sciencewoman
Posts by this author
May 15, 2008
As I write this, the special awards ceremony for ISEF 2008 is wrapping up. Tonight, awards are being given by professional organizations, corporations, colleges and universities, and branches of government. Almost all of the major professional societies are represented, from the American…
May 15, 2008
What would possess someone to take two days off of work, drive or fly to the competition city, read thirty or more posters, interview fourteen science students, and then lock themselves in a room until the winners are determined, all for no pay other than food? As the judging day winds down (I'm…
May 14, 2008
More selections from projects I'm seeing at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
"Evergreen Fire Alarm Suppression System" by Matthew Stegall of Charlotte, North Carolina. Stegall designed a system to detect, alarm, and extinguish Christmas tree fires, over 400 of which occur each…
May 14, 2008
I'm going to be busy judging all day long, so I've scheduled some posts to show you the sort of projects I'll be looking at today. Actually, I'll only be judging -ology projects, but I'll leave you to decide which ones those are.
"Weak Lensing Mass Estimates of Low Redshift Clusters of Galaxies"…
May 14, 2008
I didn't sleep very well last night, and I'm going to pretend that was solely because I was bothered by not being 100% honest with my readers...so here goes. Why am I judging at ISEF? And why am I giving it so much coverage on blog?
Second things first, Intel is picking up the tab for a trip that I…
May 13, 2008
Miles walked: At least 5. The Georgia World Congress Center is huge!
Random "it's a small world" connections made: 2
Not-entirely-unexpected reunions encountered: 3
Ounces pumped and dumped: 7 (so far)
Freakouts had: None since the airport.
Times I've called home: None.(I don't want to risk waking…
May 13, 2008
A cool feature of ISEF is the science star power. This afternoon the judges were treated to a panel full of science luminaries: Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Robert Curl, Rich Roberts, Dudley Herschbach, H. Robert Horvitz, and Leon Lederman. I walked in a few minutes late, so I didn't catch the…
May 13, 2008
So I've arrived at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Atlanta and I'm starting to get my bearings. I've been oriented to judging and have been previewing the projects. There are more than 1500 projects from students in grades 9-12 from 51 countries and the students are…
May 13, 2008
I'm in the airport about to board my plane. I'd forgotten how wonderful it can be to fly without a child. I'm looking forward to actually getting some work done on the flight rather than just trying to appease and entertain a squirming baby in a cramped middle seat. I think I may even have an aisle…
May 12, 2008
I have to remember to lower my expectations for holidays. When my expectations are low and things go wrong, the expectations are met, and I am satisfied. When things go right, I am surprised and happy. High expectations of things beyond my control breed dissatisfaction.
Part of the problem with…
May 9, 2008
I'll be in Atlanta next Tuesday and Wednesday to help judge the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a collection of the brightest and most dedicated high school science students from around the world. I'll also be blogging about my experiences there (h/t PZ), so look for an uptick in…
May 7, 2008
It's finals week here at Mystery U and I am noticing perceptibly different reactions on the parts of the students and the faculty. The students walk out of an exam joyful and free, while the professor gathers up yet another stack of papers to grade and thinks longingly of the research she *still*…
May 5, 2008
I'm still processing Thursday's events, and I'm busy writing finals, grading papers, and hosting a prospective student...but that doesn't mean that other people aren't writing about things totally perfect for Mommy Monday.
Here are some of my recent* favorites:
Jenny F. Scientist discovers that…
May 2, 2008
Yeah, yeah, why is she blogging about Thursday, when it's already Friday?
Well, folks, it's gonna take me more than one night's sleep to lower the cortisol levels that shot up in my body yesterday. Lemme share the highlights.
An 8 am meeting with the dean.
A meeting in which the dean turned the…
April 29, 2008
In 10 minutes, I will be done writing this post.
In 10 hours, I will have delivered my last lecture of the academic year.
In 10 days, my grades will be turned in.
In 10 weeks, I will have two more papers and at least one grant proposal submitted.
In 10 months, I will be 30.
In 10 years, I hope to…
April 28, 2008
When I started my PhD, professors and fellow students would ask me what I was planning to do with my degree. I had a ready answer: "I'll either focus on teaching or on research, but I don't want a job where I have to be good at both." I felt confident in my answer, I'd done my research. I knew I…
April 28, 2008
I see so much in Minnow that reminds me of myself as a child. She's enthralled by books and loves to put things into containers in a very particular (mysterious) order often stopping to take things out and then put them back in until things are just right. I loved to read and organize things (still…
April 25, 2008
I saw this over at Addy's and absolutely should not have spent the time on it. But I did. And here you go.
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know…
April 22, 2008
Three years ago today I started blogging at On Being A Scientist and a Woman. I was a PhD student engrossed in field work and lab work and thinking about when to start a family. Fast forward three years and I am on the tenure-track with my own graduate students and I have a toddler. My how time…
April 21, 2008
The weekend weather finally cooperated and allowed us to introduce Minnow to the animals she had previously only seen in books. In the past few weeks, her vocabulary has improved immensely, especially in the department of animal sounds.
Her favorite animal to vocalize is the lion's roar, so we…
April 19, 2008
Dear PhysioProf,
You're wrong. Here's why.
In the comments on a post about a forth-coming paper and it's possible impacts on my own, you said:
Getting completed work out the door should always be at the absolute top of the to-do list of junior tenure-track faculty, without exception. It should…
April 17, 2008
A collaborator just sent me an in press copy of a paper that examines the -ology of my PhD field area.
Huh. I think I've just been scooped?!?!
I have a paper deriving from the last chapter of my dissertation that is just waiting for my co-authors to give their OKs before it is submitted to the…
April 16, 2008
I've got a paper almost ready to be submitted. The co-authors are taking one last look, I'm making a few minor changes to figures, and I need to do the final formatting of the references. In order to do that last step, though, I need to decide to which journal the paper is going to be submitted.…
April 14, 2008
Hmm...I have a nice mommy monday post all planned out in my head but I don't have tomorrow's lecture started or the discussion paper read or...
So I guess we'll all just have to wait. Maybe I'll get it posted later in the week.
April 12, 2008
on the birth of her big baby boy. It sounds like she is recovering well from her c-section and is already getting the hang of sneaking work in during nap periods.
April 11, 2008
This is Minnow's baby quilt. I started working on it in my second trimester, just after turning in my dissertation. I was working on it the evening I went into labor, using some of the nervous anticipation and energy that I couldn't channel into any academic work. After Minnow arrived, the nearly-…
April 9, 2008
For the past several months, I've gotten almost weekly emails that read something like this:
Dear Professor,
I am Stu Dent from NotThisCountry, and I would like to study with you in Fall 2008. I have a BS in -ology from NotThisCountry Regional University, and I have an MS in -ology-subspecialty…
April 8, 2008
Before I even arrived at Mystery U, I was contacted by a student already in our PhD program. The student was about to start his third year in the program, and wanted to know whether I would be willing to advise him. The problem, he said, was that there was no faculty member who had his research…
April 7, 2008
I have some trepidation about raising a girl in today's culture. How do I navigate the over-princessing and over-sexualization of the preschool years without becoming a militant mom and always saying "no"? So far I've tried to strike a good compromise. Minnow has plenty of pink in her wardrobe,…
April 4, 2008
This morning, I loaded Minnow into the car, plugged in the iPod and started singing along to the children's songs as we backed out of the driveway. Twenty minutes later I realized that I had completely bypassed Minnow's daycare and was well on my way to campus. Oops!
When I finally made it to my…