Revision of a figure

Yesterday, I did a quick revamp on our Neuroethology poster for HESTEC. Previously, I wrote about the design of one of the data figures for that poster. Interestingly, I found out at the meeting that I was too clever for my own good in designing the Neuroethology poster. The problem was that I used the bars coming from the boxes to represent the minimum and maximum. Several people interpreted these as error bars (standard deviation or standard error). Because overlapping error bars usually indicate that groups are not significantly different, and error bars are smaller than minimums and maximums, this led some viewers to momentarily question the results.

Consequently, I went back to a more standard bar graph in the revised HESTEC poster. It's similar to this one, except it shows transformed data rather than the raw data, and the colour is not bright red.

The size of the HESTEC poster was also smaller, so a lot of cutting text and general simplification occurred. It's probably a better poster as a result.

I also started work on my annual compilation of everything I've done in the last year. It's a dreary process, although sometimes it can be nice to see how much you've done.

Other people’s impressions

I've observed an interesting phenomenon this last week and a half. Several times, people have stuck their heads into my office and said something like, “I know you're really busy with the grant...”

What the heck did people think I was doing before I got the grant? That I was just hanging out in my office, reading the latest copy of FHM? Counting the number of little perforations in the ceiling tiles? Arranging the magnetic poetry tiles above my computer?

You get money, you’re assumed to be busy. Interesting.

Back from NSF

Unexpected fact: The outside main floor of the National Science Foundation building has a Quiznos and a bagel shop.

Despite the ugly early start for my flight to the NSF, everything went about as smoothly as could be hoped for. I got there about on time. I got to have lunch at Ruby Tuesday (which we don't have locally, but see ads for all the time).

I got my PocketPC successfully set up for NSF wireless internet access – in fact, the staffer who help me told me she had fun doing it, because she'd never tried to set up their wireless system on a Pocket PC before. I got a tiny bit lost, because the initial poster session was not on the room written on my badge, but again, found the starting poster session in time.

The featured speaker at dinner, Elaine Seymour, was very good, very thought provoking. And just to prove that the scientific community is way too small, met someone at dinner and found we had one degree of separation between us: he knew someone in our department, my buddy Fred.

I never sleep well in hotels, particularly the first night, so I wasn't real pleased that the next day started early and went long. But heard quite a few important things, and had no shortage of things to think about. Another keynote speaker, Tyrone Hayes, was awesome. Although he said to me later he is normally a "PowerPoint maniac," he made absolutely the right choice in ditching all that and delivering a fairly personal talk about his experience being a minority in research, and some of his success in mentoring minorities in research.

After the afternoon sessions finished, I just walked around some of the stores in a nearby mall, and ran into a few workshop participants for dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery. (They'd been told there was a Macaroni Grill in the mall, but it had shut down!), and ended up talking with several of them in the hotel bar for even longer after getting back to the hotel.

It was really a stupidly long day. But in the morning, I was able to find a place with good croissants for breakfast, which I appreciated. It's so hard to find good croissants in southern Texas...

And since getting back, I've been trying to get this undergrad research program up and ready to run. Many meetings, many emails, many things to plan. I'm quickly finding that I have to be thinking about things that are years away, which is not easy for me. So I look forward to receiving the massive wall calendar / planner I asked for.

“... and it's only Tuesday!”

This week is going to be ratty ugly nasty busy. There are two job candidates interviewing for positions today and Thursday. Tomorrow I'm currently slated for four meetings and office hours. Thursday I'm running out the Coastal Studies Lab for some animal collection, and Friday I teach and have Journal Club. Which reminds me... I have to pick a paper for that.

I really do feel like the punchline to the old joke: ”This has been a horrible week, and it’s only Tuesday!”

On the plus side, I was isolated all weekend so I was able to finish reading a book I'll be reviewing for a journal. Now I just have to actually think and write the review.

Administration ate my brain

Or at least, administration is eating my time. Since Monday... let's see...

