Planet Earth

NaBloPoMo Prompt from Thursday, November 1, 2012
Tell us your favourite quotation and why. 

“We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and, I will say, the love we give our fragile craft.”  –Adlai E. Stevenson, 1964 

Maybe not my favorite quote (who has just one?), but I've always loved this quote and the idea behind it. I love how it links space exploration (which includes seeing the Earth from outside for the first time when the first Earth-observing satellites were launched and peopled-space missions began in the 1960s) to environmentalism. The idea that stepping away from the Earth makes one realize how fragile, precious, and unique it is.

I have the occasion to use this quote in class soon (it's actually in the textbook) and it reminds me of learning about the environmental movement when I was in college (20+ years ago!)  I wonder if it will strike the same chord with the students- or maybe they've already learned about the "Spaceship Earth" in other classes and won't really think about it. Either way, I've enjoyed re-learning and remembering things from classes I took myself.

Failure

I was at a PhD oral exam this morning and the student failed. For the second time.  It's not clear what happens now, but s/he will not be getting a PhD in that program.

I have not served on many PhD committees, because my department does not offer them. I am on several committees in related disciplines, but few of them have gotten this far in the process (a few students dropped out before this stage) and the other one that is further along than this went well.  I would have been okay with passing him/her on my part of the exam, but a few other committee members felt the s/he did not even work to learn the follow-up material for theirs (and I agree).

I feel just terrible about the whole thing and keep wondering what went wrong- should the advisor have held back on the oral exam when the written exams were not stellar? (I think so!) Should this re-take have been postponed to allow more time for the student to prepare? It's not clear. We did not have the student come back in afterwards, but I saw him/her with her/his advisor afterward and gave her/him a hug (I'm the only woman on the committee, by the way). I told her/him to come and see me soon. I want to encourage this student to apply to another PhD program (maybe in my field instead), because s/he is smart and I think s/he could do it. But today is just NOT his/her day. 

Career meme & LOTS of data (updated)

As seen everywhere:

1. Cartographer

2. GIS Specialist

3. Computer Trainer

4. Personal Trainer

5. Environmental Consultant

6. Animal Trainer

7. Paleontologist

8. Professional Athlete

9. Print Journalist

10. Market Research Analyst

11. Writer

12. Translator

13. Kinesiologist

14. Political Aide

15. Activist

16. Veterinarian

17. Critic

18. Marine Biologist

19. Oceanographer

20. Zoologist

21. Communications Specialist

22. Zookeeper

23. Public Policy Analyst

24. Mathematician

25. Corporate Trainer

26. Public Relations Specialist

27. Horticulturist

28. Foreign Language Instructor

29. ESL Teacher

30. Botanist

31. Animal Breeder

32. Fitness Instructor

33. Actuary

34. Meteorologist

35. Biologist

36. Technical Writer

37. Ecologist

38. Criminologist

39. Nursery / Greenhouse Grower

40. Tour Guide

Some of these struck me as quite odd and I wonder which question pointed the program that way- animal trainer? zoo keeper? fitness instructor? Most of the "ists" and science jobs sound pretty reasonable, though. Before I went in and added education level, I also had housekeeper in my list!

In other news, I have taken over some tasks from my grad student because we are working with some data that requires a new software package. S/he has plenty of other things to keep busy for the project, though. I also decided that I needed to download mass quantities of other data and process them in ways that is really taxing my home computer (but I really don't want to go do it at school, since it requires lots of waiting). I queued up four processes to run overnight and only two have finished! I quadrupled my computer's memory yesterday (I only had 1 GB!) However, that doesn't change the processing speed- it just means that my computer won't crash when I have too many programs running at once. I have been doing other things while it runs, like grading and class stuff. sigh.

ETA: I'm at school now checking to see if my *new* Windows Vista machine can process these damn data faster... I'll let you know

More reflections on *the* grant

I hope that am not making my blog boring by only talking about this grant, but I am still coming to terms with what this all actually means. H doesn't think that I am acting nearly excited enough about it. He keeps calling me the "new star of the department", although only a few people have heard the news so far. I am starting to realize that it is even more significant than I first thought, too. My collaborator (who just made full professor) has had a grant from the same program, but never for this much money (almost $400K). Another colleague who has had several grants has also never had one for this much money. I was shocked to hear this and assumed that they routinely received grants in the half million range, but apparently I was mistaken. Of course, the kind of research I do requires more money, so that is probably the biggest factor in the dollar amount.

I had a phone conversation with my collaborator yesterday and he told me that we need to make this project a priority and not expend a lot of time and effort pursuing other projects for the next few years. Once he said that, I knew he was right, but I hadn't really thought of it that way. Now I really need to finish this paper and get it submitted before the grant officially kicks in.

