Chemistry Pluma: Travel Diary

Welcome to my Travel Dairy page!!! Please keep on scrolling to reach out my latest updates.

Here, I will keep on posting my travel related experiences basically on Chemical Symposiums, Seminars and Conferences.

1. ACS Regional Conference, Covington, KY (May 18-21, 2016)

It was my first conference after starting my graduate studies at U of Miami. My graduate friend, Yiqun Zhou, joined me to participate in the conference. He is a guy full of humor and enthusiasm. I have shared our picture herein.

Me and Yiqun in Chicago Metro.

Presenting my Poster in the poster session

My title of presentation was on β-Galactosidase Langmuir Monolayer at Air/X-gal Subphase Interface. This is my first paper as a first author. The incomparable benefits of attending an conference is that you will be able to build your network and increase your awareness of new trends occurring in your research area. Saying so, I was much benefited by participating this conference. I am a guy who loves travelling. I talked with Yiqun to select Chicago as our transit while travelling to Covington. Luckily, we got about 4.5 hours of lay over time and managed to visit the Downtown for half an hour. Yey, now I can say that I have visited Chicago! I wish to visit it again because I did not get much time to roam around the downtown and off course much heard Willis Tower, Cloud Gate and Navy Pier.

As participation in conferences increase grow your personal network, expand the resources, construct your knowledge base, I plan to go for more conferences this year.

I have also shared some of my pictures that were taken in Covington, Cincinnati, and on the bank of Ohio river.

The bridge connecting Covington and Cincinnati city over Ohio river.

University of Cincinnati

2. Travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (5-12, August, 2017)
on the occasion of
Asian Conference in Colloid and Interface Science (ACCIS-2017)

7^th August 2017 Night

Arrived in Kuala Lumpur (KL) international airport at 10 pm. Durga Bashyal dai had sent his friend to receive me there. Lived with him in Nilai-3, Negri Sembilan. He had been staying in an apartment given by his company. I was excited to see him after nearly 15 years. We did not sleep until 1 am. I was tired of the long trip but Durga dai did not stop talking. I guessed he had got someone to listen his stories of upheavals after so many years!

Early next day morning, we woke up and moved towards KL. From, 8^th August I started living in Hotel in Katariya, a nearby place close to my Conference Venue, Berjaya Times Square Hotel in Bukit Bintang. On the very day Resham Bhandari, my village acquaintance who used to live in KL for a long time took me towards Petronas Tower. It was nice to see the different part of the world. I slept well that day in the hotel. Some of our (far) relative brothers had a restaurant named “Bhetghat Restaurant” in Katariya. So, I did not miss the typical Nepali food “Daal Bhaat, Tarkari, Achar” though I was in the foreign land.

Malaysia had progressed a lot in the meantime. I was fascinated to see their developmental steps making them as a top ten powerhouse of Asia. I spent 9^th and 10^th of August solely in the conference. It was nice to see many people of same research field in a place. I was warmly welcomed by the organizers. My presentation was on 10^th August, but before that, I got to meet with Prof. Dr. Osamu Shibata from Nagasaki University, our long-standing robust collaborator! He was happy to see me there.

With Malaysian friends

With Scholars from India

With Tulasi, Ajaya Sir from Morang Campus

At KL Tower with friends

At Batu Caves

3. Travel to Boston, Massachusetts (June 3-8, 2018)
to participate
Training in Bruker Optics, Inc.

It was a great moment to participate in the Training Program organized by Bruker Optics, Inc. I visited the Boston Downtown, Harvard University, M.I.T., the Boston freedom trail, ship-port and many other. In this occasion, I met my college life friend Mr. Om Shrestha and his beloved wife. We talked till mid-night all about our life in the Orchid Science College.

I had training from 4th June. Om dropped me to the North Station in Downtown. I caught the train and moved to Oak Groove. After that, I took Uber up to Billerica. It was showering heavily. I was busy in capturing the beautiful landscape on the way. The Uber driver dropped me in about half an hour.

It was a nice moment to be welcomed by Jackie and Dr. Shilov, the peoples with whom I used to talk in phone complaining about the instrumental problems! The Bruker Optics is located in Billerica, a small town located about 25 miles north from the Boston. The hotels were super expensive. The place was cool. You literally see many companies on the way. The training was for four days. I learned about different troubleshooting ideas of IR-RAS and the Opus software. Moreover, I got acquainted with the FTIR-Raman Microscopy, FTIR Microscopy, and the Lomus software.

At Harvard University

With Om Shrestha at the statue of John Harvard

At Bruker Optics, Inc.

4. Biosensors 2018 Conference in Hyatt Regency in Miami (June12-15, 2018)

In the month of June, I got a chance to participate in the World Congress of Biosensors. This diverse conference was organized by Elsevier. Since I was working in the field of Biosensor by utilizing the enhanced stabilized property of B-galactosidase, this platform was a milestone to get acquainted with many peoples all over the world. I met several company representatives, professors, and other researchers. The overwhelming suggestions/comments received on my presentation inspired me to work in this field.

5. Travel to Augusta, Georgia to Deliver a Talk in South Eastern Regional Meetings of American Chemical Society (SERMACS), Nov. 1-3, 2018

I participated in SERMACS, 2018 in Augusta, GA immediately after defending my Thesis Dissertation. I delivered a 20-minute talk in front of different researchers from different corners of the world. It was an exciting moment. I felt so easy to present my work as I had prepared vigorously to defend my thesis. The most memorable moment was that-I felt highly accomplished when the narrator called me Dr. Sharma for the first time!

In the meeting, I met many Nepali Chemists. Dr. Raju Kumal, a faculty in Georgia Southern University drove me and Shambhu Kandel around the Augusta. I expressed interest to go to South Carolina. Dr. Kumal and Mr. Shambhu Kandel agreed. We went to a beautiful park in South Carolina just 15 minutes drive distance from Savannah River Bridge. The fascinating water lily flowers on the lake reminded my own village back in Nepal.

My lab mates, Keenan and Yiqun were also in the meeting. I happened to meet Dr. Burjor Captain, our Graduate Director, in the meeting. He was especially there to participate in the Education Fair. I helped him shortly by taking care of our Department Stall in the Education Fair. It reminded me of the life in Kathmandu working as a lecturer in Nepal Mega College, where I used to participate in several education fairs to promote the college. I returned back to Miami on 3rd November with tons of memories and love.