Tag Archives: questions

Should you ask that question? Thoughts from NSF

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Joan E. Strassmann

I’m at the Advisory Committee for the Biology Directorate of the National Science Foundation. We have just had a powerful talk by Jim Olds Assistant Director of Biological Sciences on biology generally. (Assistant Director is Director as far as I … Continue reading →

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Don’t say “that’s a good question” after your seminar!

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Joan E. Strassmann

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 →

Posted in Seminars, Talks | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

How to get scientists to talk to each other

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Joan E. Strassmann

How often have you been at a small meeting and only found out on the last day how charming and interesting someone was? You meant to talk to them earlier, but somehow the moment never arose. There was a formal … Continue reading →

Posted in New ideas, Presentations and seminars, Scientific meetings, Social interactions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Follow up and new topic questions after seminars

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Joan E. Strassmann

Few things are as deflating as pouring your soul into a talk, then having no questions at the end as your audience scrambles to escape. At some level, it might be your fault. Perhaps you left too little time for … Continue reading →

Posted in Seminars | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Do you have your list of things you are interested in?

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Joan E. Strassmann

One of the things my creativity course emphasizes is paying attention to other people and what they are thinking about, or what they might think about various ideas. One person that is worth paying attention to is Cin-Ty Lee. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Managing an academic career, New ideas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Asking the right questions

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Joan E. Strassmann

We professors are creative a lot less of the time than we might think we are. We must drive the education scholars crazy because we so often teach in the same old tired ways of 500 years ago, despite strong … Continue reading →

Posted in New ideas | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment