Check out the New 7 Wonders website and vote. This was brought to my attention through Sounds Like Canada interview with Bernard Weber.
What does this have to do with science? Um... archaeology is a science...
28 April 2007
26 April 2007
Schools
I spent part of the day talk to some local K-12 school administrators looking for ways to tie their stuff into my stuff, with research experiences, graduate studies, and so on. Looked promising. But even if nothing were to come of it, there were free danishes in the meeting room.
And, as it happens, I run across this article about some comments by Don Kennedy, with whom I have an indirect relationship. He's talking about K-12 education and evolution, which is an amazingly twitchy topic in this country.
And, as it happens, I run across this article about some comments by Don Kennedy, with whom I have an indirect relationship. He's talking about K-12 education and evolution, which is an amazingly twitchy topic in this country.
21 April 2007
A little quick money
I've been spending most of my time recruiting for the REU program, but I did get some good news a couple of days back. I got a little internal money for my student Sakshi to do some summer research with me. Hooray.
Now, we just have to actually do what we said we would do...
Now, we just have to actually do what we said we would do...
11 April 2007
Defence
My student Alan successfully defended his undergraduate Honor's thesis today, and this is good. There may be a publication coming out it it, I hope.
Meanwhile, I am slowly digging my way through the pile of stuff that I cannot seem to tame. One of these is working up some posters for the REU program, which is now officially one week later than I was hoping to have them done by. But I think I will get a couple printed tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I am slowly digging my way through the pile of stuff that I cannot seem to tame. One of these is working up some posters for the REU program, which is now officially one week later than I was hoping to have them done by. But I think I will get a couple printed tomorrow.
10 April 2007
“If you wanted monogamy...”
“...you should have married a swan,” is how the old joke goes.
Except it isn’t true. Swans are not strictly monogamous.
This story also falls into the “Hey, I know that guy” category, as I got to know Raoul Mulder during my time at Uni Melbourne. Nice work, Raoul – good on ya!
Except it isn’t true. Swans are not strictly monogamous.
This story also falls into the “Hey, I know that guy” category, as I got to know Raoul Mulder during my time at Uni Melbourne. Nice work, Raoul – good on ya!
07 April 2007
Namesakes
Was looking at TV listings, scrolling down to Bravo, and read:
I'm considering what?!
A couple of quick URLs later, and I find only my second namesake attached to an actual person. The first person I found to share my first name is actor Zen Gesner. My new namesake is apparently a trainer, Zen Gray. Although I think she only counts as half a namesake, since her website bio shows her name as "Jennifer 'Zen' Gray." She blogs as part of the show she's on.
Work Out (Reality) Jackie sees a therapist; Zen considers cosmetic surgery; Jackie throws a sexy slumber party. TV-14 CC
I'm considering what?!
A couple of quick URLs later, and I find only my second namesake attached to an actual person. The first person I found to share my first name is actor Zen Gesner. My new namesake is apparently a trainer, Zen Gray. Although I think she only counts as half a namesake, since her website bio shows her name as "Jennifer 'Zen' Gray." She blogs as part of the show she's on.
The Zen of Presentations, Part 7: Reading out loud
Hm. Been a while since I've done one of these. Just to save you from searching, here are the previous installments.
Part 1: *.pps
Part 2: It's all about you
Part 3: Can you do it on the radio?
Part 3.5: Lessig is more
Part 4: Title slides are a crutch
Part 5: Legalized insanity
Part 6: Failure is an option
A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald talks about using slides, particularly those in PowerPoint format. The key quote for me is, "It is effective to speak to a diagram, because it presents information in a different form. But it is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented."
I think it nicely explains why so many people get so frustrated by seeing a talk where someone just reads the text on their slides, almost word for word.
Another annoyance factor in reading slides aloud that many people don't think of: the audience can read faster than you can talk. So most of the time, when you put up a slide of text, the audience will have read the text and is just waiting for you to catch up to your own text.
