The first day of a conference is always the most overwhelming—people bustling from room to room, a giant schedule of events from which you have to rank the most important/interesting seminars and sessions, and a plethora of free stuff that you have to figure out how to carry.

Luckily, I was accompanied by some of my fellow chemistry majors and had the opportunity to be guided by Rollins professors, veterans of conferences of this scale. During the afternoon, I attended several medicinal chemistry oral presentations where I tried to absorb as much information as possible and connect it either to concepts I’ve learned in class at Rollins or to experiences and knowledge I gained last summer during my participation in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). Later in the evening, I attended the Expo and Career Fair where I was able to interact with several representatives from industry as well as learn about the cutting-edge technology and equipment they provide to research labs. I also made a point to stop by the medicinal chemistry division mixer to meet and socialize with researchers in the field that I am most interested in. Finally, my group explored the general poster sessions for divisions such as inorganic, analytical, and biological chemistry.

It was amazing to realize how much I was able to understand during the poster presentations because of my preparation in my major courses. Day 1 was an overall success and I’m looking forward to presenting my own poster on Wednesday (04/03).