International Association for Great Lakes Research Conference

Sometimes, the lead-up to a conference seems like it’s going to be too strenuous to be worth it, and the week leading up to the conference for the International Association of Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) felt exactly that way. With the end-of-the-semester scramble of my classes (last ones though!), last minute crunching of data and poster design, as well as the upcoming field season, the thought of being gone for a whole week seemed altogether too daunting. But, with an abstract submitted, registration and hostel paid for, not to mention the fact that it was going to be a great time, I was committed.

Of course, it all turned out to be more than worth the time. While I always gain a few course-loads worth of information about at these conferences, I find just as much value in other aspects of the conference: learning more about what makes a good scientific study and maintaining and creating new friendships and collaborations. Here, I wanted to jot down just a few of the impressions that I came away with from IAGLR 2017.

1. I heard some outstanding stories there

Scientific stories of course. It’s easy to get caught up in big data and thinking about collecting all of the things, and knowing absolutely everything about a system, but it’s even more fun to have a clean, succinct story, a tale of . Scientists are like trackers in a sense. A good tracker can follow an animal through the woods, tell you what it is, how old it is, whether or not it’s in good health. But, a great tracker computes all that immediately, but is ultimately more concerned with where the animal is going, why it’s heading in that direction, how it’s feeling, whether it’s scared or hungry. A great tracker can tell the animal’s story.

There were some great trackers at IAGLR. The multitude of labs tracking the cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms in the western basin of Lake Erie have an impressive array of tools and expertise leveled against their foe. The talks that I was most excited about (aside from all of the microbial ecology talks of course) story-wise were about stable isotopes. The presenters in the “Application of Trophic Markers in Aquatic Ecology” session outlined a series of fascinating studies on the use of C and N stable isotopes to track the ecology of Great Lakes fishes, a technique that I was previously only tangentially familiar with. I may be biased here, but some of the Hg guys nicely packaged stable Hg isotope data into a story outlining where the methylmercury originated, and how we can best manage our waterways to reduce Hg entry into the food web.

These talks, and many of the other ones I saw, served as yet another inspiration to think long and hard about the data that is needed to adequately tell the story of your phenomenon of interest.

2. Social media works!

I’ve been a long-time social media skeptic. My relationship with Twitter has seen its share of ups and downs, partly due to a stubborn refusal to upgrade to an intact phone with a data plan. However, I have recently re-committed to maintaining an online presence (hence this blog post and this website). This conference has convinced me beyond any doubt to continue to pursue it, for these reasons.

1. Visibility within the field. This is the most obvious, but it works! I was actually recognized at one point from my Twitter profile! Pro tip: Like and retweet stuff as well as posting. I wasn’t recognized for my posts, but for my “likes” of their posts. Whatever works! Also, advertise your handle, especially if others aren’t. The Twitter-evangalists will shower you with praise.
2. It’s a great way to get information. Duh. For interesting papers, yes, but also about job positions, workshops, great blog posts, etc etc etc. I didn’t really learn this from the conference, I guess, but it’s important.
3. I think it’s also just a really good way to get to see how people think. Being a good scientist takes practice, but it also helps to see how other people think about research. Twitter offers a glance into the minds of other scientists outside of your immediate science family, how they evaluate papers, interact with others, and how other scientists respond to them. Obviously the best ways to learn from them is through presentations, papers, and conversations, but Twitter is like a daily micro-dose of exposure, to a much wider array of people than you would otherwise have access to.

I’m not going to be a Twitter evangelist. Twitter is right for some people, and not necessarily right for others. But, it’s definitely for me! And it’s definitely worth at least checking out.

3. Science is sooooo cool

We all agree here, right? But, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of your nuanced field, get overwhelmed by failed experiments or boring results, or be frustrated by all the little details that need to be nailed down. Conferences like this are great reminders that we are very lucky to able to spend our days out on lakes hunting for fish or microbes, design experiments to answer questions about the environments that we inhabit, and ultimately share that information with other people who are just as curious and mindful about the world around us. What could be cooler than that?

Those of you I met at IAGLR, hope to see you next year. For everyone else, hope to see you soon! Until then, you can find me here or here

Regards,

Ben