Resources for GEO Interns

Joining a Professional Scientific Society

Professional scientific societies are a great way to network, learn about new science, and gain access to a wide range of financial support, including conference discounts, travel awards, and even research funds. The good news is that professional societies typically have highly discounted student rates for membership, but membership is usually required to take advantage of the funding opportunities. Below is a sampling of major scientific societies for you to check out.

Remember, the GEO REU will cover the cost of one society membership that you sign up for during the year of your participation.

Attending a Conference

Scientific conferences can be a lot of fun and very energizing, but they can also be overwhelming and intimidating. Here are some of our suggestions:

1. If there is someone you’d really like to meet, don’t rely on a chance meeting. Write to them ahead of time and set a time to get coffee or a meal. Come prepared to discuss your work and theirs.
2. While it can be tempting to try to race between concurrent sessions to see every talk that looks interesting, that often doesn’t work well in practice. Inevitably, at least one of your sessions will run late and with travel time, you end up seeing 8-10 minutes of six different 15 minute talks, which is rarely satisfying. Try to find sessions where you are willing to stay for at least half the session and pay attention to the map – how far apart are those concurrent sessions that you want to run between? Sometimes it’s the talks you were just “sitting through” to see the next one that turn out to be a revelation.
3. If you are speaking, stick to time!! Don’t be that speaker that gets everyone else off schedule. And if you’re moderating, be aggressive with speakers and with question time. Sometimes there just isn’t time for questions!
4. Almost every meeting now has published codes of conduct, which is a terrific innovation. Familiarize yourself with the code and who to talk to if issues arise. Remember, while we all like to have fun at meetings, this is still a professional event and moderation is key.

More advice on how to make the most of a scientific conference:

http://lsuscienceblog.squarespace.com/blog/2017/7/25/10-tips-to-make-the-most-of-scientific-conferences
https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2017/05/how-get-most-out-attending-conferences
https://blogs.plos.org/scicomm/2018/07/24/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-a-scientific-conference/

Finding Funding to Attend a Conference

The REU program provides some funding to attend a conference - https://bioreu.org/travel-funds-reu-students-0/ - although it is limited. Most societies also have funding to support students, so make sure to thoroughly explore those websites! Typically, funding is only available if you are giving at least a poster (i.e., you have to submit an abstract to the meeting where you are the presenting author).

A Bunch of Evolution/Organismic/Ecology/Environment Societies

American Society of Plant Biologists
https://aspb.org/
https://aspb.org/membership/
https://aspb.org/events/
https://aspb.org/awards-funding/grants-funding/

Botanical Society of America
https://cms.botany.org/home.html
https://cms.botany.org/home/membership.html
https://cms.botany.org/home/meetings.html
https://cms.botany.org/home/awards/travel-awards-for-students/plants-grants.html

Ecological Society of America
https://www.esa.org/
https://eservices.esa.org/Eservices/Join_ESA/Eservices/Join_ESA/JoinESA.aspx?hkey=b53313a5-1f43-4b04-b21d-1307821e2401
https://www.esa.org/events/meetings/future-esa-meetings/
https://www.esa.org/about/awards/

Geological Society of America
https://www.geosociety.org/
https://www.geosociety.org/GSA/Membership/Join_Renew/GSA/Membership/join_GSA.aspx?hkey=48328878-ab26-410b-b77f-096c64bba9f5
https://www.geosociety.org/GSA/Events/Future_Annual_Meetings/GSA/Events/Annual_Meeting.aspx?hkey=b840a83c-3698-41d1-95e0-c0a792db3f38
https://www.geosociety.org/GSA/Education_Careers/Grants_Scholarships/GSA/grants/home.aspx?hkey=e4133995-e8fd-43a7-b169-7323b0d72ee9

Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology
http://www.sicb.org/
http://www.sicb.org/membership/
http://www.sicb.org/meetings/
http://www.sicb.org/membership/awards.php3

Society for the Study of Evolution
https://www.evolutionsociety.org/
https://www.evolutionsociety.org/index.php?module=content&type=user&func=view&pid=8#memfees
https://www.evolutionmeetings.org/future-meetings-2020.html
https://www.evolutionsociety.org/content/society-awards-and-prizes/travel-awards.html

Other meetings of interest – major “congresses” are often held less frequently
https://icim5-2020.univie.ac.at/
https://www.icvm2019.com/
https://geology-earthscience.com/
http://www.leep.ufv.br/en-US/noticia/xx-ibc-in-rio-de-janeiro-july-23th-29th-2023
https://www.2019sacnas.org/
http://www.abrcms.org/