American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Conference; Washington, D.C.

Title of Presentation:  “How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact people’s dietary habits?”

Conference: American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Conference
Washington, D.C.,  March 2 – March 5, 2023

Report:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Conference, that took place from March 2-5, 2023, was more than I could have imagined. Because I was a Joshua E. Neimark Memorial Travel Assistance Award winner as well, I was honored at the newly named “Breakfast for Equity in STEMM” event (see photo attached). While at the breakfast, I was able to network with other award winners from various fields and universities as well as be recognized for my ambition, curiosity, and research. Heralded as the cornerstone of the meeting for historically and currently underserved groups within STEMM, this event was extremely welcoming and heartwarming to see so many women, people of color, and students and early-career researchers come together to promote science and science communication within the federal and public facing sectors.

Since I was an award winner, I was able to present twice, once as a poster presenter and once during a panel section. My poster presentation, titled “The food of the future?: An anthropological analysis of insect eating in Oaxaca, Mexico,” was an e-poster so both virtual and in-person could access and view my poster. During my panel session, titled “Embodying “good food”: Local perceptions of diet change and metabolic health in the fight against COVID-19,” I was able to discuss the other two chapters of my dissertation. Because the panel session was composed of other Neimark award winners, our topics were quite varied, however, we were able to have a good discussion about each of our areas of expertise and found a common overlap of interests.

Beyond attending the breakfast event and my panel session, I was able to attend several other panels focused on health, science policy, and food studies. This conference was quite different than what I have been used to in the past—the sessions were only one hour long, and most panels had only three presenters and a discussant. I very much enjoyed this format as I found the information to be much more digestible than other conferences where panels last nearly two hours with six presenters speaking back-to-back-to-back with no breaks in between to gather one’s thoughts. I also networked at the Expo Center where there were different booths with scientific industries, fellowships, and institutions. I did do some networking for my job with the Office of Grants and Fellowships—I could not help but try to make some connections for future graduate students to take advantage of! Amongst those I chatted with, I have upcoming meetings with program directors at the newly instituted Quad Fellowship and an on-going relationship with those at Fulbright. I did some networking for my own sake as well, as I received a lot of information about the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship, in which I plan to apply to later this year. Please see the attached write up from AAAS about my Neimark Travel Award.