They also had some exciting news for us, and a great way to end another fantastic AGU. The NASA Calendar is one of the hottest items at the expo. Free gifts are given away at most of the stands, but the NASA calendars have lines and lines of people waiting every day. They have gotten to be so popular that only a handful are handed out each day at a given time so that all attendees have a chance to get one even if they only come for a day. This year BARREL made the month of September. This photo was taken by one of our graduate students Brett Anderson during the launch of one of the first balloons of the campaign. Why September? No idea, it could be that we're hoping to launch this September during turn around. I suppose that means that we need to get back to work and finish planning this third campaign!
AGU was a blast as it always is. It may be large and seem overwhelming at times (there were more than 24,000 attendees) it is always productive. This year seemed a bit quiet as many of our friends and collueages were unable to attend due to travel restrictions on government contractors and employees. If you are an academic who works on a NASA mission you are either funded by a grant or as a contractor. BARREL is funded off of a grant whereas the Van Allen Probes are funded as contractors. It was a real shame that these restrictions are in place as it hinders the sharing of ideas, something that Science thrives off of. For some friends who have just or are just finishing their PhD's and were not granted permission to attend it meant that they were unable to network and find out about possible job openings. For the higher ups who were unable to attend it means that people like me who were there and are starting to look for that next step, were unable to speak with them getting insight as to what positions may be opening up and longer in-depth discussions about what it is like to work in industry, at a government lab, or at their specific university. Sure one can always call and contact by e-mail, but it's amazing how much more networking gets done in person. You get introduced to people that happen to be walking by, you find out about avenues that you never even thought of, or you find out that you have shared connections that you never knew about. That said, with 24,000 people there still lots of people to run into. I ran into Liz McDonald (@spaceyliz on twitter), a NASA Goddard researcher who works on Aurorasaurus. Aurorasaurus is a very cool realtime citizen science aurora alert system. It's still in it's early stages but is really quiet fun and useful. If you download their app they'll give you a high five! It will also send you e-mail alerts when the aurora, or Northern Lights, has been viewed in your area. AGU is also always a great place to catch up with old and new friends. It's often a mixed blessing as it tends to lead to a lot more work. Granted who can complain when you have such great colleagues to work with. Every AGU I get a chance to catch up with my undergraduate advisor and this year we started a collaboration with my roommate from my first GEM meeting over 10 years ago. Make sure you like the people in your field as you will know them for years and years to come... My poster did get printed in time and made it safely to San Fransisco despite all the rain. I was pulling triple duty though at the poster session, standing at my poster, meeting about the third BARREL campaign, and helping with the Van Allen BARREL data help desk. I still talked to a lot more people than I expected to considering my time limitations at the poster. A talk is often considered more prestiges as there are fewer oral slots, but a poster definitely gives you much more time to hear what people think about your work and insight that you may have missed... especially with a new research topic/field. Of course AGU is not complete with out a trip to the Expo center. So many companies, agencies, and universities are there. I got a chance to talk to Science about how to publish in their journal, National Geographic about applying for field work grants, learn about new delivery systems to the upper stratosphere, and see a bunch of cool fossils. NASA always has one of the best exhibits and it's always great to catch up with the balloon group. They always have new news on the most recent ballooning expeditions and if they are planning to go to Kiruna and/or Alaska for the next launch opportunities.
They also had some exciting news for us, and a great way to end another fantastic AGU. The NASA Calendar is one of the hottest items at the expo. Free gifts are given away at most of the stands, but the NASA calendars have lines and lines of people waiting every day. They have gotten to be so popular that only a handful are handed out each day at a given time so that all attendees have a chance to get one even if they only come for a day. This year BARREL made the month of September. This photo was taken by one of our graduate students Brett Anderson during the launch of one of the first balloons of the campaign. Why September? No idea, it could be that we're hoping to launch this September during turn around. I suppose that means that we need to get back to work and finish planning this third campaign!
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