I admit I feel a bit guilty being in Hawaii while my students and family are still battling with old man winter in New Jersey.... and it seems like old man winter is winning.About half of IMCS building (probably more) hopped on the 11 hour non-stop flight from Newark to Honolulu to meet, greet, eat, and present at the 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting. A gathering of over 5,000 ocean scientists to share their research and ideas.
There are a lot of white men with beards in Hawaiian shirts!! But, I'm also pleased to see increasing diversity and gender balance.
The ASLO Minority Program (http://aslo.org/mas/) has brought some of the best and brightest minority students to Ocean Sciences and ASLO meetings for decades. The program seems to be thriving at Ocean Sciences this year. It could be the desire to go to Hawaii was appealing, but I'd like to believe that there are more students than ever interested in and pursuing ocean science careers. Over a decade ago, I was one of those undergraduates attending a scientific meeting for the first time. Now I'm on the other side... trying to recruit some of them to join my lab. Isn't life grand!
Aloha from Hawaii!
