My First Conference: A Flurry of Otters

Monterey, CA

I always wondered what my first conference experience would be like. I had previously attended various symposia, presenting posters along the way but I had always wondered what it would be like to present at a week's worth of conference. My opportunity finally arrived when I received confirmation that I had received a student award to attend the 68th Aeroballistic Range Association meeting in Monterey, CA in mid September.

As you can imagine, I was tremendously excited to both present at my first conference; a one which I had been informed was both friendly and intimate, consisting of 60 or so delegates, far less intimidating than a much larger and also to visit California, as I had previously never visited the West coast of the United States.

I arrived at the first day of the conference apprehensive but excited to gain an insight into work within my field, especially for future job prospects, from researchers of various backgrounds around ballistics and to also meet other early career researchers like myself. Male researchers form the majority within my field of research but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there were three other female researchers out of a group of sixty, two of whom were also other early career researchers like myself.

BMW's first motorcycle, Talbott Motorcycle Museum.

Monday consisted solely of presentations broken up by a few coffee breaks and a buffet lunch, while I trundled on, downing tea after tea, still getting to grips with the new timezone and struggling to initiate and engage in conversations with other researchers through my jetlag. Tuesday brought a fresh start and provided more exciting chance to talk to other researchers in a less formal environment via a wine tasting afternoon in the beautiful Carmel Valley as well as visiting a handsomely decked out motorcycle museum. This was a great way for someone like myself to get a chance at conversing in a more informal, less forced environment. 

Wednesday finally arrived, the day of the student session. This consisted of myself and four other PhD students presenting our work. I had felt relatively calm until roughly a minute or so before my talk when I hit peak nervousness. I did however manage to give my presentation with a reasonable amount of confidence and answered the questions afterwards. I felt a sense of relief. The other student presentations were of very good quality and it was interesting to see just how broad the areas of research are within the ballistics community.

Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey

Thursday was the final day of the conference, consisting of the last few talks; two of which were very interesting talks from NASA and sparked my curiosity. There was also a tour of the Naval Postgraduate School, a particular highlight for me being a tour of their rocket lab and gas guns. The day concluded with a five course banquet meal which was held at the Naval Postgraduate School. It was a pleasant evening and some fond farewells were said to older members of the ARA who were retiring and I also got to receive my student award. I was happy to have attended and survived my first conference, but sad to be leaving. I hope to attend next years as it is being held much closer to home in the beautiful city of Bath.

Sea Otter, Monterey

I did take an extra week out and had the opportunity to finally see some more of Monterey outside of the dim halls of the conference room. Monterey is famed for its sea otters and whales. I managed to catch a glimpse of some wild sea otters and also saw a humpback whale breaching in the distance.

Further highlights of the trip were seeing the Grand Canyon, San Francisco and Las Vegas.  Overall, I was incredibly impressed with California (Nevada and Arizona) and it is definitely a place that I would love to visit in future. It is certainly more green in the middle and north of the state than the southern beach California that I had in my head. I was very grateful of the opportunity and learned a great deal from both the ARA meeting and my travels around the state.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.