Young Environmental Scientist meeting

2 weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the Young Environmental Scientist (YES) meeting in Krakow, Poland, hosted by the Student Advisory Council of SETAC Europe. I've been interacting with this group since the meeting in Berlin and was glad to have been able to attend the meeting. The Europe group really has their stuff together and I am always impressed with their level of organization and productivity!

This year's meeting was the 3rd YES meeting with nearly 100 participants that were all students and all were funded by travel grants and sponsoring: that meant free transportation, meals, and social events all throughout the conference :) Over the 3 days of the conference there was a networking workshop, 3 career talks, 2 full days of platform sessions, and a poster social. I gave a talk in and co-chaired the -omics and biomarkers session on the last day of the meeting. Overall I felt that the vibe of the meeting was really positive-lots of enthusiasm among the participants and a lot of productive discussions.

It was also great to come to Poland for the week to reconnect with folks I met in Berlin and to get to know some new friends as well :) I love the SETAC community and always have a lot of fun at these meetings. I'm already looking forward to seeing people again at the SETAC Europe meeting in May!

Me and Frank (from Landau, Germany) in front of some cool kings at the university :)

Dominic (also from Landau) and I enjoying some delicious Polish beers!

My 'roomies' at Dragan's place, the very funny Igor from Serbia and the very friendly Louise from Cali!

Dragan taking me to the train station after the meeting. He was very nice in letting myself, Louise, and Igor stay with him during a very busy and fun week. If all goes according to plan I will repay him the favor and host him for a visit here to UF to give a talk!!