We Arrive Home Slightly Delayed

Last week, Kim and I attended the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation 2025 Conference, which was a wonderful opportunity to network with professionals, speak to undergraduate and graduate students about research and career opportunities, and to connect with friends old and new. I got to catch up with people I haven't seen in more than a year and perhaps slightly more excitingly, I got to present on my postdoc research. For those who have been following my marine science journey, you may realize this is the first time I've given a research talk or presentation that did not focus on microplastics or nematodes, but it certainly won't be the last. As you can see from this first picture, I was working hard to remember to not explain that oysters can also filter microplastics out of the water column. I really enjoyed the microplastics and marine debris sessions, though, as I got to learn some new techniques for microplastic separation, interesting ways that researchers are evaluating microplastics as viral vectors, and see some new microplastic removal robotics that take inspiration from marine animals.

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Kim also had a very productive conference, and took me along for many of the events. She was inducted as a board member/executive committee member across two societies, organized a George Mason University and University of Southern Mississippi meet up (she and another USM faculty were former GMU faculty), met up with former students and postdocs from her labs, and gave a wonderful talk about how we can use ecosystem modeling to understand the complex nature of anthropogenic changes to the environment and how management scenarios can have cascading effects through marine food webs. Additionally, Kim was awarded the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Champion award for her continued work to empower scientists of all backgrounds, even in a time when agencies, groups, and companies are devaluing diversity. Here she is receiving her award and know that most of the USM conference attendees were sitting right at the front to yell and cheer for our champion.

Alas, we ended up missing our flight on Thursday because delays that ran over into our connecting flight, so we stayed an extra day in Richmond, but I know I had a wonderful time at this conference and can't wait for the next CERF in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Maybe I'll see you there.

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