After spending hours in the laboratory collecting data and analyzing samples, the next step for scientists is to put it all together and share our results. The first week of December I had the opportunity to travel to San Francisco to the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting. This meeting brought together 20,000 scientists from around the world to share their most recent findings. People present their results by giving 15 minute talks or making a poster which highlights their research. My research focuses on stalagmites from caves in the Bahamas and I presented a poster in a session dedicated to cave research. This gave me an opportunity to talk with leading scientists in the field of cave research, share my findings and get feedback from other scientists. This feedback provides new insight and
Monica Arienzo at AGU
perspective to my data. Not only is the conference about getting feedback on my own work, but it’s also about learning what others are doing in the same field and in other areas of research. This provides an opportunity to learn and to be inspired to try new methods and approaches. Lastly, AGU is also about catching up with old friends and exchanging ideas with colleges. I was able to meet up with old research partners from a summer I spent in St. Croix, USVI, as well as some colleagues I collaborated with in Europe this past summer.
-Monica Arienzo
Graduate Student
Marine Geology and Geophysics
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