I've been through the grant proposal process MANY times in the last five years, so I am familiar with the procedures and paperwork. All of the procedures and paperwork for an award are new to me. I'm glad my colleague is the PI and has already dealt with the forms and bureaucracy of this agency! We're also scrambling to revise our budget since they didn't award the entire amount we requested (although it's 95% of what we asked for).

A colleague (who is on the P&T committee) shook my hand and said that I had guaranteed myself tenure. Really? I guess it would be ridiculous of them to dump me after I've gotten a big grant (which isn't even required for tenure in my non-PhD department), but I never really thought of it that way.

The other side of all this is that this also puts a LOT of pressure on me. I am in charge of significant parts of the project, I need to recruit a graduate student, purchase large quantities of expensive data, carry out the research, and get published. I am excited about this and don't feel that I've gotten in over my head, but I am also a bit freaked out about it. I should have lots of blog-fodder for the next few years as I struggle through all of this. It should be great- I am excited about the research and I'm going to be working with some great people.

I think I should go update my CV for my web page!

I'm feeling the love

Thanks to everyone for the congratulations on my totally gratuitous post below. I am feeling so pleased about the grant being funded that I want to stand on the roof and yell about it. All the nay-sayers who thought it was a waste to spend time working on proposals can just shut up, now. Of course, I'm sure that someone will think that I am just riding my colleague's coattails (which I am not, but you know how some people will criticize anything). I also wish that I could tell those Mountain U people that I would have brought three years worth of RA funding with me- damn them! We have to cut our budget (of course) and I'm reluctant to give up any summer salary (it's very little to begin with), because I need the money! Hopefully, we can trim elsewhere.

Another awesome thing about this grant is the way H is so proud of me, too. I really need to appreciate him more sometimes- he is never jealous or threatened when I succeed- he's just proud and excited for me. I'm sure there are plenty of spouses out there who would not be that way- he's just the best.

OK, I"m off to continue my laziness. I need to work on the paper tomorrow and figure out how to trim this budget! Thanks again, everyone.

Hooray for me!

After all of my rejections, I am finally co-PI on a federally funded grant! I just got the news from my collaborator. This could not have come at a better time either, with my tenure package going up for review in the fall. I think I'm in shock. I'll be having a beer or two tonight to celebrate! I'm so excited!

Summer Research Question...

To all you big grant-getters out there, I have a question. If you have one month summer salary for a project, how much of your actual time do you think should be devoted to said project? I realize in many cases, the time is just an estimate and you work on it as much as required, but if you were collaborating in a consulting sort of context (but NOT budgeted in an hourly way), would you consider it worth four weeks of full time work (160 hours?) or half time? or would you figure it another way? Please post your interpretations and experiences in the comments.

Thanks!

Writing

I have such a hard time starting new papers. At this stage in my career, I have published several papers, but not so many that the first pages just roll off of my fingers into the keyboard. I really enjoyed reading about Chaser's process and hope to use some of her techniques in my own writing.

One thing I have always done is start with an outline. For me this is usually quite straightforward: Intro, Background, Study Area & Methods, Results & Discussion, Conclusions. There are often minor variations, but this is the general structure. Once I have that skeleton, I start filling in the sections, which later can be adjusted and modified. It's always nice if I have a proposal that I wrote before doing the work (to "borrow" from), but given my luck with external funding, I don't always have that. For my current paper, I am writing up the second part of some research that I've already had published (the first part of the work has been published). I had a proposal to help start writing the first paper, but I can't go back and "double dip" from that one.

So yesterday I started with the very general skeleton and started writing sections and outlining further details within others. During this process I remembered how I have such a hard time writing the introduction. A lot of my work is in the same specific topical area and I struggle with writing different introductions to the topic. I find that the methods are easiest- it's just recounting what I've done (which I always record in a notebook or journal) and explaining why I used a particular methodology. I also struggle with the background- am I including enough references to previous work? Maybe I'm missing an important paper? How long should this section be? I refer to the target journal for guidance, but never feel I have a good sense on my own.

Maybe these struggles are typical, but I find thinking about them and writing about it helps me understand where I get hung up. I see many people tracking word counts on their blogs and like that as a way to monitor progress (at least by counting words). I wrote about 600 words yesterday and I'd like to write at least that much today. Another problem I have with writing is that I tend to do research in "spurts" because my time is so occupied by teaching during the semester. Now that it's summer, I am trying to be consistent and write at least something every day. Wish me luck...

Can this man please be fired?

I hope you have all seen the great things coming from NASA today...

Job Watch (aka Job Torture)

I'm driving myself crazy. I haven't hear anything from Mountain U, so I am (of course) assuming the worst. They didn't give me any specific time table, other than when the search committee was meeting (last week) and that they wanted to speed things along, because it's so late in the semester. I figured that I would have heard by now, but I have no idea how their bureaucracy (time required in the dean's office for approval of hires) operates there. So, I know nothing, but I am assuming it's over (because this is how I operate).

