On March 25th I left for Tallahassee, FL to attend the 6th National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Educational Partnership Program (EPP) Education and Science Forum, at Florida A&M University.  The forum started on March 26 and ended on the 28th.  I presented my research on the economic value of air quality forecasting in the Washington DC and Baltimore metro region. I am in the starting stages of my research and I presented more of the statistics I found, when comparing measurement of air quality to model forecasting of air quality.  I presented my work during the poster session.

The trip was good, though the flight going to Tallahassee was a bit of a hassle. Before the afternoon of March 25th there was no direct flight from DC to Tallahassee. If you were traveling, you would have to take a connection flight. I was on a morning flight to Charlotte, North Carolina then Tallahassee. I must say that in my recent memory I can not remember a time I had as much turbulence as that morning flight. The pilot said it was light to moderate, my hand was on my seat for most of the time. The flight from NC to Tallahassee was a smaller plane that sat about 30 seats. I remember I was on a plane like that before to go to the Bahamas with my parents. I liked that flight and thought the plane was cute. I mentioned the afternoon because at 2:30 PM the first inaugural direct flight flew from DC to Tallahassee. That flight was greeted by the Mayor of Tallahassee, a water cannon tribute by firetrucks, news reporters and a cake at the airport. Some of my classmates were on that flight. I thought that was cool.  The way back we took a small plane to DC. It was direct :-)

I think my session went well. I got a lot of people that seemed interested in my research and a lot of feedback that I will use towards the research. This forum marks the first time in 2 years I have presented research.  It was nice to present. I remember when I did an oral presentation for my research on fog occurrences. That was so nerve-racking. I think I said "um" so many times. Here I was more relaxed and clear. Some of my classmates presented their research as well and a few took home first place and honorable mentions for their work. I didn't win anything. Maybe next time :-)

Though I enjoyed the trip and the beautiful weather of Tallahassee, I was so anxious to get back to Rex.

Here are a few pictures from the event: