Academia
clock | August 3, 2006 I wrote this on March 03, 2005 on Science And Politics and reposted it on December 10, 2005 on The Magic School Bus. The title says it all...
I guess it is the time of year when college professors get their student evaluations back and, of course, some of those who blog have written about their experiences. For instance Bitch PhD cites some really hillarious ones, but concludes with this:
IMHO, while evaluations are important, one down side is that
they can and do encourage this kind of "customer service" attitude towards the
professoriate--an attitude that I think is inimical to really…
clock | August 3, 2006
Being out of the lab, out of science, and out of funding for a while also means that I have not been at a scientific conference for a few years now, not even my favourite meeting of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms. I have missed the last two meetings (and I really miss them - they are a blast!).
But it is funny how, many years later, one still remembers some posters from poster sessions. What makes a poster so memorable?
I guess it has something to do with one's interests - there is just not enough time during a session to check out every single one out of hundreds (or…
drorzel | August 2, 2006Continuing the recent "careers in science" theme, Inside Higher Ed has a story about what people with science degrees do with their lives, based on a new NSF report. From the Inside Higher Ed piece:
Many science and engineering degree recipients continue to get use from their undergraduate studies even years after they've graduated, and even if they've switched disciplines.
According to a report from the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resource Statistics, in 2003, two-thirds of workers whose highest degree was a bachelor's in a science or engineering field reported that…
jstemwedel | August 2, 2006Another dispatch from the BCCE:
The Journal of Chemical Education (or J Chem Ed, as we call it in the biz), is, in fact, targeted to an audience of chemical educators. Its website has the online version of the journal, plus some resources for teachers of chemistry at the ChemEd Resource Shelf. If the full array is too overwhelming, you can check out Hal's Picks monthly recommendations for what to read. You may be surprised at how many of the picks are not officially chemistry (or even science) books, but each of them has some interesting, useful, or funny connection to matters scientific.…
jstemwedel | August 1, 2006It was another full day at the BCCE, starting with an excellent plenary address by Peter Atkins (who wrote my p-chem text, plus dozens of other books) and David Harpp (of the Office of Science and Society). Each of them spoke about the best ways to talk about science with people who are not scientists, science teachers, or science students. Some highlights after the jump.
Atkins, it turns out, is not just a scientist and author, but also an accomplished artist. So, it's probably not surprising that he sees the most promising route for spreading chemical understanding as a visual route. A…
neurotopia | August 1, 2006Argh. Why the hell am I doing this? What makes me think I'll even get this damn grant? Like Shelley, I'm in NRSA-scramble mode right now. The deadline is August 5th. This is wasted effort. I could be posting juicy research tidbits on SEED but nooooo, I have to try and procure funding.
I hate this process. HATE it. I know they're supposed to be impartial, but there's no way they're going to fund me when I already have intramural support for up to 5 years. But I have to play the game. Someday they'll hit me with their Catch-22: why didn't you receive merit-based funding? If I say I…
drorzel | August 1, 2006The previous post reminded me of something I had marked as interesting: Technorati led me to ChemJerk, who pointed in turn to the Princton Review's list of Most Popular College Majors. In reverse order, with the top five below the fold, we have:
10) Political Science
9) Computer Science
8) Communications
7) English
6) Education
5) Nursing
4) Biology
3) Elementary Education
2) Psychology
1) Business Administration and Management
A lot of these aren't terribly surprising. "Biology" is probably a proxy for "pre-med," which usually isn't an official major, and English and Political Science are…
clock | August 1, 2006The Teaching Carnival is on summer break, but the school is going to start soon, so start tagging your posts with the 'teaching-carnival' tags and check out the Fall lineup of hosts. The next edition, exatly one month from today, will be on WorkBook.
jstemwedel | July 31, 2006I'm blogging again from the lovely Vienna Cafe in West Lafayette, Indiana, at the end of Day 2 of the BCCE. I gave my own talk this afternoon as part of symposium session on incorporating ethics in the chemistry curriculum (along with 5 other very interesting talks). I think it went well, but I always enjoy conferences more when I've finished my presenting and can be an undistracted audience for the other presentations.
Below the fold, some of the things I learned in today's various talks and events:
People who do their research in chemical education are often marginalized or ignored by…
drorzel | July 31, 2006The academia and family life discussion continues on ScienceBlogs and elsewhere, and continues to be fascinating (at least if you're fascinated by this stuff...). The Female Science Professor has two more posts on the topic since I last linked her, one on awkward interview questions (though nothing to compare to this anecdote), and another on kids and tenure. Between those, there's a post on changing jobs in academia that's also worth a look.
