In Fall 2024, I had the opportunity to attend and present my work at the Ropeless Consortium and North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium in Providence, Rhode Island. The consortia bring together conservationists, scientists, government, gear makers, and fishermen to work towards conserving and recovering the highly endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. I have been working on projects with my thesis advisor, Dr. Jeffry Fasick, that pertains to the North Atlantic Right Whale since my sophomore year. At the conference, I presented a poster with the preliminary stages of my thesis, which is about how North Atlantic Right Whales use their different sense to navigate across different spatial scales.
I always knew that attending this conference would be a valuable experience for me, and it has been a goal to attend for years. However, the experience turned out to be more valuable than I could have imagined because of the diversity of other attendees. Listening to scientists, government officials, ropeless gear makers, and fishermen talk/debate about policy, innovations, and what the next benchmarks should be was so informative, and I was exposed to so many perspectives that I would not have known existed if the consortia had been only scientists. The way the discussions happened, and listening to the hurdles encountered has reinforced the value of science to me but also shown me in practical terms that without strong policy, storytelling, consideration of consequences to all involved parties, and relationship building it is only able to accomplish so much. All of this has made me a better scientist and exposed me to more possibilities for my own future.
I would encourage anyone interested to pursue research and attend conferences if given the opportunity. I am well aware that it can be scary, and that imposter syndrome can be somewhat crippling, but the benefits will almost certainly outweigh any costs, and you might walk away with experiences that are valuable in different ways then you initially thought.
Thank you to the College of Natural and Health Sciences as well as the Honors Program for funding my travel and conference experience.
Best,
Delaney