ARCS spring retreat in New Orleans was a wonderful combination of good food, good fellowship and interesting science.  Our focus was the effect of Hurricane Katrina on this historic city, its many issues involved with water, and the efforts to rebuild the man-made elements while protecting the ecology of the area.  Evenings were devoted to cocktails, dinner and jaz.  Everyone agreed that visiting the World War II Museum was one of the highlights of the trip.

Some of our group stayed and extra day and journeyed to LIGO on Monday for a special tour.  Located about 85 miles from NOLA., LIGO is at the cutting edge of physics and astronomy.  Their  collaborators won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics for the detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes and merging neutron stars.