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Tag Archives: academia
Is Wikipedia anti-intellectual? Compare athletes to academics and the answer is yes.
Recently some of my students have been writing biographies of scientists for Wikipedia. They wrote one for a research scientist who made a discovery so major she was on the phone with reporters for a week. The discovery was that … Continue reading
Why hard money is better than soft money – what are they anyway?
You might think that hard money is more difficult to get than soft money. But anyway, isn’t money just money? What are these terms in academia? Actually, it is quite simple. The terms are usually used for funding of salaries. … Continue reading
Posted in Managing an academic career
Tagged academia, hard money, job titles, soft money, start up
1 Comment
Quick tip for picking a great graduate program: look to the postdocs!
What if there is one simple way of assessing a program, something that is flexible, responds rapidly to increasing and decreasing quality, something that applies to the whole place but can also be used to understand one potential investigator over … Continue reading
Posted in Graduate school, Postdocs
Tagged academia, excellence, grad school, postdocs, Research, university rankings
2 Comments
Bring on your questions! I’ll answer.
Some of my readers in ticklish academic dilemmas have emailed me with questions. I answer these questions, privately first, and sometimes I then address the topic with a general blog on it. I do this later and without giving any … Continue reading
Is tenure failure a social failure, not an individual failure?
A great piece by Cin-Ty Lee in his blog, Down to earth questions, makes the wise point that tenure denied is a problem from many levels other than the individual. It could be a hiring problem, a mentoring problem, an … Continue reading
Posted in Tenure
Tagged academia, mentoring, Rice University, tenure, Washington University in St. Louis
1 Comment
Don’t say “that’s a good question” after your seminar!
A good presentation will have questions afterwards. All too often, the speaker answers by saying “That is a great question,” or something like that. It may seem like you are congratulating the brave questioner for their brilliance, so you may … Continue reading
Guest post on the tenure talk by Liz Haswell
The Unique Nature of the Tenure Talk Here is Liz Haswell‘s take on talking for tenure. The Tenure Talk. If your department has these, you’ve known it’s on the horizon for years—but it can be terrifying once you actually start … Continue reading
Posted in Life in a biology department, Seminars, Tenure
Tagged academia, Biology, communication, force, Liz Haswell, molecular biologists, plants, Research, seminar, tenure
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Women, did you hear biology professor is the most glorious career I can imagine?
I just want to cry when I hear how discouraged women are from pursuing science careers. I want to do more than cry when I hear about how little encouragement professors give even their most promising women. Why do we … Continue reading
Can a professor be a mom?
Guess what? It is normal to have children. They are one of life’s greatest joys. I cannot imagine life without my three wonderful children. There is tons written about the challenges of being a professor with children, but I think … Continue reading
Posted in Professors with families
Tagged academia, children, Family, Mother, motherhood, Parent, Work–life balance
4 Comments
The successful professor of science
In the business world, technician, project manager and program manager are different jobs, but in academia, the successful career has elements of all three, particularly for scientists and engineers. What exactly are these jobs? The woman I sat next to … Continue reading
Sociobiology 