Poster Sessions

My poster session a few days ago went really well! I made a lot of good connections including a university of Warsaw professor who conducted similar research to me in west Antarctica using bryozoans. It'll be interesting to see how the water chemistry affects them as well! Overall the poster sessions have been good, which is a relief as I thought there would not be good exposure given the size of the conference center. Luckily, me and Justin were nearby so we could play a friendly game of "who can get the most people to talk to them". I was a little nervous so that helped a great deal. Also, we were near the wine and coffee, which seemed to draw a lot of people. ;) There were almost no undergrads so everyone assumed I was a grad or PhD student which was good because everyone took me seriously when I talked to them about my research. Given the topics of posters around me I'd say my topic was a little bit more serious than others as I really played up the large scale implications of the study. Overall, I think our posters were well above the par given the amount of information portrayed and the visual aesthetics of them.

Most of the people who approached me were American, in fact, I noticed that most people stuck to their fellow countrymen. It was refreshing that I had conversations with many school teachers from the US who had come for some continuing education. It felt good knowing that I helped them get some understanding not only about my research but antarctica in general, some geology/paleo, and ocean chemistry and acidification. I applaud the US for funding these types of continuing education trips, I guess were trying to smarten up a little. Way to go America!