Participants By Last Name
 A-I | J-N | O-Z

Nicole Barbarich-Marsteller (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Furthermore, I later had the opportunity to speak with Dr. John Fenn at lunch and found him to be extremely interesting to talk to.

Overall, attending the 55th Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students was an unforgettable experience. I learned that the majority of laureates did not have the purpose of their career geared towards winning the Nobel Prize, but instead came across it by chance. I also learned that these extremely gifted scientists are really ordinary individuals that want to teach the future generation of scientists to carry on their level of excellence.

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Sara Breitzman (Los Alamos National Laboratory)

My overwhelming impression of the Laureates is that they are normal people, albeit talented and intelligent ones, who have accomplished extraordinary things in their careers. Rather than being imbued with superhuman abilities, these are people whose curiosity, determination, and tenacity have led them to great discoveries. They too were once young graduate students wondering what the future holds. Hence the feeling I take away from this conference is that although we start our careers as humble students, each of us has the potential to contribute something wonderful to our particular field.

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Steve Bull (Northwestern University)

I had believed that a Nobel Laureate's opinion was very important to shaping the future with respect to research, green house gas emissions, etc., but discovered that they are not listened to. I attended all the lectures I could. I think the most valuable lecture was Alan Heeger's lecture. He brought together his research and how he was bringing that research to everyone by forming companies. His ideas are being made into products that we will see and use in the future.  I was able to attend two lunches and two dinners with the Laureates. I enjoyed by lunch with Peter Agre because we talked about social topics instead of just science. We discussed the educational system in the United States at the university level and where it was going wrong. I was pleased to see our opinions were very similar on many of the topics.

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My experience with the Nobel Laureates has helped me to better envision the rewards of determination and perseverance. One principal theme of the talks was that in order to accomplish remarkable things, one must generate a significant number of remarkable ideas. I will forever keep this in mind while designing my own experiments.  The interdisciplinary nature of the Nobel lectures proved to be very informative and entertaining. Never before had I seen the disciplines of physics, chemistry, and medicine so beautifully intertwined and cohesively examined. I most enjoyed the round-table discussions in which Laureates with diverse scientific and cultural backgrounds were able to debate common obstacles to our scientific advancement and make their recommendations for success.

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I found the Lindau conference to be highly refreshing in that I met students who care intensely about their research and its prospects and Laureates who have such experience of both the scope of research and the community of science. Though such a mixture of participants- students and established scientists- is hardly extraordinary at a conference, the subtle emphasis toward sharing experience over technical detail is, I believe, unique to Lindau and the conference is deeply richer for it.

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I believe that in my conversations with a number of Nobel Laureates, I gained a deeper appreciation for all fields of science, which was represented quite well by the Biology, Chemistry, and Physics winners, and not just my own tiny area of Physical Chemistry. I think in talking with anyone who has excelled in a specific area of science, it just motivates you to do the best in your field. I came back to my work fresh and ready to study hard.

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I gained insights into different ways that scientists have come across great discoveries. The most important thing I learned is to follow problems that I find interesting - you never know what you will discover.  The lecture I found most valuable was the talk by Gross about the big questions facing physics today, because it gave me a good overview of where physics is headed and what the important questions are.  I attended the discussions with de Duve, Rowland and Townes.  From the talks which were outside of my own field, physics, I gained a better sense of how scientists in other fields approach science. I learned important information about global warming and was challenged to consider the responsibility of scientists to effectively communicate relevant scientific findings to society.

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Their attitudes towards us as students and science in general was so refreshingly positive, they have encouraged me to keep a more open mind about what I am doing and to really try to think about how to take my project one step further. I think as a direct result of meeting with the Laureates I will begin my scientific career with them in mind, and looking beyond the obvious.  This allowed for a very interactive and lively discussion. All of these sessions were valuable, but in different ways.  The most important experiences I gained from the meeting, both personal and professional, were by far the close interactions with the students, both US and international, the Laureates, and the media. This may seem to be a very general statement, but the experience of acquiring ideas of how fellow scientists think, what they think about, what they know, and what they feel is important, is invaluable. And the range of these thoughts varies greatly from fellow US students to international students and from dignitaries to Laureates. This is why this experience can be so important; all of these people are in one place for one week, and the more questions you ask the more you learn. 

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It was refreshing to see that the Laureates are really just people who love science and are willing to ask even me for advice. This experience helped me in so many different ways. It not only helped me to focus, to really want to strive to learn as much as possible and work as hard as possible but also gave me more confidence in myself. The more chances I get to travel and talk to other scientists the more comfortable I am about going up and introducing myself to others and traveling to conferences, even on my own, to learn and share my work. It also helped to assure me that questioning is okay and that even if you think it may be a stupid question, if it helps you understand it's worth it. Really can't put into words. You just have to go and feel it.

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Maureen Coleman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

My experience with the Nobel Laureates solidified my desire to continue in academic research. The Laureates motivated me to be more than just a scientist - to speak up in policy debates, to educate non-scientists around me, and to use my expertise to solve global environmental, health, and socioeconomic problems. I also realized that Nobel Laureates are regular human beings like me, and that being a good scientist and being a good parent are not mutually exclusive.