It is tough to get rid of text completely. I am guilty of using text slides all the time when I lecture. I console myself that sometimes, there is a legitimate teaching reason to put up text slides: because students need to be able to see the correct spelling of technical words. If I were to just say, "allele," I have little confidence that students would be able to figure out the right spelling from the pronunciation alone. (There are various pronunciations, but the mode seems to be "a-leel," not, as the spelling might lead you to think, "ah-lel-lay.")
When I do have a text slide, another thing I try to do is not to read it verbatim. I try to put the same information in a different way. Use examples. Elaborate. Often, I go on talking on a point much longer than the slide is up, so that people will get bored at the slide and their attention focuses back on me.
It is a constant challenge to presenters, including myself, to use more pictures -- perhaps only pictures. And high quality picture. Assuming, of course, that they need visual aids at all (see Part 3).
Part 1: *.pps
Part 2: It's all about you
Part 3: Can you do it on the radio?
Part 3.5: Lessig is more
Part 4: Title slides are a crutch
Part 5: Legalized insanity
Part 6: Failure is an option
A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald talks about using slides, particularly those in PowerPoint format. The key quote for me is, "It is effective to speak to a diagram, because it presents information in a different form. But it is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented."
I think it nicely explains why so many people get so frustrated by seeing a talk where someone just reads the text on their slides, almost word for word.
Another annoyance factor in reading slides aloud that many people don't think of: the audience can read faster than you can talk. So most of the time, when you put up a slide of text, the audience will have read the text and is just waiting for you to catch up to your own text.
It is tough to get rid of text completely. I am guilty of using text slides all the time when I lecture. I console myself that sometimes, there is a legitimate teaching reason to put up text slides: because students need to be able to see the correct spelling of technical words. If I were to just say, "allele," I have little confidence that students would be able to figure out the right spelling from the pronunciation alone. (There are various pronunciations, but the mode seems to be "a-leel," not, as the spelling might lead you to think, "ah-lel-lay.")
When I do have a text slide, another thing I try to do is not to read it verbatim. I try to put the same information in a different way. Use examples. Elaborate. Often, I go on talking on a point much longer than the slide is up, so that people will get bored at the slide and their attention focuses back on me.
It is a constant challenge to presenters, including myself, to use more pictures -- perhaps only pictures. And high quality picture. Assuming, of course, that they need visual aids at all (see Part 3).
04 April 2007
7 to 22 µg/ml
Spent yesterday working with Sakshi doing some DNA extraction and testing. It was good. We're getting the procedures down. I think we're getting better and faster at them. But it was rather tiring, for some reason. Not because it's physically strenuous, but when there are so many other things on the plate, somehow it's mentally tiring because while you're in the lab, you're thinking about all the other things that need doing.
Anyway, our two samples yielded 7 to 22 µg/ml of DNA, according to our HHMI core lab spectrophotometer.
Anyway, our two samples yielded 7 to 22 µg/ml of DNA, according to our HHMI core lab spectrophotometer.
01 April 2007
Hey, I know her...
There's always something surprising when you come across people you know in places you don't expect.
I met Sheila Patek at a Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting. She was presenting some gorgeous work on spiny lobster sounds (some are noisy; they stridulate). She endeared herself to me by mentioning that she'd read my sand crab paper. Vain, I know. But any author will attest that meeting someone that you personally do no know who has read your work is a thrill. (And by "any author," I mean Sean Stewart.).
So finding Sheila's work on crustacean biomechanics as a TED talk was a bit of a shock. While TED is about any "big idea," its initials do stand for "Technology, Entertainment and Design," and I wasn't sure how mantis shrimp attacks fit into any of those three things.
Damn cool stuff, regardless.
I met Sheila Patek at a Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting. She was presenting some gorgeous work on spiny lobster sounds (some are noisy; they stridulate). She endeared herself to me by mentioning that she'd read my sand crab paper. Vain, I know. But any author will attest that meeting someone that you personally do no know who has read your work is a thrill. (And by "any author," I mean Sean Stewart.).
So finding Sheila's work on crustacean biomechanics as a TED talk was a bit of a shock. While TED is about any "big idea," its initials do stand for "Technology, Entertainment and Design," and I wasn't sure how mantis shrimp attacks fit into any of those three things.
Damn cool stuff, regardless.
