reflection
We've reached the end of the semester and the end of my first year on the tenure-track. I've been thinking a lot lately about how different this school year feels than last, and where those differences come from. The obvious difference is that last year I
interactions
It's that time of year: I've received last semester's student evaluations, and, as always, it's a mix. Early in grad school I got both "She's the best!" and "She's the worst!" in a single
scientists
Chemists are trained to use lab notebooks, whether paper or digital, to record their observations, measurements and preliminary conclusions. Good lab notebooks include not just what you tried, but why you tried it and even what expectations you had for the outcome. Lab notebooks are a record; reading over previous
womenInScience
Geoff Marcy recently resigned from Berkeley after word got out that he’d been a serial sexual harasser of women in astronomy, that a Berkeley investigation concluded he had violated campus conduct policies, that the university had barely even slapped his wrist for it, and that the women in astrophysics
reflection
I haven’t posted here in a while. I’ve written, but I haven’t shared much, and the reasons why have a lot to do with Impostor Syndrome. I am very good at convincing myself that everyone else knows what I know. This line of (faulty) reasoning leads me
education
A love letter to my freshmen. These kids today, man. They're the best. They're thoughtful, enthusiastic, full of dreams and passion. These kids have plans. They want to help people. They want to go to med school, get a job, have a family, retire rich and
reflection
I didn't appreciate syllabi when I was a college student. Professors handed out papers of dates and requirements, which they read to us. We stuffed those papers into folders, tucked them in the end pages of our notebooks, or just dropped them in the circular file. Before college
culture
Back in February when I posted some thoughts from the fall about clothes and professionalism, someone left an anonymous comment that I chewed on for several weeks. I think it's worth replying to in full, but I didn't take the opportunity before. Now that the semester&
scientists
Reset your "days since a sexism-in-science incident" counters to zero. A Nobel laureate dug himself a pretty deep and boggy hole when, among other things, he explained why he thought men and women shouldn't be in labs together. Apparently, the womenz are just too irresistible and
gradLife
This time last year, I was a newly-minted PhD, still revising my dissertation. I had just accepted my job at Briggs, and I was preparing for a conference, a vacation, and a new routine. I don't remember much of my defense. My parents came to see it, even
culture
I want to tell you a story about pipettes, specifically micropipette tips, and how a few boxes of pipette tips made me feel like an outsider. This story begins more than a decade ago, in a grocery store. It’s an odd place to start a story about pipette tips,
education
My mother is an elementary school teacher. She chose that career path at approximately the age of 12 when writing an essay about what she wanted to be when she grew up. And she stuck to it. She's a Master Teacher, an expert in elementary education with extensive