20th Annual GEEB Symposium (UIUC)

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to attend and judge the 20th Annual Graduate Students in Ecology and Evolutionary BIology Symposium. I was thrilled to see such a strong presence of women in science! Of the 6 morning session talks 5 were women---and these ladies brought their A-game! The symposium is set on prospective student weekend so graduate students considering UIUC can get a taste for the research programs here. The presenters did a phenomenal job of effective science communication. All presentations were outside of my area of study but presenters broke down concepts and outlined broader significance of their research like it was easy peezy! I was able to follow along and really learned a ton about a variety of fields in evolutionary biology! Though I didn't stay for the celebratory cake, that succulent garden looked exquisite!