31 March 2007
Leaders and followers
At this university, I see stuff posted up about "leadership" all the time. Student leadership conferences, that sort of thing. It kind of bugs me, because when I see such things, I think of an old (and hence not very culturally sensitive) saying, "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians." Leadership opportunities are limited, kind of by definition. Almost all organizations have a pyramid structure, and not everyone can fit at the top of that pyramid.
I would argue that the skills needed to be a great follower are just as important. Good underlings are just as important as the masterminds. Oddjob and Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger. Darth Maul and the Emperor in Star Wars.
But people rarely talk about what skills make you an exceptional follower. Anticipating needs. Working within limitations. Balancing contradictory directives. Knowing when to take initiative. Meeting deadlines. Giving useful feedback. Not as sexy as a leadership skills, but so valuable.
This post over at Seth Godin's blog echoes this point in some ways.
I've certainly noticed that only takes a couple of students to set the tone in classes I teach. If there are a couple of students who are good listeners, they sort of become your "batteries," and you can play to them and get a little bit of a boost from them when you can see they're engaged and paying attention. Students with the heads on the desk in the back? I'd rather they just didn't come at all. It drags everything down.
I would argue that the skills needed to be a great follower are just as important. Good underlings are just as important as the masterminds. Oddjob and Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger. Darth Maul and the Emperor in Star Wars.
But people rarely talk about what skills make you an exceptional follower. Anticipating needs. Working within limitations. Balancing contradictory directives. Knowing when to take initiative. Meeting deadlines. Giving useful feedback. Not as sexy as a leadership skills, but so valuable.
This post over at Seth Godin's blog echoes this point in some ways.
I've certainly noticed that only takes a couple of students to set the tone in classes I teach. If there are a couple of students who are good listeners, they sort of become your "batteries," and you can play to them and get a little bit of a boost from them when you can see they're engaged and paying attention. Students with the heads on the desk in the back? I'd rather they just didn't come at all. It drags everything down.
30 March 2007
Bad start
...For my Dees. A thumping at the hands of the Saints! Blast!
On a related note, I loved this article that catches a little bit of the passion that got me actually interested in Aussie Rules when I lived in Melbourne. Remember it the next time you're looking for a pub in southern Australia.
On a related note, I loved this article that catches a little bit of the passion that got me actually interested in Aussie Rules when I lived in Melbourne. Remember it the next time you're looking for a pub in southern Australia.
28 March 2007
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.
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.
23 March 2007
Coming up for air for a few seconds
It was not surprising that week kicked my butt. But even when you're expecting it, the soreness is never diminished much.
The week bit at me for three reasons. First, last week was the break, and suddenly there's all the catch-up that has to happen on things I couldn't do because... nobody was around.
Second, I'm spending a lot of time trying to get the new undergrad research program up and running. Meetings, recruiting, talking to interested students, updating the webpage, and just trying to think about all the things that still have to happen for everything to start on cue.
Third, and arguably the biggest, was that I had a writing deadline to meet yesterday. I was co-authoring a book review with my colleague Anita Davelos Baines for Behavioral and Brain Sciences (which was where I'd published one of my first articles as a grad student). Due to the combination of finally receiving word on the grant plus my general lack of willpower and concentration, the review was not as far along in the writing as I was hoping for on Thursday morning. I was going a little nuts inside my office on Thursday, trying to finish this short article -- and people kept knocking on my door! Gah!
It is said that no work of art is ever finished; merely abandoned. While I don't pretend the review was a work of art, I definitely felt it was abandoned rather than finished. I am satisfied with it, although I really wish that I had more time to think about some issues, discuss them with my colleagues, and polish the writing a bit.
It was pushing close to midnight when I emailed the final review. I felt like the stereotypical student, sliding the term paper under the professor's door before midnight. Some habits die hard. Others never die at all.
The week bit at me for three reasons. First, last week was the break, and suddenly there's all the catch-up that has to happen on things I couldn't do because... nobody was around.
Second, I'm spending a lot of time trying to get the new undergrad research program up and running. Meetings, recruiting, talking to interested students, updating the webpage, and just trying to think about all the things that still have to happen for everything to start on cue.
