This poem was written on the last day of the 2015 Marine, Estuarine, and Environmental Sciences (MEES) Colloquium held at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Annapolis, October 30-31, 2015, and hosted by the MEES goes to Annapolis
William C. Dennison
31 October 2015

A gathering of scientists of the MEES brand

From all over the state of Maryland

They developed a passion for understanding nature

For which there really is no cure.

Ken Paynter, Tom Miller and Ed Houde provided an update

We learned about how MEES is going from good to great

And then it was all about science communication

As a tool for making better science application.

Caroline Donovan and Brianne Walsh, recent MEES alumni

Led a session on making science easy on the eye

Drawing chickens, tulips and thermometers upside down

To make a story of those things that make fish frown.

We heard the Bernie Fowler sneaker story

An indicator of Chesapeake Bay clarity

And then Randy Olson's And, But and Therefore

To help tell your story so that people don't snore.

Margaret Palmer, Fredrika Moser and Heath Kelsey talked about their role

In helping their colleagues figure out ways to make science useful

Students and faculty provided their elevator pitches

So that they could go on to careers of great riches.

The balcony of a historic African American church was a great scene

Crowded with student posters and faculty who were very keen

And then an epic talk by a real live NASA astronaut

Ricky Arnold told us about things in solar system: both cold and hot.

We then followed in footsteps of great Americans who were no fools

They had come to Annapolis and used some of the many barstools

Then crawling through the pubs of Annapolis experiencing various histories

But back in the morning listening to graduate student science stories.

Dana Bunnell-Young talked about producing corn, and methane actually

Hillary Glandon talked about carbon dioxide making crabs very angry

Katherine Slater investigated the mystery of copepods who showed up dead

Jan Vicente talked about when boring sponges get excited.

Looking back on all that we have done

This MEES colloquium was whole lots of fun

Thanks to all for coming along

And now it's time to say So Long!

Photo Credits: 1- Vanessa Vargas; 2a & 2b- Alex Fries ; 2c- Bill Dennison; 3a- Brad Stevens; 3b- Alex Fries; 4a- Caroline Donovan; 4b-Alex Fries; 5a & 5b-Vanessa Vargas, 6a-d- Alex Fries.