The 15th Astrobiology Graduate Conference (AbGradCon) was held at the University of Utah this past July. AbGradCon is a unique academic conference that is organized solely by early career scientists for other early career scientists. Every year, graduate students and postdocs gather to present their research through oral and poster presentations, take part in public outreach events, and gather informally to forge connections with their peers. This provides the opportunity to create and strengthen interdisciplinary and international networks between early career astrobiologists who will be leaders of such research in the years to come. Indeed, after 15 iterations, many of the alumni of the earliest AbGradCon meetings have gone on to become senior scientists and principal investigators. As organizers of the 2019 meeting, we feel that AbGradCon can serve as a robust model for other student-led meetings in any discipline. Here, we reflect upon the successful changes that have been implemented over the years, how current conference activities align with our goals, and the future challenges that AbGradCon faces as we look forward to the next 15 years of the conference.

中文翻译：

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天体生物学研究生会议：15年回顾展

去年7月，第15届天体生物学研究生大会（AbGradCon）在犹他大学举行。AbGradCon是一个独特的学术会议，由早期职业科学家专门为其他早期职业科学家组织。每年，研究生和博士后都会聚集在一起，通过口头和海报展示的方式介绍他们的研究，参加公共宣传活动，并非正式地聚集在一起，与同龄人建立联系。这提供了机会，可以建立和加强早期职业天体生物学家之间的跨学科和国际网络，他们将在未来几年成为此类研究的领导者。确实，经过15次迭代，最早的AbGradCon会议的许多校友都继续成为高级科学家和主要研究人员。作为2019年会议的组织者，我们认为AbGradCon可以作为任何学科的其他学生主导的会议的强大模型。在这里，我们回顾了过去几年中已成功实施的变革，当前的会议活动如何与我们的目标保持一致，以及AbGradCon在期待会议的未来15年时所面临的未来挑战。