ExoSLAM Summer School
3rd to 5th July, 2025, Université de Montréal, QC, CA

From light to knowledge: data reduction and analysis techniques for exoplanet atmosphere characterization

The ExoSLAM summer school will be held at Campus MIL at Université de Montréal on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning (3-5 July) prior to Exoclimes VII. The summer school is aimed at students working towards their Master's or PhD in exoplanet science, as well as postdocs who are new to the field. Through a series of lectures and hands-on tutorials, ExoSLAM will offer participants a crash course in state-of-the-art methods to reduce, analyze, and interpret observations from space-based and ground-based telescopes. Furthermore, there will be lectures focusing on statistical methods as well as machine learning applications in astrophysics. A breakdown of the program can be found below:

  • Lecture 1: An overview of observing techniques to study exoplanet atmospheres
  • Lecture 2: Algorithms and statistical methods for exoplanet science
  • Lecture 3: An introduction to JWST data-reduction pipelines
  • Tutorial 1: Reducing JWST time-series observations
  • Lecture 4: From transmission to emission: radiative transfer in a nutshell
  • Lecture 5: An introduction to atmospheric retrieval methods
  • Lecture 6: Observing exoplanet atmospheres from the ground with high-resolution spectroscopy
  • Tutorial 2: Reducing and analysing high-resolution observations with the Starships framework
  • Panel Discussion: Navigating life as an early-career scientist
  • Lecture 7: An overview of machine-learning techniques in exoplanet science and astrophysics

Organizing Committee

Person 1

Joost Wardenier (Chair)
Université de Montréal

Person 2

Romain Allart
Université de Montréal

Person 3

Björn Benneke
Université de Montréal

Person 4

Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy
McGill University

Person 5

Érika Le Bourdais
Université de Montréal

Person 6

Salma Salhi
Université de Montréal

Person 7

Jared Splinter
McGill University

Person 7

Thomas Vandal
Université de Montréal