Spiky balls of fun

Two weeks later... back to Woods Hole.  This time to discuss the amazingness that are sea urchins. The meeting is small, welcoming... and exhausting.  We think, talk, drink starting with the first session at 9 am until the last session at 9 pm and continue on through the poster and social hour till 11 pm .... but it doesn't stop there.  People from our conference closed down the Captain Kidd every night - catching up, discussing the latest talk, giving guidance to the burgeoning scientists, and drinking.  It is a wonderful group of people, who (for the most part) all really enjoy each others' company.

Conferences are always a time to reconnect with old friends. This conference we also remembered some who are no longer with us, including my postdoctoral El Jefe, Lynne Angerer, and a force of nature in the field, Eric Davidson. Lynne was still well represented with many of her disciples in the audience. We decided to take a belated lab picture - too bad we never took one with Lynne when we were all actually in the lab. -- Mental note... take a lab picture.

Back to the bottom

I left the deep-sea community after my PhD to learn the most cutting edge molecular techniques at the National Institutes of Health. Now that I'm back in a Marine Science Department (and my kids are a little older), I'm trying to get back out to sea and re-integrate into the deep-sea community.

The first formal reintegration step was to attend a DeSSC meeting.  DeSSC - Deep Submergence Science Committee - is a group of deep-sea researchers that connect the scientists to the administrators to ensure that the science community has the assets it needs. Each year, there is an early career component to the DeSSC meeting. They will pay for new users and early career scientists to attend this meeting to familiarize them with what is available and make connections within the community.  If you're interested, apply to go next year (always in December right before AGU conference).

Second formal step... bootcamp. I recently returned from an Alvin Bootcamp.  We got a full tour of the renovated submarine and its amazing new capabilities... and most importantly were schooled on tricks and tips for integrating it into our research projects and proposals. They're really trying to set up the next generation for success and at the same time ensure long term success of the Alvin program.

I'll be putting two proposals/preproposals in this winter... here's hoping that I get back out in this workhorse in the sea.  To the bottom of the drink....