I attended all of the Nobel Lectures. The most valuable lectures were given by Richard Ernst and Rich Roberts in the afternoon sessions. Richard Ernst motivated me more than anyone else to get involved in policy debates and to educate the general public about science. He made me think hard about the role of science in society and about our responsibilities as scientists. Rich Roberts' lecture was extremely valuable on a more immediate and practical level, as I am studying related topics. I plan to keep in touch with him and seek his advice in my research.

The most valuable discussions for me were during informal events like the dinners and the boat ride. One that stands out in particular was the first dinner event, when I sat next to Charles and Frances Townes. We discussed religion and science, the difficulties of being a woman in science, and the challenge of balancing work, pleasure, and family. I also sat next to Hamilton Smith and discussed the future of synthetic biology and genomics. And I talked to Rich Roberts about my thesis work, the challenges of metagenomics, and the field of microbiology in general. All of these discussions gave me insights into how scientists think and how they balance their lives and how they relate their science to the rest of society. It was extremely valuable just to hear them tell their life stories and to learn about their motivations and role models.

One extremely valuable outcome was making friends with the American delegation and with students from Venezuela, Mexico, Germany, England, Czech Republic, and New Zealand. I met several students who study related topics and with whom I hope to collaborate in the future. It was also extremely valuable, and fun, to discuss unrelated fields like nuclear physics and atmospheric chemistry. It was a great experience to meet students from so many countries and discuss how science is done in their country. It was apparent how global an enterprise science is and how unifying it can be across international borders.

It was definitely a memorable experience to waltz with a Nobel Laureate, Klaus von Klitzing. It was also a great experience to wander around Mainau with Frances Townes and to meet the Count and Countess.

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The conference helped me see the bigger picture; how the many different sciences are all intertwined. I believe this will help me in the future by reminding me to step back and see the bigger picture and be excited about that as well as the little, but very interesting problem I'm currently working on.  I think that the roundtable discussions were probably the most useful of the "formal" sessions that were held.

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I found the subject matter presented in the morning talks extremely informative and intellectually stimulating, and I found the interdisciplinary of the meeting especially fortunate, as I was able to hear much about the area I know well, namely, physics, while at the same time learning much about biology and chemistry and the unsolved problems in those fields. 

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Certainly, I have been inspired to pursue my own research with renewed vigor. I hope that by talking with the laureates I have gained some insight into what courses of action are likely to lead to a successful scientific career. In the future I may benefit from some of the friendships I have made with the bright young scientists in our delegation. 

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Above all else, what I learned from the Laureates during the meeting is to always look for new angles from which to approach a question. Many of the Laureates received the prize not for answering a difficult question, but for having the vision to ask the important question in an insightful way.  The lectures that proved to be the most useful and intriguing either made predictions about the future trajectory of a particular area of science or posed specific and deep questions.

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This meeting allowed me to meet many other inspirational young scientists from around the world. I was particularly excited to meet those in fields outside of chemistry, as I had the most to learn about their science and lives. The international and interdisciplinary nature of this meeting added many layers of interest to the participants and resulted in long debates. I greatly enjoyed the long discussions of politics and energy policy as they were flavored by the diversity of the group.

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I think the experience will benefit me in several ways. First, it allowed me to meet students from all over the world and these are people who could be potential research associates and collaborators. Second, it opened my eyes to the cutting-edge areas of science and the important problems that need to be solved/addressed in the 21st century. Finally, it made me realize that in order to be truly successful, we as scientists need to change the way we view the world and really start thinking "outside the box." This is how real progress will be made, since science is becoming more and more interdisciplinary, and in many ways, non-traditional.  My favorite experiences with the Nobel Laureates were those at the arranged lunches and dinners. Here, it was easier to interact with the Laureates on a closer level that was not really possible during the meeting. The best part about these interactions was realizing that these guys are pretty down-to-earth and easy to talk to, and even though they are crazy smart, they never really made me feel like I was out of place. In fact, they were very encouraging and helpful.

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The Meeting certainly gave me a better perspective of the scientific community. It was reassuring to see the Nobel Laureates as regular people, and realize they have the same doubts that all of us face. The emphasis by many of the laureates on the social responsibilities of the scientific community was very nice to see. The overall experience emphasized the big picture reasons that we conduct research, a healthy change from the day to day mechanics of lab work and grant writing. I think this trip has made me better appreciate the work of the scientific community.

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Donald Hornback (University of Tennessee)

My experience with the Nobel Laureates at Lindau has provided to me a sense of history and perspective in my physics endeavors which was lacking prior to the Lindau trip.  Generally speaking, the lectures on biology for me were the most interesting, especially seeing how the biologists think, which is decidedly different than the physicists I am used to hearing and interacting with. The question of a theory of biology, especially as raised by Gross, really seemed to pique biologists, delineating the difference in the mindset within the different fields of science.  

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I think the lecture that had the most value was the one given by Sir Kroto. His enthusiasm for his field and the other projects he is involved in was contagious. He reminded me that we as scientist need to bridge the gap with non-scientists as well as prepare and encourage our youth that science is important and it are nothing to be afraid of. The informal discussions with the laureates increased my knowledge in the fields of physics and chemistry. From these discussions I learned that lines between the fields of chemistry, physics, and medicine/physiology are slowly intertwining/overlapping with each other. The scientific community as whole has gained from the meshing of the disciplines. 

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10/03/2005