Third, and arguably the biggest, was that I had a writing deadline to meet yesterday. I was co-authoring a book review with my colleague Anita Davelos Baines for Behavioral and Brain Sciences (which was where I'd published one of my first articles as a grad student). Due to the combination of finally receiving word on the grant plus my general lack of willpower and concentration, the review was not as far along in the writing as I was hoping for on Thursday morning. I was going a little nuts inside my office on Thursday, trying to finish this short article -- and people kept knocking on my door! Gah!
It is said that no work of art is ever finished; merely abandoned. While I don't pretend the review was a work of art, I definitely felt it was abandoned rather than finished. I am satisfied with it, although I really wish that I had more time to think about some issues, discuss them with my colleagues, and polish the writing a bit.
It was pushing close to midnight when I emailed the final review. I felt like the stereotypical student, sliding the term paper under the professor's door before midnight. Some habits die hard. Others never die at all.
15 March 2007
10 March 2007
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.
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.
07 March 2007
Finally
Way back in December, I wrote about a project that I couldn't talk about and some of the excitement I felt about it.
Now I can finally talk about what all that was about.
The National Science Foundation gave us a Research Experiences for Undergraduate grant. This is getting funded in portions, but over $156,000 is set and ready. If the funding to the NSF doesn't collapse, we'll get another year and a bit and the total will be over $284,000.
Hooray.
I've been sitting on that since December. Waiting and watching, hoping that the U.S. Congress will pass a good budget for the NSF. Congress was supposed to pass the NSF budget before Christmas, but didn't. They waited until the last possible second, which was the last day the continuing resolution ran out on 15 February. Much was written about this wait in the pages of Science and elsewhere. The delay was so bad that many funding agencies had to scale back planned projects. Reading those articles was highly nerve-wracking.
But in the end, NSF got a bit of a budget increase, fortunately, when many other federal research agencies got no increase. Whew.
And another thing I mentioned cryptically: an upcoming conference? It's actually a workshop for people running NSF sponsored undergraduate research programs. My flight leaves verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry early tomorrow morning.
It's just a relief to go to a conference knowing that I actually have the award. I would have sucked to go to this workshop not knowing if we were getting it or not.
Playlist for the day: Finally by CeCe Peniston, New Man by Sonic Hub, Food For Songs by Del Amitri, and especially Won More Time by God Made Me Funky.
Now I can finally talk about what all that was about.
The National Science Foundation gave us a Research Experiences for Undergraduate grant. This is getting funded in portions, but over $156,000 is set and ready. If the funding to the NSF doesn't collapse, we'll get another year and a bit and the total will be over $284,000.
Hooray.
I've been sitting on that since December. Waiting and watching, hoping that the U.S. Congress will pass a good budget for the NSF. Congress was supposed to pass the NSF budget before Christmas, but didn't. They waited until the last possible second, which was the last day the continuing resolution ran out on 15 February. Much was written about this wait in the pages of Science and elsewhere. The delay was so bad that many funding agencies had to scale back planned projects. Reading those articles was highly nerve-wracking.
But in the end, NSF got a bit of a budget increase, fortunately, when many other federal research agencies got no increase. Whew.
And another thing I mentioned cryptically: an upcoming conference? It's actually a workshop for people running NSF sponsored undergraduate research programs. My flight leaves verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry early tomorrow morning.
It's just a relief to go to a conference knowing that I actually have the award. I would have sucked to go to this workshop not knowing if we were getting it or not.
Playlist for the day: Finally by CeCe Peniston, New Man by Sonic Hub, Food For Songs by Del Amitri, and especially Won More Time by God Made Me Funky.
02 March 2007
26 February 2007
Odd instructions
From a conference I'll be going to in the near future:
“You will be expected to be present to respond to questions from delegates for half of the time during this session.”
Meaning... I can ignore questions from delegates the other half of the time?
“You will be expected to be present to respond to questions from delegates for half of the time during this session.”
Meaning... I can ignore questions from delegates the other half of the time?
22 February 2007
20 February 2007
“... 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.
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.
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