85th AMS Annual Meeting in San Diego :: Programs :: North Florida Chapter of the AMS

Last Update 01/15/05
Copyright © 2005

85th Annual AMS Meeting -- San Diego, California

Following up upon the success of the 84th Annual AMS Conference in Seattle, WA during January 2004, the North Florida Chapter and numerous chapter members recently returned from an enjoyable and successful trip to the 85th Annual AMS Conference in San Diego, CA. Approximately 15 chapter members were in attendance throughout the meeting, with several professors and distinguished alumni present as well. Highlights regarding the chapter included presenting a poster detailing our chapter's recent events, staffing the Local Chapter Affairs Committee booth throughout the day on the opening Sunday of the conference, formally receiving our Local Chapter Honor Roll status for the 2003-04 year, and laying the foundation to increase our national AMS involvement, both through involvement on committees and helping to organize the 86th Annual AMS Conference in Atlanta, GA in early 2006.

Those of us fortunate enough to be able to attend the conference enjoyed the nightlife, attended many interesting talks, became experts at networking and meeting others within the field, and more. An assortment of stories, pictures, and highlights in this realm will be presented below (as well as at the January chapter meeting). However, let us first highlight the chapter's accomplishments at the annual meeting.

As previously mentioned, the chapter was well-represented at the conference, with approximately 15 (of 65 in total) members in attendance. Repeating several activities from last year, the chapter displayed a poster in the exhibition room highlight our activities, manned the Local Chapter Affairs Committee booth on the opening Sunday of the conference, and had 5 members in attendance at the Local Chapter Breakfast on Tuesday morning. At the latter-most event, the chapter was formally "awarded" with Local Chapter Honor Roll status for the 2003-04 chapter year. With next year's conference in Atlanta and several members expressing an interest to become more involved on a national level with the AMS, both in terms of local chapters and the student conference, the groundwork was laid to expand our participation with the national AMS.

Several chapter members also volunteered at the FSU booth in the poster hall throughout the week, while others attended the conference as AMS student volunteers. A few even gave poster presentations or talks throughout the week, all of which went rather well. There was some time for some fun and games, however. San Diego is a very vibrant, contemporary city with a lot to do and see; needless to say, it is not Tallahassee. With fair weather the second half of the conference -- and dry nights the first half -- the scene was ideal for some enjoyment of the week.

Located across the street from the Convention Center is San Diego's historic Gas Lamp Quarter, featuring many rustic shops, restaurants, and clubs. Popular hangouts and stops included Ghirardelli's, the Shouthouse, 5ifth Quarter, the Yardhouse, and Cafe Sevilla, among others. Behind the convention center was beautiful San Diego Harbor, both with views of the Port of San Diego as well as the nice waters of the ocean. Time was spent through here during the week to relax, grab lunch, and just enjoy time away from the conference. Popular attractions and locations away from the Convention Center proved, well, popular for everyone as well, particularly the San Diego Zoo and Coronado Island. Some even went whale watching!

An abundance of shops greeted the money-lacking crew, including the notable Horton Plaza and Fashion Village. A unique feature of both is the open-air nature to the malls and shops in San Diego; I guess that works when you usually see about 5" of rain per year! Little Italy, located just up the road from the Convention Center, offered not only yet another historic region with shops and sights but also the Naval and cruise ship yards of the town. And yes, a few adventurous souls did make the trek down to Tijuana, Mexico.

We had the opportunity to rub elbows (so to speak) with many of the top people within the field. Ranging from Ed Lorenz to Max Mayfield to Bill Proenza to Louis Uccellini to Paul Kocin, seemingly all of the top people within the field were in attendance at some point during the conference. Many of us had the chance to meet (or in some cases, renew acquaintances) with all of the above people -- and many others! We feel as though we represented Florida State and the North Florida chapter very well throughout the week, both professionally as well as, well, "entertainmentally." All in all though, the conference was a lot of fun -- not to mention productive.

Once photos from everyone are collected and shrunk to fit on a webpage, we'll have a wider selection of photos available for everyone's perusal. A wide array of photos -- and some videos -- will be shown at the January 2005 chapter meeting on January 20th, so do be in attendance for these visual accounts as well as numerous stories from the week.

Preparations are already underway -- even as this is being written on the flight back from San Diego! -- for chapter attendance at the 86th Annual AMS Meeting in Atlanta, GA, the closest location to Tallahassee since Orlando 3 years ago. As noted above, we hope to assist the AMS in actually organizing the conference in whatever way possible and to have, by far, the largest contingent of chapter members at the conference ever -- for any university. Check our webpage and attend our meetings for further information as 2005 comes to a close and the 86th Annual Meeting draws near.