Our Students

  • Nina Grant
  • Title: Ph.D. Candidate, Atmospheric Sciences
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Nina Grant reports below on her Fall 2022 participation in the American Geophysical Union Conference.

This past December, I was able to attend the Fall AGU Meeting in Chicago, IL thanks in part to the support of the RCI Travel Fund. This was my first AGU meeting. It was definitely overwhelming, but ultimately I loved the experience. This was my second in-person conference ever, and it was very different from the first one I attended. That one was a small conference dedicated to my specific subfield of climate intervention, so going to AGU with thousands of people from all of the Earth sciences was a big adjustment. While the AGU Fall meeting was a lot to take in, I also loved just how much there was to do. It was impossible to see and do it all, which meant crafting my schedule took some meaningful planning. This year I focused primarily on the oral sessions (in my field of interest) and science policy career events. It was nice to see some of those I met at the previous conference again and to see how their work had progressed since the summer. It was also very exciting to hear about the latest scientific work and publications. I often found myself jotting down papers or names to further investigate as they related directly to projects I was working on at the time.

One of my favorite sessions was the Union Session called Standards to Fuel New Climate Solutions: Establishing an Ethical Framework for Climate Interventions. It was very exciting to hear that AGU is beginning to take a bigger role in the conversation about climate interventions, and I was so happy to see that the ethical considerations were front and center. The other sessions I really enjoyed were the ‘Skills for Science’ career development workshops. I attended most of the sessions on science policy and learned about many useful resources. As a young graduate student, I have been thinking a lot about how I want to use my degree. It was very helpful learning about some of the different options available and how to get started. I look forward to future conferences and the chance to network with those in my field. With this first AGU Fall meeting under my belt, I feel much more equipped and even more excited for the next one, and I am very appreciative of this travel support that allowed me to participate.

Mahjabeen Rahman (left) and Nina Grant (right)

Mahjabeen Rahman (left) and Nina Grant (right) 

Nina Grant (second from right) with Professor Alan Robock and other RICSI lab members (current and former) during AGU 2022.

Nina Grant (second from right) with Professor Alan Robock and other RICSI lab members (current and former) during AGU 2022