Reflections on attending the National McNair Conference

March 31st, 2022

The National Conference for McNair Scholars and Undergraduate Research is the most useful presentation of information to a first generation college student who wants to move forward after undergraduate studies to complete a graduate program that I have attended so far. The information given come from people who are in the thick of their graduate studies after completing the undergraduate McNair program or have completed both the McNair program and graduate studies. Being able to hear the stories and advise gained from first-hand experience of people traveling a similar path as I am is directly impactful to me.

Taking notes helps to remember important pieces of advice to implement moving forward in my journey.

All the keynote speakers were great. Since each keynote event happened during mealtimes, they were difficult to miss. The advice given is the kind I can directly utilize. I had wanted to ask a question during the keynote on Friday afternoon with Ray Garatsa, Adrian Johnston, Yanelyn Perez, however, time went too long and only three questions were allowed. Luckily, the last person asked a question along the lines of

“When the school you are looking at has a trend of microaggressions and they all build up, when do you leave to protect yourself compared to when do you stay to change the system?”

I had wanted to ask a similar question regarding boundaries. “When do you stand up for yourself to advocate for your own self-care?”

Since the panelists spoke about how the graduate program systems are very much a club, there is hazing involved. The practice seems to stem from a thought process that ‘We went through this bad experience so we think you should too.’ The PhD student/candidate panelists think some of the hazing that occurs should be stopped. I think they answered the question that was asked as best they could, but I don’t think they had enough time to answer fully.

Another keynote performance I wish was allowed more time was Dr. Chelsey Green’s performance with her band. Dr. Green has very welcoming energy. I have some new music to explore thanks to her Green Project.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gYJdJNkyrYyocVfI9LZUM

Managing how little time there was for segments of the conference was a continuing theme. I also attended the poster conference and got through six posters in the time allowed. I never thought that I needed to practice attending poster presentations! I did find a couple relevant projects presented by other attendees of the conference that helps me better understand the research work I am doing. The oral presenters were also very polished and practiced at their presentation. I attended a few in the science category. One notable one I liked was about using eddy-current magnetic flow to propel repair drones on the space station without using fuel. I attended another oral presentation in the social sciences. It was about looking at the flaws in the foster-care system, which hit very close to home for me. Many oral presentations overlapped so it was difficult to pick and choose which ones to go to.

Managing time to view presentations was a continuing struggle.

The other impactful session I attended was the workshop about graduate school transitions, which also had Adrian Johnston as a panelist. I took notes during the workshop, but I was not able to take notes during the mealtime Keynotes.

The other fun parts I appreciated were the time I spent bonding with my McNair group since we hardly ever see each other at our home campus. I also spent time hanging out with the Morehouse student cohort.

I now have new connections on my Linked In page. It was great to meet other people with the same research interests that I have. Jabari (grey shirt) also likes mushrooms, and I will be sending him mushroom pictures through Instagram.

Conferences are a time for networking.

I also made contacts with two of the other McNair directors, one for Buffalo New York and one from Ohio. The purpose of graduate school fairs is to introduce prospective graduate students to the schools that are out there. I was not disappointed by this graduate school fair. Another school was brought to my awareness that can rival my first choice for program strength, Rensselear [ren-suh-leer] Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

It is highly advisable to attend the conference!

My advice for incoming students to the McNair program is to attend the conference. It is such a moral boost. Plan to get homework done earlier in the semester to account for the missed days. Look at the program early in the conference and pre-plan which posters and oral presentations to go to. Bring any homework you have because missing this once in a lifetime opportunity when you have rarely been out of your home state is a big FOMO moment. I think I have cemented my McNair cohorts’ names in my memory through familiarity, finally.

The National McNair Confereance would not be complete without a trip to the National Mall in Washington D.C.