A dozen EMPOWER students attended the 100th annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting December 9th through the 15th, 2018 in Washington D.C.  The students attended keynote lectures by Lisa Jackson (VP Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, Apple) and James Balog (Founder and Director, Earth Vision Institute and Extreme Ice Survey), among others. Each day they also attended each other’s presentations (with 11 of them presenting at the conference) as well as supporting Syracuse University faculty presentations during the event. Three trainees: Amanda Campbell, Crystal Burgess and Emily Baker received AGU’s prestigious Outstanding Student Presentation Award for their work. As a group they participated in an Ecohydrology mixer targeted at young professionals seeking internship and employment opportunities. The mixer proved to be an excellent opportunity to network with individuals working in fields related to the Water-Energy nexus. They also arranged a group dinner following this event to share experiences and extend their networking. The group also welcomed two colleagues from the University of Rwanda who made the journey (their first to the U.S.) to present their work.