Last week was the Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting (JASM) in Portland, Oregon.JASM is the joint meeting of four leading aquatic scientific societies - Society for Freshwater Science (SFS), Phycological Society of America (PSA), Association for the Sciences of Limnology & Oceanography (ASLO), and Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS). Basically what that means is this meeting was an amazing coming together of some great aquatic research!
It was held at the Portland Convention Center. A huge center where it really took quite a few minutes to walk from one end to another, especially in heels. I wore heels all week! And I'm not usually one to to do that. These two glass towers in the picture on the right are the towering (pun intended) distinction of this convention center and when I got lost on my way back from brunch in a neighborhood with a friend, these towers were my guide when Google Maps on my phone failed me.
The inside of the convention center is filled with art. Some interesting art to be more precise. When one enters the convention center, heading towards the designated registration desk for JASM, there is a large, dragon boat suspended from the ceiling. Perhaps it makes some sense since I saw some dragon boats on the Willamette River which flows through Portland and there is a Chinese bistro to the left of the boat. But it makes one wonder if the boat or the restaurant were there first.
There is also a collection of hanging flowers and ginkgo berries lining the main concourse. It's a quirky feature. In the picture to the right you can see the red hanging flowers and the green ginkgo berry on the stairs below it. These art features do liven up and break up the monotony of the interior, as well as grabbing one's attention, especially with the light coming through the large windows. The Portland Convention Center is also LEED platinum certified, which is the highest rank for a building based on a set of sustainability standards.
The conference was the whole week - Sunday through Friday. I gave my oral presentation on Tuesday, and after that a lot of the pressure was off. Overall I found the conference engaging and a wonderful experience! I met many amazing researchers, saw a lot of great aquatic work being presented, and had some great conversations both science-based and life-based! More to come about the Portland life so stay tuned!
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