My first Gordon!

So the Gordon research conferences focus on a specific topic and bring together a small number of experts on that topic. I attended the one called Undergraduate Biology Education Research: Improving Diversity, Equity, and Learning in Biology Education. It was quite an experience. First off, the schedule was grueling with talks and activities from 8am-11pm every day!

 

But I also learned so much. I had no idea that there was so much work going on at every level to improve biology education. The small teaching colleges and community colleges were well represented, but there were also people from NSF, NIH, nonprofits, R1 curriculum developers, and even big business people. It gave me SO much to think about…

Since almost everyone there was an educator who thinks about inclusion, everyone was ridiculously friendly. I knew one person going in to the conference and left knowing almost 100! Everyone I met was passionate and inspiring. I also took advantage of all of the optional adventures every afternoon: see below 🙂

Ate my first lobster at the closing banquet

Lily pads I collected while kayacking

Mark Wahlberg’s restaurant in Hingham, MA

Onset beach

Hingham Beer Works–great brewery

Kayaking the Norton Reservoir

 

 

Evolution conference

This was my favorite evolution conference yet! I went to so many great talks and chatted with so many talented and interesting scientists. I’ve been conferencing for so long now that I finally know lots of people. It was so great to catch up with friends, collaborators, and old acquaintances. Here are a few pictures form around Portland, OR.

One of my favorite parts was watching Sarah Fitzpatrick give an amazing talk as she accepted her Young Investigators Award. I can’t believe how many amazing scientists I’ve overlapped with–feeling very lucky!