Ecological Society of America: A pathway for professional development
by Luke Lamb The 250 page meeting program can be daunting to students new to ESA but it's really FULL of opportunity. Every year ecologists from around the world get together at the Ecological Society of America ( ESA ) meeting for a week-long endeavor into all-things ecology. As a student whose only attended two ESA meetings, ESA2017 and ESA2018 , this meeting has already been instrumental in shaping my professional perspective on the field of ecology and how its members conduct themselves. My hope with this post is to provide some evidence of the benefits that being involved within ESA as a student provides and how to make the most out of future meetings! For starters, the ESA is organized into a variety of different sections and chapters . Chapters are organized regionally while sections are organized around a common interest, like everybody is a student, or early career researcher, paleoecologist, etc. ESA says : “[Section] activities are intended to encourage...