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Showing posts with label Conferences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conferences. Show all posts

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Three things from Evolution 2014

I just got back from Evolution 2014, a scientific conference for those who study all aspects of organismal evolution. The conference was held in Raleigh, North Carolina, and I had an absolute blast during my first time at Evolution.

 One of my favorite events was Saturday's Evolution film festival. A bunch of short films created by scientists and science educators were screened to a rowdy audience. There were a lot of laughs and nerdery-induced groans. My favorite film ("Dinosaur", below) was catchy and cute, where others varied from humorous explanations of evolutionary principles to fantastic visualizations of scientific studies. You can see all the videos here (some of my favorites include "The Genetics of Mouse Burrowing", "Selfish Gene", and "Drift").


Dinosaur from Lori Henriques on Vimeo.
Here are my biggest takeaways from Evolution 2014:

1. A modern evolutionary biologist needs A LOT of skills. Many presentations I saw described projects that required fieldwork to collect samples (sometimes across continents or the entire globe), laboratory skills to collect huge genetic data sets, bioinformatic techniques to curate and analyze that data,and enough knowledge/perspective to fit conclusions into a rapidly-changing body of knowledge. I tend to perceive a typical PhD student in my field 25 years ago as having a very specific niche, whether that be a certain study organism or a particular technique to collect/analyze data. Based on chatting with other scientists-in-training, a pressure to "do it all" is noticeable, with most students feeling like field, laboratory, and bioinformatic skills were all necessary to get a job.

2. A modern evolutionary biologist needs collaboration. That being said, no one can do it all. That is why I saw (and participated in) so many lunch, dinner, and "quick we have twenty minutes to chat" meetings. Finding other scientists and labs that have experience with what you are interested in isn't hard, and most of the time these folks are thrilled to brainstorm and provide advice. This meeting was a reminder of how much our lab interacts with others around the world and how invigorating these connections can be.
Google "Bad scientific posters" for yourself
3a. Speaking of skills, where are the communication skills? Far and away my biggest complaint about scientific conferences in general is a lack of clarity in communication. At my first few conferences, I struggled to walk through a session of poster presentations and actually learn anything. This caused me to doubt that I was really smart enough to keep up with the rest of science. As I've come to learn, scientists generally have a hard time following some basic rules about communication (for instance, simplify your message and never use comic sans). There is a multitude of potential reasons for this, like a perception that simplicity equals laziness or a lack of understanding. 

Just so you don't think I'm too cocky about visual communication, here is the poster I prepared for Evolution 2014. I've got a lot to learn too!
Even though Evolution showcased some of the most exciting science happening right now, that science was sometimes much to difficult to access (even for other evolutionary biologists!). A 15 minute browse through Dr. Zen's Better Posters blog would have made my brain ache a little less at the end of the night. I will continue to be a proponent for better visual presentation of science, even if at the continued annoyance of my lab mates.

"TWEET"
3b. Speaking of communication skills, some people have them in spades. I saw a lot of great talks from established scientists that demonstrated how powerful good communication skills are when in the hands of gifted minds. For example, Dr. Steve Jones was the recipient of this years' Stephen Jay Gould Award and gave an engaging talk about his career with snails using both art and science. I was inspired by a whole bunch of talks like his.

 Also, this meeting was easily the most aware of social media technology of any I have attended. Couldn't make a talk? Need a restaurant recommendation? What posters should I swing by? Just go check the Twitter feed! There was so much Twitter participation at this meeting, and it definitely added something extra for me. I used my own Twitter account to participate, and I look forward to using the spike in blog views and Researchgate publication downloads that resulted as evidence for why tools like Twitter can help you share your work effectively!

 Here is a great summary (via The Molecular Ecologist) of the tweeting that was happening and here is a great collection of tweets from the meeting organized by Morgan Ernest (check out her blog, Jabberwocky Ecology too!).
Overall, I can't wait until next time! Now I should get back to making a list of all the new ideas I need to try.





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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Tweet Report from Evolution 2013

This past weekend, scientists from around the world met in Colorado for Evolution 2013, the largest scientific meeting in the world for folks studying evolutionary biology.

 I was not one of these scientists, and I was bummed about it. 

 Conferences are very important for scientists for many reasons. They serve as forums to share work that is brand new and unpublished. They allow scientists with common interests to meet face-to-face, creating opportunities for collaboration and generation of new ideas. They can even be places to find your next job!

But from the opposite perspective, conferences are expensive: registration, hotel, transportation, and food add up quickly. And if you aren't there, you miss out. While not every presentation at a conference will become a published academic paper, many of the ideas and techniques presented could pass you by due to the lag time between the completion of scientific studies and the actual publication of those studies. 

 However, social media applications like Twitter are now allowing outsiders to get a peak into scientific conferences like never before in addition to giving conference-goers an improved experience. 

 Let me show you how. While working this weekend, I had my tweetdeck up monitoring the hashtag #evol2013. Below are some examples of how I got to see who was presenting what and how Evolution 2013 attendees made their conference better with lighting-fast sharing. 

 Disclaimer: since all of the below twitter accounts are public, I didn't ask everyone for permission. Keep in mind that they are not endorsing my opinions, and I encourage you to link to their accounts to read all about their various adventures. 

 First of all, sharing interesting talks (even your own!) is easy:

 Meeting up with like-minded attendees:

 Making life easier for conference attendees with schedules, snacks, and saunas:

 What are other scientists talking about? Now you know, from the interesting perspectives of respected faculty to the alway-relevant jokes about dress code and grad student scavengers:

 Good stuff. I've cherry-picked some entertaining bits above, but in all seriousness, the #evol2013 hashtag allowed me to follow what was going on at the meeting while I was hundreds of miles away. Not only did I benefit from seeing the trends among my colleagues, but I also got a peek at the way scientific conferences are being conducted in the future.
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