Abstract

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is a NASA observatory designed to perform Wide Field imaging and large surveys of the near infrared sky. Featuring both a Wide Field imager, and a Coronagraph, WFIRST-s field of view will be more than 100 times greater than Hubble. Through a combination of ambitious surveys and a vibrant General Observer program, WFIRST will directly address many outstanding questions in the areas of dark energy, cosmology, galactic evolution and exoplanets. This international conference, "Science in our own Backyard: Exploring the Galaxy and the Local Group with WFIRST", to be held in Pasadena, CA on the Caltech campus from 18-20 June 2019, will bring together experts in the community to discuss the impact that WFIRST will have on many areas of active research in our own “backyard”, including exoplanets, star formation, Galactic structure and archaeology, stellar populations in the Local Group, and near-field cosmology. The goal of the conference is to foster greater awareness of the wide-ranging capabilities of WFIRST in terms of General Observer and archival science, especially in conjunction with other ground and space-based survey missions that are operating now or planned for the 2020-s, such as Gaia, ZTF, and LSST.