Particle Acceleration and Transport in the Heliosphere and Beyond : 7th Annual International Astrophysics Conference: Kauai, Hawaii, 7-13 March 2008

All papers have been peer-reviewed. Our star is a very effective particle accelerator. Energies up to GeVs have been observed in Solar energetic particle events. These events are often associated with solar flares and/or Coronal Mass Ejections. Understanding how particles are accelerated in these phenomena has been an outstanding problem in space plasma physics for a long time. Part of the reason is its practical (e.g. Space weather) and fundamental (cosmic ray origin) importance. In this conference we review recent progresses on this problem, with a balance between observations, theories and numerical simulations. Specific topics include: particle acceleration at flare site; turbulence properties of the solar wind; particle acceleration and transport in the inner heliosphere; particle acceleration at the termination shock and heliosheath; and, particle acceleration at supernova remnant shocks.