sciencewoman | December 30, 2007Another from the archives (originally published February 6, 2006).
Let it not be said that I don't respond to readers' comments. A few posts ago, I was moaning about my inability to read journal articles in an efficient and non-fattening way. Yami requested that I share my system for organizing journal articles, writing that "Curious people who are finally getting quasi-permanent office assignments and file cabinets want to know."
The succint answer: Invest in a copy of EndNote or similar and a thick stack of file folders. As soon after downloading/copying/printing a journal article, add it…
sciencewoman | December 28, 2007Here's a post from the archives (originally published February 20, 2006).
Here's an email I recently received:
Dear Science Woman,
I am meeting with several of my committee members tomorrow to discuss my data. the data is not totally analyzed and is not looking too pretty so far. The problem I have is that this is my first "data meeting" and I am not sure how to prepare or what to have together....I was just wondering how you've presented [data to your committee] or how formal of a meeting these things are.
Here's my stab at a response. What would you have told her?
"I think a key thing is…
sciencewoman | December 26, 2007Here's my take on the top 10 women in science stories of 2007. It's highly biased toward blogospheric developments. Many thanks to skookumchick, Tara, Pat, and Karen for helping me compile items for inclusion on this list.
10. Microbiologist Rita Colwell received the National Medal of Science. Tara at Aetiology gives us the scoop, but Zuska points out that still only two of the eleven winners were women.
9. Girls won all of the top awards at the Siemens competition for research by high school seniors.
8. Women make out of this world astronauts. 2007 saw the first time that a woman has…
sciencewoman | December 22, 2007Brilliance as seen at Clastic Detritus...
Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and everything else...
sciencewoman | December 22, 2007I think I've been tagged at least seven times for the meme where you are supposed to reveal seven unknown facts about yourself. But since I've been baring my soul on this blog for 2.5 years, I'm not sure I can come up with seven things I've never revealed before. Here's my best shot.
I have a case of the imposter syndrome with research. I think it is exacerbated by being very broadly trained and never feeling like I know as much as the specialists in any of my fields.
I enjoy reading blogs more than I enjoy writing my own. But I also have imposter syndrome when I write comments and posts. I…
sciencewoman | December 20, 2007Yesterday as I was leaving my office I gathered together materials so that I could work at home today. Being at work when no one else is around is kind of depressing, even though I know it's only because I am taking my vacation later than some. So I thought I'd change the scenery for a day and see if that improved my mood.
Then I drove to daycare to pick up Minnow and I discovered that she had a 102 F fever. A visit to the pediatrician this morning confirmed my suspicions: she has an ear infection. I'll be home today and maybe tomorrow with her until the antibiotics kick in. Hopefully she'll…
sciencewoman | December 19, 2007I did this last year, and apparently it is to be another year-end tradition. Here are the first sentences to each month's first post. January - September will take you to the old site, but don't forget to come back here eventually.
January: While many people went on holiday over the past two weeks, a few people kept their regular blogging habits going strong. (While you were out...(women in science)) Back in the pre-Scientiae, pre-Minnow days when I had the time and energy to keep track of all the women in science blogospheric going-ons.
February: I got an email yesterday from chem guy - a…
sciencewoman | December 19, 2007I think my entry for this month's Scientiae carnival is going to be a top 10 list of women in science news from 2007. This seems like a perfect excuse to kill a few hours web browsing. But I know that whatever ideas I come up with, I will miss some of the best things out there. So if you have a personal favorite women in science story (news item, blog post, report, etc.) that you think should be included in the top 10 list, please let me know.
sciencewoman | December 18, 2007It is becoming an annual tradition to post my open letter to the Coca-Cola Corporation. Maybe one of these year's Coke will listen.
Dear Coca-Cola Company,
While I have been known to enjoy your products, and never those of your competitor, I am saddened by the misinformation you are spreading in your current advertising campaign. I am referring to the television spot in which you show a family of polar bears who espy a partying penguins and slide down the hill to join the merriment. It's a very cute advert, but is totally factually wrong. And it contributes to the misconceptions I see my…
sciencewoman | December 17, 2007Out the door - meaning one
I just submitted a revised version of a paper. Yay! Too bad that doesn't actually mean anything for my CV. But maybe I'll get an acceptance before I have to turn in my CV update for our annual review. This also means that I'll eventually take down my InaDWriMo badge. I need to decide what to put in its place. Any suggestions?
