sciencewoman | October 30, 2007Note: This piece was originally posted December 14, 2005, while I was a young grad student myself.Some modest advice for graduate students just got passed around our department (by a professor no less). I think Stearns has done an admirable job in being truthful about the realities of graduate school in the sciences. Much of what he states I've had to learn from experience. But I'd like to add a few points:
Good science takes time.
Either spend 60+ hour weeks for a few years or 40 hour weeks for a lot of years (or unfortunately, 60+ hour weeks for a lot of years). Plan on experiments, field…
sciencewoman | October 27, 2007Note: This was written January 30th, 2006.
I went on a class field trip on Saturday - we left town at 7 am and didn't get back until almost 8:30 pm. Generally it was a good trip. It met one of my basic requirements in that it wasn't just pile out of the vans, stand around and listen to the prof, then climb back in and head for the next stop. Instead, we actually made some measurements - looking at differences between canopied and open areas. I think it's really important to get students engaging with the field trip topic/site rather than just feeling like they are stuck in one long lecture.…
sciencewoman | October 26, 2007Finally, I've been tagged by Pharyngula's mutating genres meme. I haven't done a meme since moving to scienceblogs, and now I've been tagged with a sciencey one (sort of). I don't know why I am so excited, but I am! Thanks Addy N.
If you want to read the latest mutation, go below the fold.
First, the rules:
There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...".Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:
* You can leave them exactly as is…
sciencewoman | October 25, 2007Here at Mystery U, there are little signs in the labs that encourage us to conserve electricity, whereas when I worked in a lab in California, signs urged us to conserve water, and in the Northwest, I was encouraged to save trees by using fewer paper towels. These observations have gotten me wondering about regional and employer differences in conservation messages.
What I'm wondering is how easy is it for people to live out their environmental principles when they are at work and school? And do the messages we hear vary by where we are in the country or the world? (Is it soda or is it pop…
sciencewoman | October 24, 2007At some point. I AM working on my Scientiae submission (they're due Monday, and the theme is awesome.) I'll also try to schedule some re-posts for while I am gone.
But at the moment, I am a bit busy getting ready for the trip, writing exams, etc. Plus, the media have discovered that there is a local -ology crisis going on and the PR people on campus have discovered that there's a new assistant professor who's supposedly an expert on the subject.
sciencewoman | October 19, 2007I'd imagine you are probably all sick of hearing about the DonorsChoose challenge by now, but I'll admit that I'm a bit disappointed by the lack of response I've gotten from you guys. Sure we've raised almost $500, but all of that money has come from just 7 people, including me.
Feedburner says that this blog has 116 RSS subscribers. If each of those subscribers donated just $5 (less than two Starbucks drinks), we'd easily reach the goal and help dozens of students.
Apparently handprints from Minnow and the chance to win prizes from Seed aren't enough to entice you to donate, but maybe this…
sciencewoman | October 18, 2007Wow everyone! Thanks for all your suggestions on my last post. I thought I'd respond here, since my comments are plenty long enough.... I'll probably still miss some things though.
Re: pumping and breastfeeding. I am planning to nurse on the plane and during the conference proper. Unfortunately the first day I have an off-site field course for 10(!) hours. Hence the need to bring the frozen milk and pump that day. I'll probably end up tossing what I pump, but if I don't pump at least somewhat I'll be in serious pain. I've got a manual Avent pump for that purpose. Apparently, in addition to a…
sciencewoman | October 17, 2007In a moment of pure foolishness, I decided it would be a good idea to submit an abstract. This was way back in June and the conference was months away. Surely, things would be calm and under control by the time the conference came. Minnow would be sleeping through the night and I'd just pay a student to come along and babysit (turns out they have daycare on-site). It'd be fun. I missed the conference season last year, and this would be a great way to network and let people know my new affiliation. Besides there was a perfect session...
I don't know what I was thinking. But at the end of next…
sciencewoman | October 16, 2007Where we left our story, Minnow and I had arrived on campus for my 8 am lecture.
First, just a reminder that my child really is the most easy-going 8 month old in history.
I brought along her stroller, a sling, a few toys, and her diaper bag (all already in the car). I figured I'd put her in the sling during class, or if she wanted to get down and crawl around, that would be OK too. Secretly, I kind of hoped some student would volunteer to watch her and I'd gallantly refuse saying that her education was more important than my inconvenience. None did.
