Closing Gala at the USS Midway

In addition to what I learned about bioprinting and regenerative medicine, I made another disturbing discovery at the tissue engineering conference. Engineers are fancy. That's right folks, after a life time of mocking engineers it turns out they can be fancy. I have whole heartedly accepted the life science dress code in which the epitome of fancy is wearing a shirt with buttons. I was at a meeting so I packed an ample supply of slacks and buttons shirts. So, I was a little surprised to find that many of the students at this meeting were in full suits. My surprise did not end there because the closing night banquet and gala was on the USS Midway. That's right I got to spend an evening on an aircraft carrier full of airplanes and engineers. I ate fresh mini donuts and even rode in the flight simulator. 

The aircraft carrier was HUGE. I knew they were big since you have to fit a whole runway and air traffic control tower on them, but you don't realize how huge they are until you are standing on one. It was pretty incredible. The airplanes all had folding wings to make it so they could all fit. There were many different kinds of airplanes. I particularly liked seeing some of the helicopters that helped recover the Apollo mission capsules. 

So, I am happy to report that while my impression of engineer fashion was incorrect, it remains a constant in the universe that engineers love airplane museums.