SAS 2026 kicked off in Pittsburgh on March 12. This year’s conference started with a series of pre-conferences featuring exciting new research in affective science, such as affective computing and clinical affective science. We implemented a new half-day preconference format this year, allowing conference-goers to attend multiple preconferences (e.g., on both developmental and clinical affective science).
Diversity Award Winners at SAS 2026, Credit: Felix (Chen-Wei) Yu
As a mentee-oriented society, SAS particularly values training junior scholars (e.g., undergrads, RAs, junior PhD students). Therefore, after a day of pre-conferences, all newcomers were invited to an event specifically designed for this purpose. In this newcomer event, junior scholars were encouraged to connect with some of the most prominent scholars in the field to talk about research, and to learn about them as a person. While it may seem intimidating to talk to these “big names”, students often enjoyed these conversations and were pleasantly surprised to find out that the people who wrote their favorite papers were humans, too! The Newcomers Event also welcomes faculty/career professionals who are attending the SAS meeting for the first time. We were thrilled to have you join us!
Minigolf at The Puttery, Credit: Victoria Hart-Derrick
The first day was not over yet! Many students also signed up for the SAS Student Social that took place at The Puttery – a local indoor mini golf / bar. Students connected with one another while having fun, sharing both the highlights of the day and helping each other release the stress from the first day of the conference (talk about interpersonal emotion regulation!).
The second and third days of the conference featured a series of thought-provoking symposia, flash talks, salons, method workshops, and poster sessions. We also had a keynote symposium on Interpersonal Affect and Human Relationships with invited speakers Shir Atzil, Tristen Inagaki, and Jeffery Hall. And of course, we held our Awards Symposium because we love celebrating the achievements of our colleagues. Congratulations to Nada Alaifan and Kieran McVeigh for winning the Best Dissertation Award, to Desmond Ong for winning the Early-Career Award, and to Hedy Kober for winning the Mid-Career Trajectory Award.
Yajun Cao (Harvard University) received the Best Thematic Flash Talk Award. Soo Youn Kim (The University of Pittsburgh) and Yuritza Escalante (The Ohio State University) won the Best Poster – New Results and Best Poster – New Idea Awards, respectively. The 10 SAS 2026 Diversity Award Winners (De-Graft Agyei, Virginia Commonwealth University; Hiba Alany, Arizona State University / Northern Arizona University; Yun Evelina Bao, New York University; Yuhui Chen, University of Manchester; J. Doris Chi, Yale School of Public Health; Ella Givon, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Isabella Kahhale, Harvard Medical School / McLean Hospital; Megan Korhumm, Kent State University; Thandi Lyew, University of Pennsylvania; Gold Okafor, Yale University received complimentary SAS membership for 2 years and presented flash talks at the conference. These awards go to trainees who stand out as expanding diversity of both the SAS community and the perspectives represented in affective science research. Application criteria can be found here.
SAS 2026 ended with a presidential symposium Rethinking Emotion: Lessons From Animals, Machines, and Plants presented by Kristen Lindquist, Jonathan Gratch, Karl Niklas, and Karen Bales. It was impressive to hear from these renowned scholars who pushed our thinking about “emotion” in novel ways.
With that, SAS 2026 officially concluded. We hope that everyone left with new ideas and made new and/or reconnected with old friends and collaborators. We look forward to seeing you at SAS 2027 in San Diego!