Author: Emmaline Thorpe | Majors: Psychology and Biology | Semester: Fall 2021

At the end of summer 2021, I was supposed to go to Florida for the first time. I wasn’t going to Disneyland, or to lay out on the beach, or even to visit friends and family. Instead, I was going to present research. I had the amazing opportunity to put together a poster involving therapy outcomes for foster children in Oregon. I was so excited, this felt like the first big step in my professional career, and I was ready for the opportunity to meet professionals from a field I desired to work in. Then, as many things have been this past year and a half, the conference was moved online due to COVID-19. This was a crushing blow, I had already booked a plane ticket, had a place to stay, and I was making plans for A weekend in Orlando before I had to return to Arkansas. I tried to be optimistic, hundreds of other people were in the same position as I was and moping about being stuck in the middle of Arkansas would not help me develop as a student.

The time came for the online conference, and I have to say I was surprised. The virtual platform was full of features that made it extremely accessible. There were dozens of talks, small group sessions and learning opportunities. My research mentor recommended several talks for me to attend, all of which I found interesting. I attended small discussion-based group sessions and actually think I felt more comfortable online than in person. Over a camera I could be an intelligent voice eager to learn, while in person I might feel intimidated by the professionals around me. I do feel I missed out on many networking opportunities. My aunt always told me “You never know who you’re going to meet.” I trusted her, given she’s a scientist herself and has been to dozens of conferences, and now I know I’ll be working twice as hard to meet people at the next conference I attend.

Perhaps the most upsetting part to me was I did not get to present my poster. In the online conference, posters were simply left on a page where anyone could come and go as they please. There was not an opportunity for me to talk about the research my graduate student had conducted, in the role I played in bringing the poster to life. I was excited for the opportunity to educate people about our research in the pathways it opened for foster children across the country. While I hope someone did stumble across our poster, I would have loved the opportunity to show how passionate we are about our research here at the University of Arkansas.

While I did learn a lot at the online conference, the familiar pang of having an event cancelled due to COVID-19 has stuck with me. For now, I will use it to work twice as hard on all my research in hopes that I will get to attend an in-person conference. In the future, I will encourage people to never take for granted the opportunities a safe and healthy world has for them. The process of researching, creating a poster and presenting it is a thrilling one full of rewards. I plan to do for the rest of my time at the University, and hopefully (if my future career plans work out) the rest of my professional life.