Next Week: SIOP

A while back a paper I'd worked on with a group of researchers was accepted for presentation at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) annual conference in Atlanta.  I didn't realize this was a big deal going in, but it seems it is.  Particularly for a guy who is applying to doctoral programs (it indicates to admissions committees that you know what you're getting yourself into).

So off I go next week to present.  It'll be a great opportunity, too, to meet some of the faculty as many of my target schools.  I've built this enormous list of faculty, but it's not a complete as I would like it to be.  I'll have to spend some time first of the week fleshing it out.  I guess the best thing to do might be to go through the conference guide and determine when/if any of those faculty are presenting, then make sure I'm there!

Feels a little disingenuous, doesn't it, to sit in rapture as a guy who you want to want YOU presents his work, then vying for face time after the fact, hoping beyond hope he'll remember you in 10 months?  I don't know; I'm not really that type of person.  I tend to think that people can see through that sort of shallow, self-serving interest.  Maybe not; maybe they expect it.  On the other hand, perhaps it's a tell: if I can't get myself genuinely excited about their research, maybe the program (or at least that researcher) isn't the best fit given my interests?

I think I might've answered my own question!