At 04:53 PM 8/6/2007, Andrew Park wrote: >Dear Ecologgers, > >As for meetings, I suspect that they are usually more about networking >(careerism again) and less about achieving progress in a particular >field. That's why I do not go to them these days unless I am >presenting something specific.
Andy, I'm rather surprised by this statement. Yes, grad students and recent grads may be looking for potential employers, but that is hardly the main reason people attend ESA or any other scientific meetings. The main goal is to find out what is going on in our own little corner of the research world as well as to scout out what's new in other areas of ecology, microbiology, or whatever. As someone else has mentioned, it's impossible to read all the ecological research papers, but if I spot an interesting abstract, I can easily get more information in the form of a talk, seminar presentation, or poster session. And, I can discuss the research with the author in person. Not sure what meetings you've been attending to come away with such a narrow view of their value. Cheers, Liane *************************** D. Liane Cochran-Stafira, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Biological Sciences Saint Xavier University 3700 West 103rd Street Chicago, Illinois 60655 phone: 773-298-3514 fax: 773-298-3536 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://faculty.sxu.edu/~cochran/
