This past weekend I attended the 2012 APPAM Fall Research Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

How’d you swing a thing like that on a grad student’s salary?

Great question, Imaginary Interlocutor! The Graduate Student Organization makes funds available for travel to conferences to graduate students (and those funds are awarded preferentially to professional students!). The PAIA department has funds for travel available as well, so with a little planning, it didn’t end up costing me all that much.  And it was worth every penny. I haven’t managed to figure out what exactly it is I aim to do once I’m done with my second year, but now the idea of spending some time as a professional researcher seems pretty appealing. Maybe here?

What’d you find so exciting about it?

Your questions are so insightful!

Part of what was really interesting was seeing elements of the content we’ve been taking on in our core classes being applied at a really high level. Most people presenting material at the conference were kind enough to gloss over the highly technical aspects of their work, but it’s nice to appreciate that there’s a world where a nuanced understanding of statistical significance or deadweight loss [all my professors are now frowning at me for using jargon] gets you more than a good grade on an exam.

The other cool thing about being at a policy research conference is getting to take a close look at how the things you hear about on the news (or don’t) are actually impacting people. I attended sessions on credit and the financial crisis, charter schools, and the effects of some federal health care mandates. All of the presenters talked about issues I was familiar with in a way I hadn’t thought about before, and it was all-in-all a really stimulating experience.

What else have you been up to?

I registered for classes last week. This is tentatively what my Spring schedule looks like. I’m pretty excited about getting to do all that math.

Isn’t asking yourself a bunch of rhetorical questions in order to answer them pretty lazy writing?

Yes it is, other me. Yes, it is.