Cornell Biogeochemistry, Environmental Science & Sustainability (BESS)
I immediately became involved in the graduate student association linked with Biogeochemistry and the NSF-IGERT Trainee program when I arrived at Cornell in 2015. This loose confederation of researchers from their respective silos have gathered in some form or another under the banner of biogeochemistry for 30+ years (brief Cornell Biogeo History). The main purpose of the organization is to foster community at Cornell, fund research activities, design workshops, and, most importantly, host a weekly Biogeochemistry Seminar Series.
From 2017-2019, I had the honor of serving as president. As part of my duties, I oversaw the planning of the weekly seminar series for all academic semesters. What sets this academic seminar series apart from many others is that it is completely graduate student led. We convened a seminar committee each semester, requested speaker nominations, corralled funding from Cornell GPSAFC and BESS member labs (~$5-10k/semester), and then coordinated the invitation and hosting of all speakers. Typically speakers represent a mix of regional scientists with a few guests brought in from across the country or internationally. Speakers represent a mix of professors, post-docs, NGO members, as well as speakers from agencies such as the EPA or USDA. Each semester's theme is typically determined by the seminar committee with approval from members as a whole. The most beneficial part of this process for our student's is that each speaker is personally hosted by a volunteer graduate student, giving them firsthand experience in scientific collaboration and introducing them to a speaker of interest in their field.
If you're currently at Cornell or have interest in coming to give a talk, please reach out to the current leadership of BESS. I couldn't recommend a better place to present work to a diverse audience and end the work week!
From 2017-2019, I had the honor of serving as president. As part of my duties, I oversaw the planning of the weekly seminar series for all academic semesters. What sets this academic seminar series apart from many others is that it is completely graduate student led. We convened a seminar committee each semester, requested speaker nominations, corralled funding from Cornell GPSAFC and BESS member labs (~$5-10k/semester), and then coordinated the invitation and hosting of all speakers. Typically speakers represent a mix of regional scientists with a few guests brought in from across the country or internationally. Speakers represent a mix of professors, post-docs, NGO members, as well as speakers from agencies such as the EPA or USDA. Each semester's theme is typically determined by the seminar committee with approval from members as a whole. The most beneficial part of this process for our student's is that each speaker is personally hosted by a volunteer graduate student, giving them firsthand experience in scientific collaboration and introducing them to a speaker of interest in their field.
If you're currently at Cornell or have interest in coming to give a talk, please reach out to the current leadership of BESS. I couldn't recommend a better place to present work to a diverse audience and end the work week!
Seminar Series Involvement
Introducing an invited speaker from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge.
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