ABRCMS 2018

by Carole L Hom
November 20, 2018

Part I

houndstooth trousers — No, we did not coordinate in advance.

This week, the PREP cohort trekked to blustery and cold Indianapolis to present their research at the 2018 meeting of the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, a.k.a ABRCMS.

Some of us included houndstooth in our attire.

What did we gain from the meeting?

a PREP-only meet-and-greet
networking with other scientists
inspiration
reunions

I felt really inspired by the plenary speakers and their message on the importance of overcoming adversity. I also really enjoyed being with my cohort and getting to know PREP scholars from other institutions.
-Joseph

It was astounding to be surrounded by so much diversity and scientific excellence. I have never been more proud to be part of this generation of scientists.

-Elijah

One of us is standing on a chair.

Dan and Carole spent a hunk of time talking to prospective graduate and PREP applicants, reconnecting with colleagues, and meeting new ones.

I ran into a UC Davis alumna who was in our McNair program the year I served as interim director (cue bilateral excited squealing and jumping up and down). She came to ABRCMS to recruit for Cold Spring Harbor, where she's a grad student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Go Ags!
- Carole

Dan's really jazzed about some students whom he wants to recruit for PhDs at UC Davis. Jonathan went to lunch with his undergrad mentor who's now a faculty member at CSU Fullerton, and Yesica and her sister, a PREP scholar at U Penn, got to cheer each other on during poster sessions.

We assembled in in our spiffy polos and had someone take a group photo. Alas, Jonathan's lunch meeting overlapped with the photo shoot

polo shirts — Here we (mostly) are, in our polo-clad glory

scholar+undergrad mentor — Jonathan met up with his undergrad research mentor. Note the spiffy polo peeking out from under the sweater.

Dan had an "ABRCMS moment" at the poster session: he encountered a student who insisted on a photo when he learned that the guy who discovered SUN and KASH proteins was reading his poster.

And our scholars' posters were phenomenal. They all knocked it out of the park and we are so very proud of them.

The best part of the meeting was right after my poster. I was so excited by talking to faculty and their reaction to my research!
-Jonathan

I liked the atmosphere of the conference, it was the most relaxed I’ve ever been presenting, and I feel like a learned a lot about how to better present my research from the critique of the judges.

-Anna