Scientists get together for many reasons. Some include: looking at the latest research, sharing their ideas, meeting old friends, and making new contacts. I recently had the chance to attend the 2006 Summer Bioengineering Conference in Amelia Island, Florida. It was not only a great opportunity learning about the research of others, but also to get better acquainted with my community of researchers.

The conference consisted of sessions, workshops, plenary speeches, and poster sessions. Although I did not enter my own abstract, I did assist my lab present a poster. The time during the conference was split between sessions and free time. The reason for free time was to relax, and meet your colleagues on a more personal level. The warm ocean water and the abundance of sun made the free time very enjoyable.

Throughout all the sessions, speeches, posters, and people I talked with; I learned a lot about very specific areas of research. But even though many peoples' research did not directly relate to mine, I could still get useful ideas from them. Many times I saw a great method to use, or an experiment that was designed very well. I can take these ideas back to my lab where I can adapt then or use them to develop my own procedures.

Tyler Brown, UBRPer in Dr. Jonathan Vande Geest's lab, Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering