AGU Blogging #1: Overview of Day 1

Since I’m just a guy with a blog and not a reporter or anything, my posts about the annual AGU meeting probably won’t cover much of the high-profile stories and press releases. I’m just gonna write about what I do … hope that’s cool.

(If you want some actual real-time reporting of the latest and greatest from the meeting, check out posts from Andrew and Dave all week … they have their fingers on the pulse of AGU more than I do)

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Here’s a quick rundown of AGU Day 1 from my perspective:

7:30-9:15: I actually had to go to work this morning for a meeting that could not be rescheduled — it went well.

9:15-10:30: Made my way from work to the BART station — and then to the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco.

10:30-11:15: Picked up my badge, browsed the program, jotted down what I wanted to check out for the next couple of days, and chatted with some friends that I ran into.

11:15-12:30: Had lunch with my co-chair — we actually ended up discussing many of the issues and topics that will be in our session. It was a very scientifically productive lunch!

12:30-1:30: Okay, this might sound lame — I went for a second lunch! But this time with a different friend that I haven’t seen in years (we did our master’s work together). I was full from my own lunch, but I sat and enjoyed a nice beer while my buddy ate lunch and we had a chance to catch up.

1:30-3:00: Had a very nice (and long) conversation with my advisor from my Ph.D. He’s one of these very busy guys and it is quite difficult to get his ear for such a long time. We discussed all sorts of things — a paper we are writing, what is going on back in the department since I left, how my job is going, and new directions for research in our field. While talks, posters, and the general dissemination of scientific results is certainly the foundation for meetings like this … being able to interact (live and in person) with collaborators, mentors, students, etc. is really the best part.

3:00-6:00: Finally … some science! I spent the rest of the afternoon in the session about the NanTroSEIZE project. Many of the talks were presenting for the first time the results from recent drilling into the Nankai Trough and accretionary prism. Some of the drilling results confirm initial interpretations that were based solely on seismic reflection — some results are interesting and even surprising. This is the real deal — you got a hypothesis for the composition and age of the rocks — drill a well and find out! It was awesome!! Very, very cool stuff … I hope I can someday be involved in such a world-class and exciting research project.

There are two more sessions presenting results from this work tomorrow and Wednesday.

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So, that was Day 1 … perhaps a little bit of a slow start. I’m rampin’ up … can’t wait for tomorrow. Science!

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