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.
jstemwedel
Posts by this author
July 10, 2008
Ronald A. Howard and Clinton D. Korver (with Bill Birchard), Ethics for the Real World: Creating a Personal Code to Guide Decisions in Work and Life. Harvard Business Press, 2008.
I fully embrace the idea that ethics should not just be a subject of esoteric inquiry in philosophy departments but…
July 9, 2008
Finally, here is the long awaited fourth part in my three part series examining the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology Ethics Education Committee response to the allegations of scientific misconduct against Spencer Lucas and co-workers. Part 3 was a detailed examination of the "best practices"…
July 8, 2008
I had my kids with me at my office and needed to keep them occupied for a small chunk of time while I attended to business.
The younger offspring immediately called dibs on the "Celebrating Chemistry" markerboard.
The elder offspring, creeping up on 9 years old, asked plaintively, "What can I…
July 4, 2008
Blogging has been a bit light lately, in part because I was persuaded to teach half of a graduate seminar during the summer session. The first half of the seminar looked at philosophical approaches to epistemology (basically, a set of issues around what counts as knowledge and what could count as…
July 4, 2008
In case anyone remembers a post back in February which featured drawings by the elder Free-Ride offspring inspired by this kids' book about the elements ...
Dr. Free-Ride: Hey, you found that book! I've been looking for it.
Younger offspring: Yeah, I'm taking it with me to [the house of the…
June 27, 2008
Elder offspring: Why do mice have long, naked tails?
Dr. Free-Ride: Why do the tails of rats look so much like earthworms?
Elder offspring: That doesn't answer my question.
Dr. Free-Ride: Sorry, I thought we were just making a list of life's mysteries.
* * * * *
Younger offspring: Why are there so…
June 25, 2008
Over at DrugMonkey, PhysioProf delivers a mission statement:
Our purpose here at DrugMonkey is to try to help people identify and cultivate the tools required to succeed within the system of academic science as it currently exists. We did not create this system, and we are not in a position to to…
June 20, 2008
The Free-Ride offspring made it through another school year. This year, we are participating in the ritual sending-home-of-living-things from the science classroom. Instead of scoring guppies, however, we now have a little container of eggs ...
Dr. Free-Ride: I want to know about that little…
June 19, 2008
Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic. St. Martin's Press, 1987.
There are a few books on my shelf that I can read any given number of times without being bored or impatient. One of these is And the Band Played On, a painstaking work of journalism that never…
June 19, 2008
The press covering the story of bioethicist Glenn McGee's departure from the post of director of the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College is hungry for an ironic twist. For example, Scientific American titles its article "An Unethical Ethicist?" What more fitting fall than…
June 19, 2008
In a follow-up to her review of Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory: Women scientists speak out by Emily Monosson, Alison George decided to investigate how many women who won Nobels also did the motherhood thing:
I started at the first Nobel prize awarded to a woman: Marie Curie, in 1903.…
June 16, 2008
As I emerge from my fever, I ponder the latest "Ask a ScienceBlogger" question:
There are many, many academic bloggers out there feverishly blogging about their areas of interest. Still, there are many, many more academics who don't. So, why do you blog and how does blogging help with your…
June 13, 2008
Have I mentioned before that children are vectors of disease? The Free-Ride offspring are no exception in this regard. As a result, I've been laid low with fever and assorted flu-like symptoms.
Sadly, this did not result in an edifying and amusing conversation about the workings of the immune…
June 10, 2008
As promised, in this post I'm examining the "best practices" document (PDF) issued by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Ethics Education Committee in the wake of the "Aetogate" allegations. Here, I'll discuss the specific recommendations made in that document. And in an upcoming post, I'll…
June 6, 2008
For the June edition of Scientiae, Zuska notes:
Taking up space in the world is a Bad Thing for women to do. We waste a lot of energy and time worrying about whether or not we are taking up too much space. ...
