From Tallahassee to New Orleans
This blog post comes to us from our inaugural Travel Award recipient, Andrea Emmanuelli! Read on to hear about her experiences at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in February!
I still vividly remember my second year as an undergraduate student, excitedly watching the graduate students from the Knapp Lab presenting their research on Zoom at OSM 2022. I couldn't believe there was a conference solely focused on marine science. Two years later, I would present a poster of my undergraduate research on the Gulf of Alaska at OSM. I couldn’t believe it!
As I traveled from Tallahassee to New Orleans, I browsed the OSM app eagerly and began strategizing which sessions and posters I would attend. I had many goals for the conference. I wanted to participate in sessions relating to topics I wanted to explore in graduate school while attending sessions related to my current project. I also wanted to attend poster and oral sessions by former mentors and colleagues and catch up with them afterward. There was a lot to juggle, and I realized this would be a marathon, not a sprint. I quickly learned on Monday that it would be best to remain in one session at a time rather than hop around multiple sessions for specific talks. I was able to learn most by doing this and get a better understanding of the current state of the field. I felt that carrying a small notebook was convenient instead of taking notes on a computer, and jotting down relevant sources was more beneficial than detailed notes.
I was most nervous about my poster presentation on Wednesday, and my imposter syndrome was creeping up. What questions would people ask me? Would I know the answer? Would they think I hadn’t done enough? I was thinking about all the worst-case scenarios. To my surprise, it was the quickest two hours of my life. It felt like a fun conversation about my findings and interpretations, and the feedback and suggestions I received motivated me to continue my project. Sometimes, people asked me questions I didn't have the answers to, and that was okay! These questions often open new research avenues you would otherwise not have considered.
By Friday, my lab mates and I were ready to head back to Tallahassee, we were exhausted! But even so, we felt incredibly fulfilled, as we had made the most of the conference and gained valuable insights into the latest research and developments in our field. I am already looking forward to attending the next conference, OSM 2026, in Glasgow! OSM also proved instrumental in helping me connect with various people from different institutions, which assisted me in my graduate school decisions. I met current and past graduate students, faculty, and advisors, who all provided insightful opinions and suggestions, helping me make an informed decision. I am incredibly grateful for SWMS’s support, as I wouldn’t have been able to attend the conference in full without their generous travel award.