American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 4 - 9
For the first time, the Research in Germany Initiative was represented at the American Geophysical Union’s annual Fall Meeting in San Francisco from December 4 - 9, 2011. With more than 22,000 attendees, the meeting surpassed previous attendance records.
The RiG activities started on Tuesday morning with a session as part of the International Career Day, organized by the AGU Career Services. Max Voegler, Director of the DFG North America office in Washington DC, talked about current funding mechanisms and fellowship opportunities offered by the various German funding organisations. Emanuel Soeding, manager of the Cluster of Excellence “The Future Ocean” (University of Kiel), illustrated the career opportunities such a cluster can offer to PhD students and postdocs. Afterwards an open discussion enabled the 20 participants to get specific information about their interests in early career, PhD and post-doc options in Germany.
Later on Tuesday, examples of the German research landscape were introduced at the Town Hall Meeting “Dynamic Earth – German Research Opportunities in Geosciences”. Around 80 scientists mainly from the USA and Europe participated in this one-hour session, which was introduced and moderated by Gerold Wefer, Director of the MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences in Bremen. The first speaker, Rainer Helmig from the University of Stuttgart, dynamically presented his projects within the German Excellence Initiative, a Cluster of Excellence as well as an International Graduate School, both in the field of “modelling complex porous media systems”. Vera Schlindwein, who holds a highly competitive Emmy Noether grant, not only provided insight into her research field of “submarine volcanoes in the polar oceans” but also gave a lively presentation on how her grant enables her to structure work-life balance with a family and kids. Manfred Strecker, from the University of Potsdam, introduced scientific topics, structures and international networking of the “Potsdam Research Cluster for Georisk Analyses, Environmental Change and Sustainability (PROGRESS)”. Finally, James C. Zachos, who received a Humboldt Research Award in 2009, gave an interesting impression of his research field and his scientific exchange with Germany “where he felt at home” during his stay in Bremen. Session participants, who mainly came from research, funding and administrative organisations, received a broad and vivid insight into geoscientific research in Germany and the international networking of the German geoscientific community.
The final “highlight” of the Research in Germany activities at the AGU was the “German Social” held at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. Martin Visbeck from the IFM-GEOMAR Kiel welcomed the guests, a diverse mix, not just with regards to nationality. The 150-200 visitors, from students to senior and well-known scientists crowded in the meeting room and the entrance where they engaged in lively talks and discussions. According to the guests, the reception “was a great evening and a wonderful opportunity to meet colleagues, deepen and initiate scientific contacts”. Most guests have already pencilled in next year’s social into their calendar!
