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Category Archives: Social interactions
Wissenschaftskolleg: It’s not just time to write, it is connections with fabulous novelists, thoughtful former politicians, historians, and scientists
Ever since I got to the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, I have been trying to understand what I can offer it and what it can offer me. This is the script: I come here for 10 months, take no more than … Continue reading
Posted in Managing an academic career, New ideas, Sabbatical, Social interactions
Tagged culture, discovery, paradox, Wiko, Wissenschaftskolleg
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What is your anxiety telling you?
Megan Duffy had a thoughtful post on not inducing anxiety in others. She mentioned the specific case of reducing anxiety in others by being really clear. Instead of saying something like meet me Thursday, say why. I agree that getting … Continue reading
Posted in Managing an academic career, Mentoring, Social interactions, Undergraduates
Tagged anxiety, career choices, clarity, kindness, self honesty
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Are women allowed to joke?
Is it true that a good measure of how well you know a foreign language is that you get the humor? If so, I failed German a decade or so ago when the Lufthansa agent in Frankfort very dryly told … Continue reading
Posted in Life in a biology department, Managing an academic career, Politics, Social interactions
Tagged culture, feminism, humor, jokes, ostracism, scarcasm
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Do you celebrate a paper submission with cognac?
There are celebrations for milestones of various kinds. In Japan I hear turning 60 is a big deal. Birthdays, graduations, even publishing can be celebrated. But why not celebrate something that is under your control? How about cheering when you … Continue reading
Why I didn’t answer your email
Do you know that personality characterization called OCEAN, openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism? It is supposedly much more supported by research than the simple extraversion-introversion espoused by that Quiet book, and is not as random as the Myers Briggs … Continue reading
Posted in Managing an academic career, Organization of a scientist, Social interactions
Tagged Agreeableness, Big Five personality traits, communication, Conscientiousness, email, Extraversion and introversion, Myers Briggs, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Neuroticism, Personality test, professors, tasks
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Why you shouldn’t hire your colleague’s child, or be asked to do so
The whole reason we do experiments blind, have rules against nepotism, and worry about inadvertent bias is that we are humans and these things go with the species, no matter how fair we try to be. Even though there has … Continue reading
Posted in Department politics, Ethics, Social interactions, Tenure
Tagged conflict of interest, high school, nepotism, summer job, tenure
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Is co-authorship a cynical strategy?
What if you found a partner you trusted and simply put your name on all of each other’s publications, asked a friend at the Evolution meeting in Snowbird. You would come close to doubling your reputation without doing any extra … Continue reading
Posted in Collaboration, Managing an academic career, Social interactions, Uncategorized
Tagged Author, collaboration, evolution
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Check list for a professor’s retirement symposium
You will do few things more important in your academic career than organize a symposium for your retiring professor, or at least that is how I think of it. The point of this entry is to make it easier for … Continue reading
How to throw a retirement party for 65 people at home for well under $500
Why do so many people cater their parties? They end up with soggy food that should be hot but is tepid and is certainly overcooked and overpriced. It just isn’t that hard to have a great party at home … Continue reading
Posted in Celebrations, Social interactions
Tagged Alan Templeton, home cooking, parties, retirement
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Dividing the bill for dinner at scientific meetings
Did you notice the pained face of the young graduate student when she realized she would be subsidizing that fried calamari, rib eye, 4 beers, and dessert that the professor across the table just enjoyed? She had ordered carefully, deciding … Continue reading
Sociobiology 