What I Gained from the Conference

At the end of the letter from the general chairs and program chairs in our program brochure it says:

“We hope that you will enjoy the beauty of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the scientific program, and the opportunity to spend time with the colleagues from around the globe.”

I used to think that the scientific program is the sole purpose of a conference. I also travel around a little bit if I have some time. But this time, I found the last one seems is as important as the first one. From the beginning I knew Nicolas Forget would be here. I prepared like a list of 20 questions for him. I had his paper printed. Then we had 2 afternoons that totaled around 5 hours of discussion. He is such an expert and we discussed my research extensively. By the end, I got all my questions answered and what’s more, he showed me many tricks to use the program and we found a way to characterize the pulses. This is way more than what I had expected before the meeting.

Discussions with several other colleagues were also very fruitful. We not only discussed research, I also learned about many career opportunities. Of course, I learned a lot from the excellent talks but to me, this face to face discussion is absolutely invaluable. Actually, professor Tribeno invited me to work in his lab for some time. My supervisor is fully supportive of this idea. So all in all, I gained so much from the meeting.

Last, I want to say that Snowmass village is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The view is gorgeous on the drive here from Boulder and the weather is perfect. The temperature is just right. I am so happy to avoid the Texas heat for a while.

Thanks all these people---the chairs, committee members, meeting executives, meeting managers and program managers who make this conference possible.