sciencewoman
Posts by this author
July 16, 2009
Don't worry I'll be back to the course design series soon, but I spent yesterday focused on other things (paper revisions, grant proposals) and I haven't completed the necessary work to get the next post up. And it's Friday, so let's divert to lighter equally serious but different topics.
As the…
July 15, 2009
As introduced yesterday, I'm blogging my way through the SERC tutorial on course design, for a new graduate-only course on experimental design and data analysis. Yesterday, I explained the context and constraints on the course, and today I'm mulling on the course goals. I'm supposed to identify 1-3…
July 14, 2009
After articulating that my most dire need is to get funded, it may seem disjointed to embark on a series of blog posts about teaching, but there you have it, the life of a professor at a place that requires both research and teaching. I still contend that I will get fired from my job much more…
July 13, 2009
A few weeks ago, I blogged a self-assessment of my progress towards tenure. It seemed like an apt time to reflect in the hours before my annual review meeting with the department chair(s) and in the months before my packet for reappointment is submitted. Reappointment is the first and only…
July 7, 2009
Dear student who left a 3 oz. blob of ketchup right where people step out of the stairway and into the hallway,
The dozens of people who will have to sidestep your mess this afternoon do not appreciate you and your laziness. There are bathrooms with paper towels 15 m away from the spot where you…
July 7, 2009
Today I'm working on revisions prior to resubmittal on a manuscript that has been a very long time coming. While I'm busy with the revisions and reference formatting, I offer up this multiple choice question for your discussion.
You've got a manuscript that you think is ready for submission to a…
July 6, 2009
Reader science newbie poses a great question to me and asks for the collective wisdom of our readers:
Dear Sciencewoman,
I have been reading & loving you blog for some time now. Thanks! You rock!
Ok, I have a question....
I have interviewed for, and been given a verbal offer for my first…
July 3, 2009
After the weekend, I'll be back with a follow up to the post on my progress towards tenure, and I'll try to address some of the substantive and thought-provoking comments that you all have raised. But, here in the States, it's already a holiday weekend, and so for today, I'll punt and take on a…
July 1, 2009
In January 2008, a reader (Serious Scientist) sent me a query about dealing with inlaws who thought she should give up on her scientific career when her baby arrived. They wanted her to go to a baby shower across the country, without her husband, and she was dreading the trip and the questions and…
June 30, 2009
Here at Mystery U, we are evaluated on a calendar year basis, so in early January I turned in an up-to-date CV to our departmental review committee. Then I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally, a few weeks ago, I got a chance to see what the review committee thought of me, and I got to…
June 30, 2009
I'm going to share a few wonderful links to ease my transition back into the on-line world.
First, there's a new photoblogger on the Scienceblogs' Photo Synthesis blog. BJ Bollender is the training coordinator for disability awareness and assistive technology in Arizona. She always travel with…
June 18, 2009
Have you ever bought an album and discovered a song so dark, so sad that it makes you physically uncomfortable to listen to it? What do you do then? Can you stand to hear it or do you skip the track in favor of something a little lighter?
For me, the songs that twist my stomach in knots are the…
June 16, 2009
Retweeting Zuska:
Kim at All of My Faults Are Stress Related asks:
I've got a question for women readers, especially those in the geosciences, environmental sciences, or field sciences: what do you get out of reading blogs? And if you have a blog yourself, what do you get out of writing it?
I'…
June 12, 2009
The following email appeared in my inbox yesterday, and I thought some of you might have some more thoughts to share.
