EXPERIENCING A SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE AS AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

Annalee Chiaviello, Clemson University

My first impression of the AGU [American Geophysical Union] Fall 2022 conference was very similar to what I experienced when visiting Disney World for the first time. With so many people wandering around the conference center, and so many different talks and posters and exhibits all happening at the same time I felt both excited and I wished for a map.

the outside of the McCormick Place conference center, where AGU was held. photo by Justin Higa

I spent much of my time at the conference talking to various exhibitors. As a student applying to graduate school, it was beneficial to talk with different universities' booths about what programs and opportunities they offered. As I walked around with the other students in my research group, many of whom are graduate students, we visited the booths of many different companies and learned about the work that they were doing. Some of the booths in the exhibitor hall were a spectacle. The NASA booth in particular was impressive, complete with walls, demonstrations, and a very cool calendar (which I did get). I could easily have spent an hour just looking around this one booth.

The other half of my time at the conference was spent wandering the poster hall. I was excited to both learn from scientists conducting similar research to me and from scientists who were doing research in areas I knew nothing about. What I preferred about the poster sessions was how interactive it was. There were more opportunities to ask questions and to talk with the presenter than there was in the talks. It was also a good opportunity to talk with other students and learn about the cool research that they were doing.

On one of the mornings of the conference, I presented a poster of my own research. I was surprised by the traffic our row of the hall got and was excited to answer questions and talk with people who were interested in the research my advisor and I were doing. For the entire three and a half hours, I didn’t stop talking and I had the time of my life talking science with other scientists. Many of my friends had posters too. I was so proud to see all the work they have done and how their research has developed.