I've been dealing with documentation concerning our university's reaccreditation (Hi SACS!). We need to have "student learning outcomes" for our students, measures of how well those outcomes are achieved, two year's worth of the measurements we took, a list of changes we made in response to those measurements, and what changes we plan to make in the future based on those measurements. It's a bit difficult to do when -- in the case of our graduate program, which I oversee -- you're talking about 0 to 2 students graduating in any single semester.

Then the page proofs for the new graduate catalogue appeared on my desk, with a very short turnaround time and many, many errors and missing classes and things in need of updating.

I managed to get those two things squashed this morning, thankfully. But the fun continued. I just got out of a Faculty Senate meeting. Lots of review of our university's Handbook of Operating Procedures.

And looking at my desk, I can see at least two more forms and paperwork asking me for information.

I really want to get back to my manuscript, which was coming along so nicely before classes started up again.

Oh yes.... first post with new version of Blogger.

Now we're looking official

In my role as Graduate Program Coordinator for the department, I found I was starting to lose track of when I'd received certain bits of paper (applications, letters of inquiry and such). I shouldn't have that problem any more now that I have -- the stamp! Bwa-hah-ha-haaaa! Good up until the end of 2013. And I can still use it when we get a Ph.D. program, since it says, "Graduate Program" rather than "Master's program."

Tying the bungee cord to the ankle

I have never bungee jumped. But this week has started to take on a feel of what I imagine the moments they're tying a bungee cord to your ankle must feel like. Then someone's asking, "Ready?" and you try to say, "Not re--" [Shove]

I wish I could talk about it in more detail, but I can't post about it quite yet.

The meeting I mentioned earlier this week went about as well as I could have hoped. All involved seemed to have no preconceived ideas, and was willing to listen, which is about as much as I could hope for.

Last day of class Wednesday.

And there's only two days until the publication of The Biological Bulletin paper, which I'm psyched about.

All the marbles

aIt's turning into a very eventful month. Tomorrow, for instance, may well be the most important meeting I've had in my time at this university. At least, it has the potential to be so. Myself, department chair, college dean, and two vice presidents. Yeah. No pressure.

And oh yes, less than a week until publication of the new paper.

Who doesn't love meetings?

I was in three consecutive meetings today, back to back, from 11:00 am to about 3:30 pm. There was substantial overlap between them, but it still made for a long day.

First, we had a meeting about the possibility of a marine science program at our university. Things look promising there.

Second meeting was a meeting of the Center for Subtropical Studies. This is a research center that's sort of existed on paper since before I came here. But this is the first peep I'd ever heard about the center. First meeting I knew about, first time there seemed to be any serious discussion about projects we might do. To put it another way, the Center's existed for five-plus years now, and today were were working on a draft constitution that would describe how the thing runs.

Finally, a meeting about the Coastal Studies Lab. Again, some promising things are going on here. Though you still can't tell by looking at the website. (A "last updated" tag of 1999 gives an impression we don't really want.) Updating their website was one of the items we discussed.

It'll just be nice when some of the plans we talk about come to fruition. But these are slow, slow growing seeds.

Another step towards administration

Today I found myself elected as secretary of PAUF, the local branch of the Texas Faculty Association. Being secretary also puts me on the Executive Committee for the group. I try never to pass up a chance to seize power -- I mean, work collaboratively with fellow faculty members.

Papers and puppies

It's a good day today for my student and myself. First, we got a final acceptance letter on a manuscript we'd been working on, and revising for what seems like forever. It means that I made some work for myself, because I had to update my tenure binder, which was supposed to be "set" and submitted last Friday. But that's a nice problem to have, because it pushes a "key performance indicator" (number of papers published) away from the minimum.

Second, she'd had her apartment broken into late last week, and had lots of things stolen, not the least of which was her new puppy! Stealing a puppy? That's low. Fortunately, police work were able to catch suspects, and much of her stolen goods -- including her puppy -- were returned.

(Who says I never write feel goods stories on my blog?)

One more year

I got the paperwork appointing me for the 2007 fiscal year today. And I got a 3.3% raise. I think that's above inflation, except maybe for gasoline.