Dear ScienceWoman,
I recently discovered your blog, and have a question regarding academic publishing. I am just now entering a PhD. program, and plan to get married in about 2…
June 10, 2009
BrianR at Clastic Detritus introduced me to the perfect meme to wrap a tedious summer afternoon of work...What books are on my summer reading list? First let me say that *love* summer and breaks because I've always associated those times with a chance to do some of the reading that I've never…
June 9, 2009
(to the tune of "Hush, little baby")
Speak little child, and make lots of sounds
And keep growing in leaps and bounds
We'll be busy as bumblebees
We'll catch the waves that crash on the seas
We'll go for strolls and walks in the park
We'll draw lots of sidewalk art
We'll run through sprinklers on…
June 5, 2009
All month the Scientiae train has been loading at platform 37.7*, and now we're pulling out of the station on a wonderful journey on the rails. I'm picturing a Harry Potter-esque train running through the Scottish countryside, complete with cozy compartments and carts full of goodies, comforting…
June 5, 2009
Sheril, Isis, Alice,Zuska and many others have introduced you to the Silence Is the Enemy project, aimed at condemning and reducing sexual violence in places like Liberia, Congo, Darfur and other conflict ridden places in the world. In Liberia, for example, as many as 3/4 of the women have been…
May 31, 2009
Dearest Blog-friends,
Have I ever mentioned how much I love all my readers and my Sciblings? This blogging community means so much to me, I just don't even know how to express it. The amount of support I get from y'all is amazing. As evidence, on Friday, my email box contained several nice emails (…
May 30, 2009
Despite being the one to pick the topic for the upcoming Scientiae, I have struggled and struggled to come up with anything to post for this month's Carnival. As Alice alluded to earlier, I'm having a particularly tough month, feeling like I am treading water most of the time, and not making any…
May 29, 2009
In the past few weeks, Scienceblogs has quietly debuted two fantastic new bloggers and a new channel (off the main page) related to information and library science, including open access and open science; digital and print publishing; information property and ownership, and more.
Christina Pikas is…
May 28, 2009
Just a quick reminder that the June Scientiae theme is "moving forward" and we're looking for posts about the how and why your science, work, and life are moving forward. Of course, other topics are welcome as well.
Write your entries and get them in by midnight UTC on May 30th, and I'll get them…
May 27, 2009
A while back I sent the following letter to my dear friend Dr. Isis at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess, because we all know who wears the hot shoes around ScienceBlogs.
Dearest Isis,
Though we may not always see eye to eye on the practicality of footwear, I adore your sense of…
May 26, 2009
Another PSA from the good folks at Rice University's ADVANCE program. Please help them out if this applies to you.
Dear Colleague:
I'm writing to ask you if you would be willing to participate in a study that I am conducting at Rice University.
It is important research and is attempting to…
May 26, 2009
The email below announces this year's "Negotiating the Ideal Faculty Position" workshop run by Rice University's ADVANCE program. I've heard great things about this workshop and they've run it for several years. In fact, I applied two years running and didn't get in, so it must be popular for a…
May 21, 2009
While I'm immersed in writing, planning, and reflection and Alice is uncurling, other people are actually writing the sort of amazing posts that make the blogosphere such a valuable and powerful place to be. These are the sort of posts that make you look at the world a different way or that…
May 19, 2009
Fantastic volcano blogger, and all around cool guy, Erik Klemetti has put out a call for volcano pictures that he can use on his Eruptions blog. I'd love to be able to send him some fantastic shot of a plinian eruption, but I live in a pretty tectonically quiet part of the world.
So this weekend,…
May 17, 2009
One my friends lives outside of Anchorage, Alaska and recently had a black bear pay a visit to her backyard. Now her preschoolers are obsessed with bears.
Minnow too has a bit of a bear obsession at the moment, though she hasn't seen any bears in their natural habitat. At school, she's been reading…
May 14, 2009
Yesterday afternoon, Minnow and I were driving home from daycare and Minnow was repeatedly requesting "the baby song" (Hush, little baby) from the car stereo. After about the sixth playing of the song, we had the following conversation.
SciWo: "Are you a baby?"
Minnow: No. I'm not a baby.
SciWo: "…
May 13, 2009
A loyal reader of the blog sent me a copy of an article in the spring edition of the LTER Network News. In the article (pdf here
), Laura Gough discusses how her research at the Toolik Lake field site in northern Alaska helped prepare her for the joys and challenges of parenting. Dr. Gough is a…