Tag Archives: evolutionary biology

Gulbenkian in Portugal, best Ph.D. program ever?

What about a program that is interdisciplinary and means it, including various things close to evolutionary biology, and also history of the field? It brings in a tiny class of 15 people or so from around the world to a … Continue reading

Posted in Graduate school, Undergraduates | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How to change an organization, a department, a curriculum

Whatever field you are in, there will be organizations with structure and rules. In academics, departments have committees, undergraduates have a required curriculum, graduate students have their courses, exams, and theses. Sometimes these structures are very well known and standard … Continue reading

Posted in Department politics, Life in a biology department, Politics, Undergraduates | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How do you get the word out about a new job?

If you read this you probably already know we have an open position at Wash U in evolutionary biology. I hope you forwarded it to worthy candidates and to others that know such people. I suppose the form that forwarding … Continue reading

Posted in behavioral ecology, Jobs, New assistant professor | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

You will be judged; your large team research grant will be reviewed

Once I was involved in deciding who would get an important mentoring prize. One of the candidates was from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He had many students supporting his nomination. They pointed out how empathetic he … Continue reading

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How to solve hard, important research problems

People keep talking about low hanging fruit, but the low hanging tomatoes in my garden are the first to rot. Maybe other people can find easy and amazing things to study. I don’t think there is much hope for that. … Continue reading

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