You are not in Kansas anymore Day 17

APCRS 2014 - Back in Taipei Academia Lab now. For the last two weeks, I was in Kenting working on my field experiment, and at the same time attended the 3rd Asia Pacific Coral Reef Symposium. It was not a huge conference with about 200+ students presenting, and about 500 participants. However, it is the small size that enables a lot more one-to-one interaction with different people. Although everyone was studying coral reefs, about 60% of the participants are ecologist, which means that their studies are mostly surveys etc. As such, there are only less than 10 microbial ecologist, making it hard for people to understand what my study is about. I was also lucky enough to be selected as one of the 10 students to participate in the students presentation competition. I did not win, but definitely gained a lot of experience in presenting my study in 15mins. Also, there are relay moments to mingle with fellow researchers and students. Next target - presenting in a  bigger international conference.