How do you want to take up space? How do you want to let yourself sprawl, in your…
June 6, 2008
Walking across the field to school the other morning:
Younger offspring: How come the earth is round but when you're walking on it, it looks flat?
Dr. Free-Ride: The earth is pretty big. We're so tiny compared to the earth that the curvature isn't something we notice.
Elder offspring: This field…
June 3, 2008
Because Abi asked me to, I'm going to discuss the fascinating case of the Hellinga retractions. Since this is another case where there is a lot to talk about, I'm going to take it in two parts. In the first part, working from the Chemical & Engineering News article by Celia Henry Arnaud (May…
June 2, 2008
Following up on the post in which I examined how the SVP Ethics Education Committee responded to the allegations of unethical conduct that have come to be known as "Aetogate," this post will discuss what the committee identifies as the "lessons learned" from this investigation. Once again, I'll be…
May 30, 2008
Over at Philosopher's Playground, Steve Gimbel asks why the philosophy of chemistry is such a recent discipline given how long there has been serious activity in the philosophy of biology and the philosophy of physics.
He floats a few possible answers -- as it happens, the same options those of us…
May 30, 2008
A week ago, while I was busy grading and being tenured, the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology released its report on the allegations that have come to be known as "Aetogate" (about which I've posted here, here, here, and here). ReBecca was kind enough to forward the Statement from the Executive…
May 30, 2008
Last weekend, while I was still in the throes of grading, my better half decided to take the Free-Ride offspring on a hike (or, in the Free-Ride vernacular, a "death march"). The younger Free-Ride offspring reports back on some of the salient details.
Dr. Free-Ride: Can you tell me what you saw…
May 29, 2008
Since I read it last Friday I have been meaning to say something about this article in Inside Higher Ed about why female academic appear to have lower birthrates than male academics and than female professionals in other fields. Of course, between work and family obligations (and grinding fatigue…
May 29, 2008
In today's Chronicle of Higher Education there's an article about the methods journal publishers are deploying to detect doctored images in scientific manuscripts. From the article:
As computer programs make images easier than ever to manipulate, editors at a growing number of scientific…
May 24, 2008
Yesterday, heading out to lunch with some colleagues, I noticed some of the other people out on the street were ... oddly attired. We saw these folks as we were passing by a cinema, so our first thought was, "Maybe this has something to do with the Speed Racer movie?"
And then we remembered the…
May 23, 2008
In my faculty mailbox today:
After a review of the tenure evaluations and recommendations of the appropriate committees and administrators ... I am pleased to inform you that your service to the University merits the award of tenure. I am also pleased to inform you that you have been promoted to…
May 23, 2008
Elder offspring: Since soccer season is over, you should take us someplace fun on Saturday.
Dr. Free-Ride: Well, Saturday morning I'll be at commencement, and I think I'll need to spend at least part of Saturday afternoon grading.
Younger offspring: Aww, do you have to go to commencement?
Dr. Free-…
May 22, 2008
Another dispatch from grading Hell (fourth circle), in which the reader gains some insight into circumstances which evoke my sympathy, and circumstances which do not.
I have this pedagogical strategy where I try to make my students think more than they have to write. One way this strategy…
May 21, 2008
I am in grading Hell. I expect to be here until at least Memorial Day (Monday), and possibly through Tuesday. (Does that mean I'm actually in grading Purgatory? Please advise.)
Anyway, in a private communication, PhysioProf asked,
As you get grumpier from grading, do you grade harsher?
If I…
May 17, 2008
Which would you totally do if you didn't know better (and suspect someone might catch you)?
Option 1: Yank on the cord, not the plug, to unplug that appliance.
Option 2: Step on the very top step of the step-ladder (that the warning label admonishes you not to use as a step) to get the lemons off…
May 16, 2008
The elder Free-Ride offspring got to go on a field trip this week to an area lagoon. The high points of the visit included seeing a Steller's Jay (we more frequently encounter scrub jays), looking at a possum skull, and being pointed in the direction of the turkey vultures who were eating the rest…