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Ocean Sciences Row |
SACNAS National Conference
October 11 - 14, 2012
Seattle, WA
Over 4,000 people attended the 2012 SACNAS National Conference in Seattle, Washington. The conference featured a record number of exhibitors, student presentations, and overall attendees. There were more than 1,500 graduate students and about 1,400 undergraduate students in attendance.
Conference Sessions
In collaboration with SACNAS, the COSEE Network worked to coordinate an education panel focused on career opportunities.
Developing a Workforce to Support a Healthy Ocean
Location: Washington State Convention Center, Room 620
Date: Saturday, October 13, 3:15-4:45 p.m.
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| Developing a Workforce to Support a Healthy Ocean panelists. From left to right: Fritz Stahr, Chris Sabine, Gretchen Hofmann. |
A panel of ocean scientists will present perspectives on higher education and careers in ocean sciences, particularly as they pertain to monitoring and maintaining a healthy ocean. Attendees will gain insights on forging a career path in the ocean sciences. The workshop will include presentations and a question-and-answer session. Approximately 45 people attended the session.
Session Chairs
Cory Garza, Assistant Professor, California State University, Monterey Bay
Gail Scowcroft, COSEE Executive Director, University of Rhode Island
Liesl Hotaling, COSEE
Session Speakers
Fritz Stahr, School of Oceanography, University of Washington
Gretchen Hofmann, UC Santa Barbara
Christopher L. Sabine, NOAA/PMEL, Laboratory Director
Conversations with Scientists Session
Location: San Jose Convention Center
Date: Thursday, October 11, 8:15-10:00 p.m.
The COSEE NCO and Dr. Corey Garza collaborated with SACNAS to arrange for several tables within the Conversations with Scientists program to represent the Ocean Scientists. COSEE Network staff and volunteer ocean scientists attended the event to meet with undergraduate and graduate students to recruit them to consider pursuing studies in the ocean sciences.
Exhibition Hall Booth
Location: Washington State Convention Center
Dates: Friday, October 12, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. & Saturday, October 13, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
The booth was staffed by Liesl Hotaling, Andrea Gingras and Romy Pizziconi, National COSEE Office Staff. Staff greeted conference attendees, mostly undergraduate and graduate students and engaged them in conversation to better understand subjects represented by the professors, teachers and students and where they are located. Based on the information gathered, booth staff attempted to connect attendees with COSEE Centers located near their homes and give them information on scholarship, internship, and research experiences offered by COSEE Centers and their partners.
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| COSEE booth at SACNAS. Click image
for a closer view! |
For the second year, COSEE partnered with Dr. Corey Garza and SACNAS to create an Ocean Sciences Row on the Exhibit Hall floor. Together, we successfully recruited several organizations, including NOAA (Fisheries and Satellite & Information Service); Center for Microbial Oceanography (CMORE), University of Hawaii; Center for Coastal Margin Observation Prediction (CMOP), Oregon Health & Science University; Consortium for Ocean Leadership (COL); Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
The following print materials were available for attendees in the COSEE Booth:
- COSEE Center one page profiles
- COSEE National Network brochure
- REU Ocean Sciences themed program materials
- Hurricanes: Science and Society CD and print materials
- Teaching Physical Concepts in Oceanography
- Opportunities (PDF, 82 KB) offered through COSEE Centers and Partners for Undergraduates, Graduate Students and Post-docs
COSEE branded give-aways included:
An attempt was made to track the number of people who stopped by the booth and the number of people engaged in conversations about the COSEE Network. Over 100 people stopped by the booth and the team engaged with professors, teachers and students in one-on-one conversations. Students were extremely interested in internships and research experience opportunities. In addition, the conversations provided opportunities for explaining how various subject areas could be applied to ocean science research.
