EDRAite of the Month - Gourab Kar

Gourab Kar, PhD Student at Cornell University May 2016

Gourab Kar

Last year’s conference in Los Angeles was my EDRA ‘debut’ and as a graduate student I was both cautiously apprehensive and somewhat nervous about being in the midst of some of the most influential Environment-Behavior researchers of our times. However, the moment I stepped into the conference venue on day one – the informal nature of interactions, the sense of camaraderie among people and the intellectual vibes made me feel at home.

As a young designer engaged in Environment-Behavior research, I was enthralled to share ideas with an inter-disciplinary mix of researchers and designers who were not only highly knowledgeable but also extremely open to engaging with new approaches and ideas from ‘newbies’ like me. The nurturing ecosystem at the EDRA Conference is a welcome departure from many other conferences where the spirit of collaborative engagement is somehow lost in the grandeur and magnitude of the event.

Being a part of the EDRA conference is a unique experience - the confluence of domains of expertise, openness to engage with new approaches, the informal mentoring sessions, and the graduate student workshops are invaluable opportunity for a nascent researcher like me. In fact, I was able to strike up an intellectually stimulating conversation with an accomplished researcher and this led to us collaborating on a workshop proposal for the forthcoming EDRA Conference in Raleigh. I am excited to be at EDRA for the second year in a row and eagerly look forward to connecting with you all in Raleigh.