when we look up into a dark sky, we’re seeing the backdrop for bright stars. Thank you for imagining brighter futures under dark skies, Abby Diering, Rory McClish, Sam Pryor & Zaid Haddadin LUKE HUXLEY, COLORADO NIGHT SKY - ASTROTOURS.ORG
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