2026 RHIC/AGS Annual Users' Meeting & RHIC Science Symposium

11 May 2026, 09:00 → 15 May 2026, 18:00 US/Eastern

Anders Knospe (Lehigh University), Daniel Brandenburg (Ohio State University), Peter Steinberg (BNL)

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2026 RHIC/AGS Annual Users' Meeting

The Annual RHIC & AGS Users' Meeting will be held May 11–13, 2026 followed immediately on May 14 & 15th by a special RHIC Symposium commemorating the end of RHIC and celebrating 25 years of discovery. The meeting will highlight the latest results from the PHENIX, STAR and sPHENIX experiments and provide an outlook with the future programs at RHIC and the EIC. Workshops that will be held on Monday, May 11, and Tuesday, May 12, will enable more in-depth discussions of the following topics:

• Jets & Hard Probes
• Ultraperipheral & Electromagnetic Processes
• Nasa Space Radiation Laboratory
• Fixed-target@EIC
• AI/ML
• Baryon Junction & Stopping

 

There will be an in-person poster session on Tuesday, May 12, Plenary sessions will be held on Tuesday, May 12 (afternoon), and Wednesday, May 13. Reports on operation status from the sPHENIX and STAR experiments and highlights from PHENIX, sPHENIX and STAR experiments, EIC detectors, a report from the Department of Energy and award ceremonies will be held during the plenary sessions.

RHIC Science Symposium

The RHIC Symposium will be on Thursday, May 14 and Friday, May 15 with special speakers and programming to commemorate the end of RHIC operations, to celebrate the 25+ years of discovery science accomplished, and to kick-off the transition to the Electron Ion Collider Era as we look forward to decades more discovery science. 

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Event ID:  E000007621

Note: This meeting falls under Exemption E. Meetings such as Advisory Committee and Federal Advisory Committee meetings. Solicitation/Funding Opportunity Announcement Review Board meetings, peer review/objective review panel meetings, evaluation panel/board meetings, and program kick-off and review meetings (including those for grants and contracts) are open to the public.

Monday 11 May

09:00 → 12:00 Workshop: AI/ML I

09:00 → 12:00 Workshop: Baryon Junction & Stopping I

09:00 → 12:00 Workshop: Fixed-target@EIC

09:00 → 12:00 Workshop: Jets & Hard Probes

12:00 → 14:00 No Host Lunch

14:00 → 17:00 Workshop: AI/ML II

Afternoon I

14:00 → 17:00 Workshop: Baryon Junction & Stopping II

Afternoon I

14:00 → 17:00 Workshop: Fixed-target@EIC

Afternoon I

Tuesday 12 May

09:00 → 12:00 Workshop: Nasa Space Radiation Laboratory

2nd Morning session

09:00 → 12:00 Workshop: UPC & Electromagnetic Processes

2nd Morning session

12:00 → 14:00 No Host Lunch

14:00 → 17:00 AUM Plenary I

14:00 Welcome Remarks from the Lab Director

14:10 Opening Remarks from ALD - Looking to the Future

14:35 C-AD Report

14:55 Group Picture

15:05 Coffee

15:30 STAR Run Report

16:00 sPHENIX Run Report

16:30 Workshop Report: Jets & Hard Probes

17:00 → 19:00 Reception & Poster Session

Wednesday 13 May

09:00 → 12:00 Plenary II

09:00 STAR Physics Highlights

09:25 sPHENIX Physics Highlights

09:50 PHENIX Physics Highlights

10:15 Coffee Break

10:30 DOE Report

10:55 NSF Report

11:20 Workshop Report: AI/ML

11:40 Workshop Report: Baryon Junction & Stopping

12:00 → 14:00 No Host Lunch

14:00 → 17:25 Plenary III

14:00 Workshop Report: NSRL

14:20 Workshop Report: UPC & Electromagnetic Processes

14:40 Workshop Report: Fixed Target @ EIC

15:00 Coffee Break

15:15 EIC, ePIC and the future physics

15:40 Sambamurti Award

15:45 Merit and Thesis Awards

15:55 Poster Award

16:10 Coffee Break

16:20 Sambamurti Lecture

Thursday 14 May

09:00 → 12:20 RHIC Symposium

09:00 Lab Director's Welcome

09:10 T.D. Lee Memorial

Status of field before RHIC

09:25 The status of the field before RHIC

10:00 Making RHIC Possible: Reflections on the Machine

Speaker: Thomas Roser (BNL)

10:30 Coffee Break

10:45 Spokesperson Talk: STAR

10:55 Spokesperson Talk: PHENIX

11:05 Spokesperson Talk: PHOBOS

11:15 Spokesperson Talk: BRAHMS

11:25 Panel Discussion

11:55 David Gross: Reflections on RHIC

12:15 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 16:45 RHIC Symposium

14:00 The QGP as we understand it 20+ years later

14:40 Impact of RHIC on understanding the nucleon spin

15:10 Coffee Break

15:30 Impact of RHIC on the LHC (Science and social impact)

16:00 Reflections from past NPP Associate Laboratory Directors

16:45 → 21:30 RHIC Symposium: BSA Distinguished Lecture & Banquet

16:45 Refreshments

17:00 BSA Distinguished Lecture

18:30 Host Dinner

Friday 15 May

09:00 → 12:00 RHIC Symposium

09:00 Sam Aronson Memorial

Creating the RHIC machine

09:15 Completing the sPHENIX Scientific Mission

Speakers: Megan Connors (Georgia State University), Megan Connors (Georgia State University RBRC)

09:40 Completing the STAR Scientific Mission

Speaker: Frank Geurts (Rice University)

10:05 Coffee Break

10:20 Completing the PHENIX Scientific Mission

Speaker: Yasuyuki Akiba (RIKEN)

10:45 Completing the RHIC Scientific Mission (Theory Perspectives)

11:10 Reflections on the success and impact of the RBRC

12:00 → 14:00 Lunch (Hosted)

14:00 → 18:00 RHIC Symposium

14:00 Bjoerken Memorial

14:15 Scientific Origins of the Electron Ion Collider

14:50 From RHIC to EIC: Connections between RHIC and EIC science

15:15 Coffee Break

15:35 Making the EIC possible, Machine perspectives

16:10 Lessons from RHIC in designing ePIC

16:45 Early Career Panel