Meanwhile, I've been spending most of the day thinking about undergraduate research, as I am banging away on the fourth attempt to land an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates grant. Three other times, they liked it and encouraged revision and resubmission. That I'm writing it a fourth time is a testimony to the triumph of hope over experience.

Senator Zen

I just found out this morning I got elected to my institution's faculty senate. I think I'm pleased, but am too busy right now to know if I am or not.

Who's the joke on?

Our current provost, Rodolfo Arevalo, starts his new job at Eastern Washington University on April 1^st. Hmmmmm...

Ah, Rudy, we hardly knew ya...

A guy goes away for a few days, and suddenly everything is topsy turvey.

Our provost, Rudolfo Arevalo, is leaving to become the 25^th president of Eastern Washington University. I wish him a speedy transition to his new institution. While Arevalo has done some very positive things for our institution, he's done it in an amazingly heavy-handed manner that he alienated a lot of people.

New president a couple of years ago, now a new provost. With Arevalo's departure, only a few of the "old guard" at our campus is still around. We'll see if the revolution continues.

Blowing the whistle

Old joke: Guy runs a stop sign. Cop pulls him over and says, "Didn't you see that stop sign?" Driver replies, "Sure. But I didn't think it was meant for me!"

One of the things I dislike about this university is that there seem to be a lot of people who don't think the stop signs are meant for them. I've said sometimes, only half-jokingly, that a policy is a rule when applied to a faculty member, but a guideline when applied to an administrator.

Yup, I've got an example.

The universities in Texas are subject to the policies of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. They set rules for university curricula. One of those rules (Chapter 4, Subchapter B, Section §4.29: Core Curricula Larger than 42 Semester Credit Hours, if you're curious; click here for a PDF of that chapter) is that a university can't have more than 48 hours of core courses. Core courses are defined as courses that are required of every student (Chapter 4, Subchapter B, Section §4.23c).

The University of Texas - Pan American has 48 hours of core courses, which is the maximum allowed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Click here for a PDF of the UTPA catalog, hop to "Requirements for a Bachelor's degree" over on page 66, and you'll read, "3. Core Curriculum Hours and GPA: 48 hours of University core curriculum requirements must be satisfactorily completed with a minimum GPA of 2.0. (See page 95-98 for specific coursework.)"

But wait! Read down a couple more paragraphs. You'll see another requirement. "8. University Requirement: All entering freshmen with fewer than 30 completed semester credit hours are required to enroll in the UNIV 1301 – Learning Framework course during the first year of college (Fall, Spring or Summer). Transfer students with fewer than 30 completed semester hours will be required to take the course, unless they have completed an equivalent course at another institution." (Emphasis added.)

What's "UNIV 1301"? It's a sort of "How to study at the university level" class. An "Introduction to university" or "Survival skills" package designed to prepare the students, many of whom are not adequately prepared by their high school education for the tasks they'll face in their first year. Fair enough. I've given enough failing grades in introductory biology to attest that many of our students need some sort of help, because they are not effective at studying.

Back to the point. If everyone has to take UNIV 1301, then by definition, it's a core course. But we're already at the maximum allowed. In other words, we're requiring more than is allowed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

How is the university getting around this little problem? They're going around asking (strong arming) each individual department and telling them to make this UNIV 1301 class a requirement for their major. That way, the university can claim, "It's not a core course, because a core course is a university requirement. It's just that every department made it a requirement."

And a lot of the departments have capitulated. The new catalogue has this UNIV 1301 class listed as a degree requirement for English (pg. 111), Health and Kinesiology (pg. 154), Mathematics (pg. 197). To date, my department has resisted the pressure that's been applied for the better part of a year. I hope we continue to do so.

The goal of this class is to increase student success, which I'm all for. But they've gone about implementing in absolutely the wrong way. Rather than removing some other requirement, they're trying (and largely succeeding so far) in sneaking it in the back door. It's going to make every student take longer and spend more money to complete their degree.

My university's breaking the rules. Shamelessly. It's absolutely cut and dry. It's days like this that I'm embarrassed to work here.

Luckily, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board website has a page where they invite comments. And there's a little place to check off if the comment is a complaint, including complaints against an institution. I've already sent one. We'll see if it gets a response.

