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Several hundred National Cancer Institute staff converged on NCI’s Shady Grove campus last month to celebrate the annual NCI Director’s Awards ceremony in a way they hadn’t been able to for the past several years: together.

Coworkers and colleagues greeted each other in person while enjoying refreshments and watching pre-recorded award videos from senior NCI leaders in a hybrid, open-house version of the 2022 awards ceremony.

Maryland scientists recently came together to discuss next-generation vaccine formulation and delivery, as the Biotech Connector speaker series returned to Frederick. The Biotech Connector is a quarterly networking and speaker series, hosted by the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. The scientific event invites experts across disciplines and backgrounds for an inside look at local advances in innovative technologies in biological sciences to improve human health.

Spring is upon us again, and the Spring Research Festival is following quickly on its heels. However, by both pandemic and pre-pandemic standards, this won’t be an ordinary year. It’s the festival’s first in a hybrid format. That means for the first time since May 2019, participants will be able to attend events in person if they desire.

What do Nikola Tesla; National Science Board vice chair and former astronaut Ellen Ochoa, Ph.D.; and NCI Frederick’s own Howard Young, Ph.D., have in common? They’re all fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Young is among the newest additions to the esteemed group, recently elected as a 2022 fellow alongside 504 other distinguished contributors to the sciences.

Take Your Child to Work Day, a beloved pre-pandemic event, is poised to return to NCI Frederick this summer. Past years saw the campus host as many as 300 children for a day of hands-on activities meant to illuminate scientific principles and inspire curiosity. Tori Seal, the event’s lead coordinator this year, hopes to capture some of that excitement again.

Ashley Waters, DPA, executive director of Woman to Woman Mentoring, Inc., spoke from a lectern at Hood College. People with mentors, she said, have better prospects in life. Mentoring was one of the reasons Waters and several dozen others—both in person and virtually—had come to the small Frederick campus. They were gathered for Women in Science Speak, a celebration of women and girls in science and a mentoring discussion about overcoming the substantial disparities and gender bias in the field.

The Biotech Connector, a quarterly networking and speaker series, is returning to Frederick, Md, on March 1. The event, which is jointly hosted by the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, brings together entrepreneurs, industry members, and scientists of all kinds for an inside look at local advances in research to improve human health.

For many people, libraries conjure up images of hushed voices, using the Dewey Decimal System to search the card catalog, and perusing the shelves for a favorite author. But as is true in so many aspects of our daily lives, technology is changing the way we find and use information. That’s why Deanna West, who assumed the role of director of the NCI Frederick Scientific Library in September, is rethinking how the library serves its patrons.

The second annual Women in Science Speak event is just a few days away, but there’s still time to register. Women in Science Speak was established in Frederick last year to observe and celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The event aims to amplify the voices of women scientists and foster mentorship, allyship, and cooperation to empower current and future women scientists.

Late last year, some of the world’s top leaders in the field came together to discuss the progress of artificial intelligence applications in cancer research and clinical care at a scientific symposium hosted by Hood College and Frederick National Laboratory. It was one of several large scientific gatherings in Frederick in 2022 with implications for the new year and beyond.