Sigh.

I am also having quite a low-key conference trip. Since I am by myself and none of my friends from this subdiscipline are here this year (damn, them!), I have been eating more room service than I would prefer. I have also met some people (which is nice) and gone to the social gatherings alone (but run into some new acquaintances). I will probably do another post on the conference for the scientiae carnival, since this a technology-oriented conference and probably has a 10:1 ratio of men to women (if I was a single grad student, I would be set!) This is typical for this subdiscipline, but still odd to see so few women here. I'm off to the afternoon sessions in a few minutes. I skipped this morning and took a long-ish walk instead (almost 3 miles). It was good to get some exercise, but I think I will be sleepy for the afternoon talks, now.

Doomed to Small College Town?

As the semester's end draws near*, I feel a bit like reflecting on the academic year. I go up for tenure in the fall** and should be in good shape, but I still need to develop my list of external reviewers and revise my dossier in the next couple of months. As I approach this process, I have mixed feelings about some things. Do I want to spend the rest of my career here? The thought of being tenured is VERY appealing, but do I want to spend the next 20 years or so with these people? In this town? There are certainly worse things, but it's also not anything that I am excited about.

I sometimes wonder if I have a 5-year itch. I haven't lived in any one place for more than 5 years since I moved from my first home town at age 10. I lived in Junior High Midwest Suburb for 2.5 years, then 5 years in West Coast High School Suburb Place, then 4.5 years at Party School College Town, 4 years in Master's City, 2.5 years in PhD City, 2.5 years in LD-Diss Town, and now I've been in Small College Town for almost 5 years. Would I feel the same way about any place I had gotten a tenure-track job? I sometimes wonder. But, I also think that I wouldn't mind the annoying things about my job (as much) if we lived somewhere we really liked (like near my family or somewhere with great weather). Maybe we would still be fed up- I don't know. Of course, there is always the possibility of NOT getting tenure and having to leave. Would Small College Town look better if I couldn't stay?

There are actually some pretty good things going on for next fall here. I get a course release to do some research with a grad student who I already know and is hard-working. There are students interested in taking my upper-level classes in the fall. There's a good chance that I will get a smallish grant with a colleague I work well with. There are also still the annoying things & department politics.

So is it just the 5-year itch or am I really dissatisfied?

scientiae carnival

*We actually have 4 more weeks, but I will be gone for two of them AND it's so warm outside it feels like it's almost summer!
**Unless another job pans out, which is unlikely but not totally out of the realm of possibility.

Some Art Saturday

In honor of the IPCC Report released yesterday, I wanted to post this photo for Some Art Saturday. Some of the early photos of the Earth as seen from space were catalysts of the modern environmental movement (spaceship earth). Everything we've ever known in our lives, in the lives of our ancestors, and our cultures is contained within that small blue spheroid surrounded by the blackness of space. Seeing the Earth from this perspective it's easy to realize how precious our natural resources really are and how we are in big trouble. Government leaders around the world (especially the current U.S. president) need to consider that we are just residents of this planet and that no amount of money is worth the consequences of human-induced climate change.

click on the image to view a larger version

and just think about it for a minute

Earthrise
Apollo 8 Astronaut, 1968
from NASA Multimedia

Global Climate Change

A friend of mine e-mailed to ask for website suggestions for someone she knows that thinks global warming is just hype and isn't about to watch Al Gore's movie. Here is what I sent her:

Hi K:
Don't you love people who think that global warming is a political agenda? You might let her know that it's ONLY in the U.S. that global warming is seen as political. Here are a few sites that I know of:

BBC News In Depth
There are links to lots of environmental problems including these on climate change:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/sci_nat/04/climate_change/html/climate.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/sci_nat_how_the_world_is_changing/html/1.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2004/planet/default.stm#

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
A group of hundreds of scientists from all over the world, their latest report comes out this Friday

Union of Concerned Scientists
"... the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world."

Climate Hot Map
Early signs of global warming

2100: A World of Wild Weather
Recent article in New Scientist.

RealClimate
"Climate Science from Climate Scientists" (science blog)

The HBO documentary "Too Hot Not To Handle " is also excellent- I show it in class. Have you seen it? They interview climate scientists and talk about impacts of climate change on the U.S., specifically. Here is their list of links (some may be too political for your friend).

Those are the main ones I know- there is plenty of information out there. I don't get people who think it's all a liberal hoax- to what end? Good luck convincing her!

Tech Tags: climate change science

Doomsday

Well, looks like there's just good news all around.

cheers.

climate change is the 'new' evolution?

Please- see this blog post and the news story it discusses...