Out the door - meaning two
I'm going to be in the field tomorrow, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm excited about getting to see some new sites and get some collaborations going. Minnow is coming along on the first trip, so she adds a lot of hassle,…
sciencewoman | December 17, 2007The call for the next Scientiae carnival is out. The next edition will be ably hosted New Years day at hreidoplus.de by Jokerine. She'll need your posts by December 31st and is open to lots of ideas: "the last year in review...new years resoltuions....(woman in science) party trivia...how everything will be different next year (for women in science)..." So don't forget to submit.
Propter Doc has posted a new edition of the post-doc carnival. It's "Postdoc: The Musical." Check it out.
December 20th is the last day to submit a post for consideration in the 2008 Open Lab science blogging…
sciencewoman | December 17, 2007Mommy Monday is on holiday until January 7th.
Note that this is very different than Mommy being on vacation until January 7th. I don't think that Mommies actually get vacations. We will however be taking about 10 days to visit our parents.
Other posting will continue pretty much as usual at least until we leave for our trip.
sciencewoman | December 14, 2007Step 1. Spend all of your start-up money. Or not.
Step 2. Who needs lots of lab renovations? Just use a space last used by another department. Cabinets are cabinets after all. But be sure to call Health and Safety to dispose of any left-behind chemicals you find.
Step 3. Buy one large piece of lab equipment and some field equipment. Field equipment doesn't need anything more than storage space in your lab, so that simplifies set up substantially. The large piece of lab equipment will either come with a technician to get it set up or with very good instructions and support to get it working…
sciencewoman | December 14, 2007Via BitchPh.D. comes this story of a 7 year old who jumped in front of her mother's murderous ex-boyfriend to save her mother's life. The little girl was shot six times (and her mother twice) before the police finally showed up. Child and mama both miraculously survived, but they are going to need some help. Please go over to Bitch's, read the whole story, and see what your heart tells you.
sciencewoman | December 13, 2007Dear Administrator,
I know that everyone in this building lacks blinds on their office windows, and I realize that you have requested that blinds be installed. However, I have a particular need for blinds in my office and I hope you can forward my request to Facilities Services with some urgency.
In the current configuration of my office, the sun strikes my computer screen for several hours per day, making it very hard for me to read the screen. I would like to rearrange my office to mitigate this problem, but every single other arrangement leaves another problem in its place.
If I move my…
sciencewoman | December 12, 2007If I had the chance to do one thing over again in the whole job search process, I wouldn't hesitate a minute before making my decision of what to change.
I did a miserable job negotiating my start-up package. Actually, miserable may be too nice a word.
(Let's pause for a moment and put things in context: I had a baby. A month later the whole family flew across the country for an interview. I rocked the interview and I got all sorts of encouraging signs from the department. They told me that they would call within a few days. Weeks passed. About 7 if I recall, but who's counting. I didn't…
sciencewoman | December 11, 2007
Sheril Kirschenbaum and Chris Mooney at The Intersection are spearheading a push to get the candidates running for president to address issues of science and public policy. Their goal:
Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision making, and the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic growth and competitiveness, we call for a public debate in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of The Environment,…
sciencewoman | December 11, 2007I've got lots of posts planned in my head, waiting to be typed when I turn in my grades. The three hours of sleep I got last night are unfortunately hindering my ability to think straight and I made a bunch of errors on the scantron key, which is slowing down the whole process. I guess the good thing is that I wasn't the one writhing in stomach (?) pain last night, just the one dealing with it. I wonder what we ate.
/incoherency
sciencewoman | December 10, 2007I recently met with the chair of my department to discuss my course load and how to set things up so that I wasn't prepping 2 new courses every semester from here to infinity. The problem stems from the small size of our major and graduate programs, which means that a lot of courses will only sustain enrollments every other year.
He looked at my proposed schedule for the next 1.5 years and proclaimed it insane (well, not exactly those words but that was the gist). Since I was in total agreement with his diagnosis, we've come up with a plan that sounds a bit more reasonable. And the plan…
sciencewoman | December 10, 2007I think my colleagues are sometimes incredulous that I have lived in Mystery State for almost 5 months now and still have seen nothing of its natural environment.I haven't been to the Mountains or the Water. I haven't even been to State Just to the South, despite it being a mere 30 minutes away.
I'd love to go to Mountains, and I'd love to go to Water. I'd love to get out of metropolitan Mystery City for once. My hiking boots still have Northwest mud on them, for crying out loud. Not getting to know the land around me is affecting me personally (I'm having a hard time realizing that this…