jstemwedel

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Janet D. Stemwedel

Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an associate professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.

Posts by this author

August 2, 2010
With this post, I say goodbye to ScienceBlogs. Am I leaving because of the fiasco with the PepsiCo blog? Not directly. That's not to say that there weren't serious issues raised by the whole incident. Many of these lie in the realm of journalistic ethics, at least as understood by people you…
July 30, 2010
Younger offspring: Mom? I have a question. Dr. Free-Ride: OK. Younger offspring: If I got up really early -- Dr. Free-Ride: I hope you won't. Younger offspring: No, I won't, but if I got up really early, way before it's time to wake up, like, midnight, and I tried to open my eyes and wake up,…
July 29, 2010
At Uncertain Principles, Chad opines that "research methods" look different on the science-y side of campus than they do for his colleagues in the humanities and social sciences: When the college revised the general education requirements a few years ago, one of the new courses created had as one…
July 23, 2010
Driving home with the Free-Ride offspring yesterday, we heard a story on the radio that caught out attention. (The radio story discusses newly published research that's featured on the cover of Nature this week.) When we got home, we had a chat about it. Dr. Free-Ride: What did you guys learn…
July 20, 2010
Today Americans for Medical Progress has announced two recipients for academic year 2010-2011 of the Michael D. Hayre Fellowship in Public Outreach, designed to inspire and motivate the next generation of research advocates. This year, I'm especially wowed by their project. From the AMP press…
July 19, 2010
In what is surely a contender for the photo next to the "business as usual in the blogosphere" entry in the Wiktionary, a (male) blogger has posted a list of the sexiest (all-but-one female) scientists (using photos of those scientists obtained from the web without any indication that he had also…
July 16, 2010
It's Friday, I'm still working on stuff that I was supposed to be done with by now, and the temperatures in the vicinity of Casa Free-Ride have climbed into the uncomfortable range that is more compatible with having a cold beer (or lying motionless) than with slogging through the stuff I'm working…
July 16, 2010
Dr. Free-Ride: I know you have some views, maybe, or questions, or something, about the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations about children, adolescents, and television. Although it's not actually just television, it's other screens, too. So, first off, can I get your general reaction…
July 15, 2010
I've been busy in the three-dimensional world, where I am in the middle of committing an unnatural act for an academic: writing out every word of a lecture. (As weird as it is, it makes the video production of that lecture easier -- more about that in the fullness of time.) In between such…
July 9, 2010
Regular readers will recall that this is not the first time the Free-Ride family has discussed skepticism and trust. Dr. Free-Ride: You two are both exploring the internet more lately, and you know that one of the things people use the internet for is to sell you stuff, right? Younger offspring:…
July 6, 2010
Today ScienceBlogs launched a new sponsored blog, Food Frontiers. The sponsor is PepsiCo. Here's the description of what the blog is going to be about from its inaugural post by Sb overlord Evan Lerner: On behalf of the team here at ScienceBlogs, I'd like to welcome you to Food Frontiers, a new…
July 6, 2010
I saw a story in the San Jose Mercury News that I thought raised an interesting question about sick leave, one worth discussing here. As it turns out, all the details of the specific case reported in the article sort of obscure the general question that it initially raised for me. But since I'm…
July 6, 2010
I noticed a short item today at Inside Higher Education about Mike Adams, an associate professor of of criminal justice at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington , who is suing the university on the grounds that his promotion to full professor was denied due to his conservative Christian…
July 5, 2010
Here we continue our examination of the final report (PDF) of the Investigatory Committee at Penn State University charged with investigating an allegation of scientific misconduct against Dr. Michael E. Mann made in the wake of the ClimateGate media storm. The specific question before the…
July 3, 2010
When you're investigating charges that a scientist has seriously deviated from accepted practices for proposing, conducting, or reporting research, how do you establish what the accepted practices are? In the wake of ClimateGate, this was the task facing the Investigatory Committee at Penn State…
July 2, 2010
Way back in early February, we discussed the findings of the misconduct inquiry against Michael Mann, an inquiry that Penn State University mounted in the wake of "numerous communications (emails, phone calls, and letters) accusing Dr. Michael E. Mann of having engaged in acts that included…
July 2, 2010
DrugMonkey's Google calendar must have told him that it's time for the meme in which bloggers ask their readers what they're doing here, a meme whose originator is the esteemed Ed Yong. Having played along myself in 2008 and 2009, I'm on-board to mount the 2010 version of this blog-reader census…
July 2, 2010
Last week, I noted that the Free-Ride offspring are off kicking it with The Grandparents Who Lurk But Seldom Comment, and that, to ensure that you would not have to endure a Friday without a Sprog Blog, I gave each of the sprogs a book to read during their visit with their grandparents and asked…
July 1, 2010
I've just gotten back from a conference, and I was blaming the travel and time zones for the fact that I feel like this: However, from the looks of things, it seems there is some kind of zombie epidemic on ScienceBlogs today. (I suppose this means I need to talk to the IT guys about internet…
June 30, 2010
Via Abi, I learn that Chemistry Blog has posted an interesting letter from a PI to his postdoc dated July 27, 1996. The letter, on official Caltech Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering letterhead, suggests that not all the stories one hears about the unreasonable work hours demanded of…
June 30, 2010
Recently, I traded up from my nowhere-near-smart phone to a slightly more advanced (but still nearly obsolete) phone -- one maybe about a year newer (in terms of technological endowment) than the old one. Practically, what this means is that I am now able not only to receive text messages, but also…
June 29, 2010
One of the most interesting sessions at the NSF IGERT 2010 Project Meeting was a panel of men and women who participated in the IGERT program as students and are now working in a variety of different careers. The point of the panel was to hear about the ways that they felt their experiences as…
June 25, 2010
The funding situation in the California State University system being what it is (scary-bad), departments at my fair university are also scrambling to adjust to a shift in the logic governing resource distribution. It used to be that resources followed enrollments -- that the more students you…
June 25, 2010
The Free-Ride offspring are currently summering (for a couple weeks, anyway) with The Grandparents Who Lurk But Seldom Comment. Practically, this means the conversations between Free-Ride offspring and parents over the past week have been brief and focused on how awesome day camp is. I have,…
June 24, 2010
As mentioned in an earlier post, I was recently part of a panel on Digital Science at the NSF IGERT 2010 Project Meeting in Washington, D.C. The meeting itself brought together PIs, trainees, and project coordinators who are involved in a stunning array of interdisciplinary research programs.…
June 18, 2010
Dr. Free-Ride: Do you remember what [Dr. Free-Ride's better half] said we were going to do at some point this summer? Using the machine in our garage that Uncle Fishy and RMD left for us? Younger offspring: That ice cream machine? Dr. Free-Ride: Yeah. Younger offspring: Oh, I love that! Dr. Free-…
June 17, 2010
From time to time I have a look at the search strings that have brought readers to this blog. Looking at some of the recent queries, I can't help but wonder what kind of blog this would be if these described my main focus: sarcastic jokes i do not get it is it a gender thing percentage of…
June 17, 2010
Chad has posted an interesting discussion of a study of students' academic performance and how it is correlated to their evaluations of the faculty teaching them. The study in question is Carrell, S., & West, J. (2010). Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students…
June 15, 2010
In the midst of the ongoing conversation about managing career and housework and who knows what else (happening here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and likely some places I've missed), ScientistMother wondered about one of the blogospheric voices that wasn't taking an active role in the…
June 14, 2010
That all said, as a woman in science, it is sometimes disheartening to almost never hear an article suggest that a woman in science discuss household duties with her partner and split them evenly. The author of your article makes the statement that women bear the burden of household labor, but…