Last call

Well, it is the last day of the IWSC and I do feel an extreme sense that it is over before it has started.  Everyone is exhausted after such a long week and great banquet last night, and of course dwelling on the long trip home.  Many I know have left, but I'm not yet sure how full the talks will be today.  Hopefully enough remain to stave off the feeling of preforming to an empty theatre for all the unlucky presenters that had to wait until Friday.  I've heard a few say, "Well, someone has to go last"  and I can almost hear the voice in their head say, "-but why does it have to be me."

The future of weed science

Tonight was banquet night at the International Weed Science Congress.  This is when we recognize exceptional scientists and award the best young weed scientists and students.  The night was wonderful, but you couldn't help but notice the disproportionate amount of young females receiving awards.  

The future of weed science looks very bright for women.  It's something I've noticed in all my graduate courses.  There is significantly larger number of women studying in my department right now then men, and It's true of many classes I've taken in other departments.  What is ironic is that with one exception the classes were all taught by male professors.  

I know this is an issue touched on by many of the other great female/science/academic blogs out there.  [For links see blog-roll, at bottom right of screen]  I truly hope that this large proportion of women is a new trend, and we will slowly move into higher positions, making the ratio of men to women senior professors more equivalent.  I truly hope there isn't some type of filtering process that separates out all female weed scientists sometime around the postdoc phase.  

I suppose only time will tell, but in the afterglow of a lovely night of good food, canadian beer, amusing conversation, and vigorous dancing I'm feeling quite optimistic.  I see a future for women from all nations and backgrounds in our field.  Though our female roll models are few, they are extraordinary, and they have the knowledge, experience, and tools to assist us.  Our male roll-models seem equally supportive and willing to mold us to our greatest potential.  How lucky we are to be in this academic life......

The social dynamics of professional meetings

I've found the patterns of social behavior throughout the conference to be very interesting. Particularly during the poster sessions and free periods when we as participants shape the format of the meeting. The nonverbal communication of poster presenters is particularly interesting. The way a presenter stands, gestures, and the amount of eye contact they give to the "passers-by" has and intriguing effect on the number of people who stop and discuss the poster with them. And we as "passers-by" are clearly making judgements about the presenters on this non-verbal communication and this is how we chose to engage. Such choices can have an important affect on the professional future of both the presenter and their audience, so it is interesting that non-verbal behavior will have such significance.

Sorry for the rambling-thought post, just a bit of mental regurgitation during a lull in the conference.

Most imported part of meetings.

The last few days attending sessions and socializing with other weed scientists at IWSC I've been wondering what will end up being the most important thing I do while I'm here.  

Perhaps a connection I make with a scientist will prove to be beneficial to my career in the future.  

It's possible that some of the bites of information out of my normal realm will give me new perspective on my own research, possibly even direct me down a new path.

The overall theme of shared problems and weed concerns has certainly open my eyes to the possibility of research in other parts of the world.  (Although, Antarctica is still top of my list and unfortunately no one is here representing those weed issues.)

And lastly, if I have any more amazingly fun days in Vancouver I may have to immigrate, but I'm not sure I could afford it.

Botanical Garden and other stops

Today (day three of the International Weed Science Congress) was field trip day.  We started at the botanical garden on the UBC campus, it was by far the best stop.  Though, the final stop at a cranberry winery was interesting.  Some of the highlights...

Cardiocrinum giganteum - Giant Himalayan Lily

Grows to 15 feet high!

Minotaur and a hare.  Statue made of chicken wire and bed springs on loan to the garden.

The final stop.  Tried cranberry and strawberry wine, and blackberry port.  The wine was okay, but it all had a "fortified" flavor from the large amount of white sugar added for fermentation.

Enlightening additional information

Writing form the IWSC....

It's funny how we travel so far to attend conventions, spend endless hours in sessions, taking in and processing an incredible amount of information, and yet some of the best bits of information comes from casually chatting with other scientists. Such as the enlightening comments I heard from an senior professor who I have come to idolize....

Such as the fact that we constantly repeat studies that we already know what the outcome will be because we desire conformation. It's very similar to the definition of insanity I've heard in the past, repeating the same process but expecting a different result.....

Additionally, the need to repeat a experiment without modification in order to be able to publish the data, even if it didn't work well the first time, and we could make it better by modification before replication.

It's interesting. Observations that seem so obvious but I would have needed years of experience in the field before I would have made then on my own.

The 5th International Weed Science Congress

Day One

More than 500 people

From 48 Countries

Presenting more than 250 posters

and 21 different oral sessions,

with I don't know how many individual presentations.

In other words: AWESOME!

Vancouver has many nice water features.

Some other (less than scientific) things I observed today

• 75 words on a slide is too many
• It's greatly appreciated when the speaker before lunch ends on time
• Charismatic farmers give the best talks
• I need to practice my professional banter (and reduce the excessive nodding and idiotic smiling)

New word: "transformer" - a weed that drastically changes an environment it invades by adding extra layers to the environment.

How to know you're in a foreign land

Vancouver has such a lovely Pacific Northwest Culture it's easy to forget I'm not back home. But I did notice distinct signs that I wasn't in Kansas anymore....

Traffic signals sometimes inexplicably flash green.

Cuban Cigars are readily available.

Taxicabs are hybrid fuel vehicles, more often than not.

Bathrooms have been transformed to washrooms.

The emperors new clothes

Well I'm all packed and leaving for Vancouver in an hour. Attending the International Weed Science Congress this week. I'm looking forward to staying in Vancouver again, this time I'll be sharing dorms at UBC with a dozen other grad-students from our lab. The conference is at the Westin over near Stanley park.

The really amazing part of getting ready for this trip was locating a weeks worth of business clothes in my disaster of a closet. Being presentable and business like for a day or every two day's in a row has always been do-able. But a full weeks worth of "dressing-my-best" is, I'm embarrassed to say, something I've never had to do. Regardless, I'm attempting to present myself as a real science profession instead of a sarcastic grad-student who laughs too loudly. Never know how important each new acquaintance can be, and saying that first impressions are the most important would be redundant.