Every two years, my favorite conference happens. And every two years I also really intend to write up the various thoughts, inspirations, and reflections the conference generates. Much more than every two years, I think to myself that I really ought to add a blog to my professional website.
I’m deciding to combine those goals in the hope that the combination will provide motivation. Although the conference hasn’t quite started yet, I’ve arrived in Tempe and I’m making this inaugural post to get the ball rolling and maybe generate some external accountability as a motivator.
The AEESP(Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors) holds an academic conference every two years. I very much enjoyed the previous conferences at Yale (2015) and U. Mich. (2017) and it’s feeling like ASU is not going to disappoint in 2019.
I mentioned that AEESP is a favorite of mine, and I’ve reflected on why that might be. The most simple explanation is that it’s full of “my people”: academics interested in engineering solutions to environmental problems.
But I suspect there’s something deeper than being able to get excited about urine source separation without people thinking I’m being weird. (Although that’s a really nice thing!) I think the real reason I enjoy these conferences is that they’re full of people who care, deeply. Unlike some other engineering disciplines, I’ve yet to meet someone who was clearly just in Env. Eng. for the money. Being immersed for three days in conversations with people who share not only the same language and interests, but also the same calling can’t help but be motivating. As proof, I submit the ridiculous spike in my Twitter usage it causes every two years.
Aside from the heart & soul food, there’s also plenty of brain food. I’m sitting in the computing commons with a printout of the program and I’m finding that I’m having to make difficult decisions about which sessions to attend. While that’s a bit painful, it also promises that I won’t be bored. In particular, the ‘4D’ thing puzzled me a bit when I was getting my submission ready, but now that I see some of the talks, I’m excited to see more people in the field embrace things like the Internet of Things, machine learning, or plain old rich datasets.
Looking forward to this week and writing up some meatier discussions as the conference gets underway. Meanwhile, here’s some observations:
- Desert biomes are alien and gorgeous if you grew up on the East Coast
- Buttes make great landmarks for navigating
- I was dubious of attendify at first, and I found planning which talks I wanted to attend was easier using a printout. I do think it’s going be a big improvement for remembering those decisions as I move from talk to talk. I’ve also made heavy use of the ‘more information’ sidebar
- I’m envious of the light rail system
- I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced such a difference between shade and sun
- I suspect it’s going to be alarmingly easy to get dehydrated without realizing it
- Dunkin’ Donuts is here, so I’m assured that while my colleagues may live in the desert, they are not savages
- Sun Devils are actual things.
- Apart from the attendify app, lots of people are sharing good information on twitter using #aeesp2019