So this blog post is about 2 weeks overdue but nevertheless here it is!
On August 13th I departed Baltimore-Washington International Airport for the flight of my life: I WAS GOING TO CALIFORNIA! San Diego more specifically for the 2014 Annual GEM Conference. I had never been to the west coast so I was more than excited to attend this conference. But unlike the conferences I’ve attended most recently I was actually able to LEARN again which is always exciting.
What is GEM you may ask? The National GEM Consortium’s mission is:
The mission of The National GEM Consortium is to enhance the value of the nation’s human capital by increasing the participation of underrepresented groups (African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanic Americans) at the master’s and doctoral levels in engineering and science.
And what I’ve been refraining from mentioning all summer is that I’ve been named a GEM Associate Fellow for 2014! This honor is one of the things that allowed me to attend this wonderful conference.
This conference was one that definitely enlightened me as a graduate student especially impending the news I received upon returning to UVA for the fall. Nevertheless, it was a great way to learn more about different qualifying exam styles, various resources available to help us succeed as future faculty members, and to network with other graduate students, reps from companies and schools that are apart of the consortium. Not to mention I celebrated my 23rd birthday on the last day of the conference!