Additional: I did get a reply. Apparently, even a class that is absolutely required of every student is not necessarily "core." "Core" means something else. So the university isn't running afoul of rules.

Nuthin' but news

I found out this afternoon that all my teaching release requests for next year have been granted. This is great news, because it means I'll be moving from six classes per academic year to four. Which is (best Chris Eccleston voice) fantastic, because it means I can slate just one for the fall, when I need to be doing research on animals that are only available then, and do the rest of the courses in the spring. It reduces the chance of my head exploding sometime later in the year, too.

I am largely finished another grant proposal for the NSF. This one will be a bit of a risk, because it's venturing into a new area of research for me, getting away from the emphasis on neurobiology and behaviour that has been my mainstay to date. But you live and learn, or you don't live long, as Heinlein said.

Next writing project is my poster for the International Tunicate Conference in California next month. The news there is that my co-author on the poster, Virginia, informed me today that she's had minor surgery on her arm and can't go with us as planned. So our travel plans have been completely thrown up in the air. It just isn't easy going anywhere this summer! Louisiana visit falls through, California trip all wonky, and loose plans for other trips are still just that -- loose.

But speaking of writing the poster, how am I able to do all this writing? All thanks to the power of having minions! My two students, Michael and Sandra, have been given the task of going to the beach today. They get to muck around in the warm water and collect animals while I stay in my office and write, and write, and write some more. I'm not sure which of us is getting the better deal. Sunburn or repetitive strain injury? Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions...

Here's the new Dean, same as the old Dean. Literally. After we lost Michael Eastman, who went back to University of Texas El Paso, the assistant dean, Ed LeMaster, stepped in as interim dean. There was a search, and Ed put his hat in the ring. Somewhat to my surprise (surprise not because I think the less of Ed, but for other reasons), he got the gig and will be the real, actual, factual Dean for a while. I think that means the university now has two colleges (out of six!) with actual Deans instead of interim Deans.

Additional: I believe I noted some time ago that a kid's magazine, Spider, was doing a story about sand crabs (or, as they called them, mole crabs). I supplied them with some photos for that. I just now received the copies of the July issue that feature the article. I'll see if I can't get a small thumbnail scan up here a little later.

And that's just some of the stories we're following this week.

Better than expected

There was a meeting on the workload policy I mentioned recently. And huzzah! From the criticisms on the draft, they put back the various ways to get teaching release, and even recommended increasing the maximum release (thus lowering the teaching load, potentially). Whew.

No good deed goes unpunished

Our university is trying to move more towards research. As part of that movement, there's a move afoot to reduce the standard teaching load across the board. This is good. A draft version of the policy, however, all but removes any possibility of teaching release. This is bad. The short version is that under the new plan, the hardest working faculty will have to do more work (because the release they had been granted won't exist any more), whereas people who haven't done anything get the benefits of a reduced teaching load. Fortunately, this is a draft document, so there might be a chance of changing it. I hope!

Speaking of teaching, my last lectures for the semester were yesterday. Time now to do some grade bookkeeping and start figuring out what projects I'm going to try to do over the summer.

Finally, in these days where getting research published is quite competitive, I found this story to be highly interesting.

(W)hen the Brown University researcher's paper was recently rejected from an occupational medicine journal, he simply bought two pages of ad space and printed the entire article in the same journal.

Bits and pieces

What have I been up to lately?

I've been talking to job candidates a lot. Even though I'm not on the search committee this year, I'm trying to get as much face time with each of the candidates as I possibly can. I think we're three down, and have four to go. Whee!

I'm grinding away on another grant proposal, this one for the Coastal Studies Lab. I've got a few weeks to work on it, luckily, but it requires coordinating information from several people, so that'll make it a bit tricky.

I'm geeking out over the start of the new footy season, even though my first tip for the season was wrong.

But even that pales in comparison to the top-flight geek-out I'm having over the latest teaser trailer for the new Doctor Who series. It's going to be a bit of a struggle not to watch that over and over while I should be working! It makes my heart go pitter patter thumptthumpthumpthumpthump...