This week:

Monday 9/19

4:30pm Careers in Life Sciences Networking and Panel Event at UGA Riverbend South Research Laboratories (register and details HERE). 

Tuesday 9/20

4:00pm ECOLOGY SEMINAR: River food webs: An integrative approach to bottom-up flow webs, top-down impact webs, and trophic position by Dr. Art. Benke in the Ecology Auditorium

6:00pm Forestry Club meeting in 1-304 with Drax Biomass. Food provided.

Wednesday 9/21

9:00am Pro-caffeination hour: “Lightning Round” student collaboration ideas in 4-132

12:30pm Women in Science (WiSci) “Brown Bag” lunch discussion in 4-132

1:25pm CONSERVATION SEMINAR: Conservation science and opportunities in the U.S. Geological Survey by Dr. Mary Freeman in the Ecology Auditorium

4:00pm River Basin Center Third Wednesday Symposium. The River Basin Center is located at 203 D.W. Brooks Drive between the School of Ecology and Hardman Hall. 

4:00pm Leveraging genomics to improve staple crops by Jason Wallace. S175 Coverdell Building

6:30pm Forestry Club meeting in 1-304 with American Forest Management . Pizza provided.

Thursday 9/22

4:00pm Warnell Seminar: The Australian invasion: eucalypt pests and their biological control by Dr. Simon Lawson, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia; refreshments at 3:30, in 1-304

6:30pm GPSA General Body Meeting; location TBD

Friday 9/23

4:00pm Butterflies, Corals, and the Future of Humankind: A Last Lecture by Dr. James Porter. University of Georgia Chapel. Reception: 5:00 pm- 6:00 pm. UGA Administration Building

Lightning Round

This week's Procaffeination Hour is titled, "Lightning Round," where students can chat, share ideas, and reach out to potential collaborators. We will be meeting on Wednesday, Septemeber 21st from 9:00-10:00am in room 4-132, refreshments provided.

This is a great opportunity to start collaborating with your fellow Warnell graduate students. We'll give you 3-5 minutes to introduce an idea you have for a project and pitch it to fellow students. These ideas can be for side-projects that involve research outside of your thesis or dissertation or for community or campus engagement/improvement projects.

A few examples:

• I really want to understand bark beetle population dynamics, but in terms of being able to use any of the existing models, I lack expertise and a lot of basic data on bark beetles has yet to be collected. So, next week I'll give a little more elaborate pitch to try to recruit some students who might be interested in writing a grant (bark beetle sampling is expensive) and working on a project together. 
• Students from my Master's institution got a grant funded to install rain gardens on campus to improve stormwater management with green infrastructure. 

One of the best things about Warnell is its people (and a lot of them are grad students), so take advantage of your time here and build working relationships that can continue through your career.