Elsewhere, Mary at View From the Corner (who has an RSS feed now, yay) talks about the evolution of her view of the professoriate:
I don't think…
jstemwedel | July 30, 2006Judging from some of the comments on my latest post about the Tonegawa/Karpova kerfuffle, it's clear that there is not consensus about precisely what relationship a scientist should pursue (or avoid pursuing) with another scientist working on similar research. Part of the disagreement may come down to a difference of opinion about how important it is for scientists to share knowledge relative to protecting their own interests in the hyper-competitive world of academic science. Another part of the disagreement may come down to standards of similarity (i.e., when can we say that project X and…
drorzel | July 30, 2006Miscellaneous stories that caught my eye in today's New York Times:
First, on the science sdie of things, a long article about how people are living longer, not to mention bigger and healthier, than their ancestors. It compares medical records for Civil War veterans with people of similar age today, and finds amazing reductions in all manner of health problems. This is attributed to better pre-natal and early-childhood nutrition and medical care.
I hope this is on the radar for the various medical types here at ScienceBlogs, as I'd love to hear the opinions of real live doctors on this. It…
jstemwedel | July 28, 2006Three Bulls is on top of this, but I want to add a few comments of my own (as is my habit).
The story about Susumu Tonegawa sinking MIT's attempt to hire Alla Karpova is not over yet. Sure, the Boston Globe (and the MIT News Office) report that MIT has formed a committee to try to get its neuroscientists to collaborate with each other better. But it looks like they've got their work cut out for them, judging by the email exchange between Tonegawa and Karpova, obtained by the Globe.
On the surface, the emails sound respectful, maybe even friendly. But, anyone who's been in the snakepit that…
catdynamics | July 28, 2006So, I never answered the original question: Why do scientists work hard?
Because we like it.
Science is fun. You get caught up doing it, you can't help yourself.
And there is so much to do.
only bad thing is they make you wear hairnets while analysing crashed flying saucers...
see, this is why Brian May had to leave astronomy for music. Hairnet wouldn't work.
70s were a very difficult decade.
drorzel | July 28, 2006For those following the discussion about having a career and a life, referenced in this post, there have been some interesting additions in recent days. Janet Stemwedel added a post clarifying some terms, and Rob Knop offers his own thoughts, and points out that academics aren't the only ones struggling to have a life and a career:
There has been some cultural awareness about the destructiveness of the career/life dichotomy in the business world for some time. I don't know if things have gotten any better, but it has long been a Holywood cliche that the executive has lost his soul because he…
drorzel | July 28, 2006I've linked to Inside Higher Ed almost every day this week, so why stop now? Today's Views section features Terry Caesar being outraged over RateMyProfessors.com (which he refers to in BLOCK CAPS throughout). Among the many sins of the site, he includes this paragraph:
In fact, students at RATE don't even have to be students! I know of one professor who was so angered at a comment made by one of her students that she took out a fake account, wrote a more favorable comment about herself, and then added more praise to the comments about two of her colleagues. How many other professors do this?…
clock | July 27, 2006In an interview in Time magazine, Morgan Spurlock said, among else (and you should go and read the "else"):
We've started to make science and empirical evidence not nearly as important as punditry--people wusing p.r.-speak to push a corporate or political agenda. I think we need to turn scientists back into the rock stars they are.
Chris brought this quote to the bloggers' attention and Shelley was the first to respond:
I find this quote so refreshing (not just because it places us scientists up on a lofty pedestal), because it validates scientific authority figures as someone worth listening…
retrospectacle | July 27, 2006Adventures in Science and Ethics raised an interesting question today: How are graduate student getting their education funded? When I was first interviewing at graduate programs, I was astounded at the variability in their offered "recruitment package." It often had very little to do with prestige of the university, cost of living in the city, etc. But all of them offered something on which to live, tuition paid for, and health insurance. I feel quite comfortable on the stipend that Univ. of Michigan gives me (~$25k) and cost of living in Ann Arbor isn't so bad. My only complaint is no…
catdynamics | July 27, 2006A sergeant in the rangers, on patrol in Afghanistan works hard;
so do nurses, deep sea fishermen, coal miners, sole proprietor restaurant startups.
They guys who painted my house this summer worked outside, 10 hour days, physical labour at half my pay. They worked hard.
I've worked hard.
In the overall scheme of things, science is not hard work.
But, there were days this summer when I'd come home, having done nothing but thinking and tinkering with equations, and little bit of paperwork, but I would be more tired, and far more frustrated, than the guys who'd been working non-stop in 90 degree…
jstemwedel | July 27, 2006Bitch Ph.D. links an interesting op-ed piece in the Washington Post about the challenges of being a single parent and paying for grad school. Given the academia/parenting discussion we've been having here, I figured this was another relevant issue to consider.
I've mentioned before that the standard practice in science Ph.D. programs in the U.S. seems to be that students get tuition plus a stipend that, depending on the local cost of living, ranges from barely-adequate to almost-comfortable. There are also a good number of U.S. Ph.D. programs in the humanities and social sciences that offer…