As a student recently accepted into BRAVO!, I was interested to learn about the experiences of other students who participated in the program. I attended a Datablitz presented by Ben Pri'Tal, who traveled to Dr. Stephen Chown’s laboratory, Center for Invasive Biology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa. At the UA, Ben worked with Dr. Allen Gibbs in Dr. Goggy Davidowitz's laboratory, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Shawn Jackson worked in Dr. Anna Koltunow’s laboratory, CSIRO Plant Industry, Adelaide University, Glen Osmond, Australia and as a UBRPer works in Dr. Ramin Yadegari's laboratory, Plant Sciences.

I enjoyed the informal setting and the length of time given to each presenter to explain his project. I learned about the background surrounding their projects and understood their experiments better in this setting than in the conferences I have been to previously. Of particular interest, is how research differs in these countries, such as in sources of funding and hours worked. The Datablitz was excellent for learning about research outside of my area of concentration and to get a feel for research around the world. The added bonus was the shrimp-on-the-barbie!

Alicia Ortega, UBRPer in Dr. Richard Levine’s lab, Neurobiology