Conference 2012 (DAMOP)

After four years, I finally attended THE conference in my field of research again. And not only that, I could even take three students with me: Hayley, David, and Lexi (a bit in the dark here):

This year it was in Anaheim, CA, which also meant that we actually had some warmth and sunshine while Oregon was getting soaked. Hehe.

On Tuesday I gave my talk (went well), watched the Venus transit (lousy photo below), and had a great dinner with members and former members from Nick Bigelow's group. We had a blast! It was great seeing everyone again and catching up a little.

 

Here's a photo from my Thursday lunch with Kevin and Mishkat (both of them now have faculty positions too!)

and last but not least: Poster session Thursday evening (David, Lexi, and Hayley who presented the poster):

All in all, this was a great conference, good talks, met some great people, and my students seemed pretty excited about starting summer research with me (I am too!).

Which brings me to one more photo: Meet The Cheat (with laser safety goggles and - of course - coffee):

If you want to know who The Cheat is, google homestarrunner. This particular cheat was a gift from Jan several years ago when I was all alone in my lab in Rochester and things were not going well. When you hit this cheat, it squeals. Very therapeutic (and much better than throwing screw drivers down the hall!) ;). So here he is, ready for my students in case they get frustrated!