LPSC 2009
The 2009 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference will be held March 23-27, 2009 at the Woodlands Waterway Mariott Hotel and Convention Center.
The first announcement is online now, with a form available to indicate your interest in attending the conference. I don’t yet know whether any of the following needs will be met at the conference site itself, but I have asked the conference organizers and will let you know as soon as I hear back from them.
1. A nursing room with comfortable chairs, a mini-fridge, and a door.
2. Nearby drop-in child care facilities.
I did not ask about child care at the conference site itself, but if you have need of such services, you are welcome to do so. Please note that the hotel reservation system is now accepting reservations; the nightly rate is $179. All comments, ideas, resource exchanging for this new location are welcome in the comments below.
Nicolle Zellner
azalucha
barbylon
baryonic
elakdawalla
Emilie Royer
Erin
geochemom
interplanetsarah
Jordan M Bretzfelder
Kat Gardner-Vandy
Kelsi Singer
lostrack621
lovenstars
ryannwatkins
sandrift
squawky
Susan Niebur
Women in Planetary Science: Female Scientists on Careers, Research, Space Science, and Work/Life Balance 
Cari, currently they are not planning to have a nursing room. They never have in the past either. But a lot of women think that they should.
As a woman who may need a room, what do you think of asking around to generate a list of women who may use it?
Or is that too invasive?
I will have a 3-4 month old baby, so, even though I am planning to stay at the hotel, a nursing room would be great. I do know that the LPI gets a number of rooms for the conference organizers and I’m sure they’ll get plenty since they will have to stay up there, but whether or not they’d be willing/able to let people use one is another story.
Hi Susan,
In the links they provided on the First Announcement page I found a nearby drop-in daycare that may work for some of the attendees. Here is their site:
http://www.playtimeforkids.com/
Hopefully with this much advance notice they could accommodate a large number of conference families. The facility appears to be serviced by the same free trolley that runs from the conference center to the mall.
Best of luck!
A dialogue has begun. There are no current plans for a nursing room, daycare referrals, or onsite daycare. It is my hope that we can at least win a nursing room (with comfortable chairs, a mini-fridge, and a latching door) and a list of nearby options for daycare (no quality of care guaranteed or implied by LPI/LPSC/NASA/WIPS or anyone else).
Stay tuned.
I have not yet received a response from conference organizers.