We arrive about 3 minutes before class,…
sciencewoman | October 16, 2007Very little can go wrong on Tuesday and Thursday mornings if I am going to be able to drop Minnow off at daycare and get to my lecture on time. Since Fish leaves for work at 5:30 am, the child waking, loving, tending, and delivering to daycare all fall on my shoulders. Which means that thorough preparation the night before is critical. And on nights when I am frantically writing the next day's lecture, it's Fish's job to wash out the dirty bottles and get things ready for the next day.
Last night (despite a reminder) he didn't do his job.
Minnow didn't sleep well and I couldn't have gotten…
sciencewoman | October 15, 2007
This weekend, Minnow, Fish, Princess Pup and I went for a hike. We didn't go far. Just enough that we got away from the city and to a spot where we could look out over a lake and see the trees turning colors on the far shore.
I've often seen environmental issues framed in terms of our responsibility to future generations. The idea is as old as the Iroquois: ""In every deliberation we must consider the impact on the seventh generation..." and it is the driving force behind the idea of sustainability. Basically, I like to think of it is as a long-period version of the golden rule: "do unto…
sciencewoman | October 14, 2007Profgrrrrl owes me a gift. I know it'll be cool. I wonder if it will be pink.
By the end of the calendar year, I will send a tangible, physical gift to each of the first five people to comment here. The catch? Each person must make the same offer on her/his blog.
I'd love to send you a little thank you for reading. So comment!
sciencewoman | October 14, 2007
Tomorrow's Mommy Monday post will have an environmental theme. Here's why:
This coming Monday, October 15th, many blogs will participate in the Environment-themed Blog Action Day.
On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone's mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.
Blog Action Day is about MASS participation. That means we need you! Here are 3 ways to participate:
* Post on your blog…
sciencewoman | October 13, 2007In case helping preschool special ed students by providing materials for science exploration isn't rewarding enough, the Scienceblogs overlords at Seed Media have made two really enticing offers.
First, Seed is matching the first $15,000 donated by scienceblogs readers during the challenge. I think we're really close, and your donation could put us over the top. Even if you only have $5 to donate, with Seed's match, you're really giving $10.
Second, it's not just about the altruism. There is something in it for you. Seed is giving prizes. details below the fold.
Donors can win:
⢠1 fresh,…
sciencewoman | October 12, 2007I am so pleased that the thousands of scientists who have contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are being recognized for the work with the Nobel Peace Prize. And Al Gore is not a bad guy either.
Hearing the news on the radio this morning made my day.
sciencewoman | October 12, 2007This morning I slept in...to the ridiculously late hour of 7 am. Then Minnow woke up and our day got underway. As a result of my laziness and Fish's work schedule, I had to get ready for my day while wrangling a wiggly Minnow. This is actually pretty typical, at least two days a week I fail to get up before she does.
But this morning I faced a new obstacle. I've baby proofed our bathroom and I let Minnow crawl around and play while I take a very quick shower. Usually, she spends a little bit of time banging on the shower door but spends most of her time looking for trouble.
This morning…
sciencewoman | October 11, 2007I'm almost done grading a massive mound of papers by my freshman. There's the usual assortment of dismal writing, hilarious colloquialisms, and insight. It's been an exhausting task (minnow's teething hasn't helped), but also a useful one, because the papers have exposed the continuing misconceptions my students have about -ology.
The assignment was to select a recent news article that was relevant to -ology, summarize it, and analyze it. Specifically, I wanted them to put the article in context, offer an opinion on the topic, and assess the credibility of the piece. Most students had no…
sciencewoman | October 9, 2007By popular request, Minnow once again graces my banner. Click on over from your feeds and take a look.
sciencewoman | October 8, 2007Wow! I originally picked five projects to include in my DonorsChoose challenge, and within a few days, one of the projects was fully funded thanks to my readers and other donors around the country. As of right now, four of the six projects currently in my challenge have been fully funded, and I'm going to have to pick some more projects to tickle your generous impulses.
Let me share with you the feedback I've gotten from teachers whose challenges I donated to:
Pond Biology: a universe in a drop of water is now becoming a reality for the students of Mr. Enguidanos, who wrote you this note:…
sciencewoman | October 8, 2007I'm writing this on Sunday night, at the end of a really fun weekend. Saturday we spent the morning browsing our neighborhood tag sales, and in the afternoon we explored the natural foods store and bought Minnow a bigger car seat at Target. For the evening, we hired a babysitter, so that Fish and I could go out and celebrate Fish's birthday by playing trivia at a local bar. Today was a great family outing; we explored backroads until we found a u-pick pumpkin farm with a hayride and corn maze. Afterwards, Minnow and I played with Fish watched football napped.
Why I am telling you what we did…