in the field

I'm preparing material for this week's class on experimental design and data analysis, and I ran across this paragraph which I thought was very interesting: "The cost of analyzing collected sediment samples usually exceeds that of collecting them. However, the funds for the analysis are wasted if samples are collected at inappropriate locations or do not represent the study area. Further, the proper selection and use of sediment sampling equipment, sample handling, storage and transport are all equally important to the selection of sampling locations. Therefore, about 60% of the time…

A loyal reader of the blog sent me a copy of an article in the spring edition of the LTER Network News. In the article ( pdf here ), Laura Gough discusses how her research at the Toolik Lake field site in northern Alaska helped prepare her for the joys and challenges of parenting. Dr. Gough is a plant ecologist at the University of Texas at Arlington, who is currently serving as the NSF Program Director for Environmental Biology. In the article linked above, Gough stresses that acceptance of tedium, flexibility, preparation, and stopping to appreciate simple joys are the parallel skills that…

Let me start by saying that I love my upper-level undergraduate students. They are engaged, enthusiastic, willing to try anything, hard-working, and asking great questions. I have near perfect attendance in my class, and when a student misses class, I usually hear a pretty legitimate excuse, often with documentation. Our students have complicated lives. But it pains me when students miss hands-on labs or field trips. I want them to get the educational experience of the lab/field, and I don't want to penalize them because they were prostrate over the toilet with the stomach flu. (Boy, has…

A semi-coherent point-by-point reply to the nearly incoherent, yet overwhelmingly disturbing, musings of Greg Laden on the subject of women scientists in the field. SIWOTI alert. If you don't understand why many of us get so riled up by Greg Laden here's a snippet that should help explain things: "That is, indeed, what every scholar needs: A wife (or two) who knows how to type, edit, wield a caliper, and still have time to do the grocery shopping, have lunch ready at noon, and give birth to and raise the kids." The point-by-point takedown of the rest of Laden's post is below the fold. The…

For those of you who liked my footwear selection, you may be interested in knowing about Red Ants Pants. They claim to be "the first ever company dedicated to manufacturing workwear for women" and it is a small woman owned and operated business in Montana. The pants are not cheap, but they are durable and they offer both a straight and curvy cut. The next time I'm off on a major field adventure, I might give these pants a try. h/t ScienceBrother, but ScienceGrandma points out that Carhartt also makes a line of women's clothing.

Dr. Isis has issued quite the challenge with her prompt for the December Scientiae. I knew exactly how I wanted to respond. My science is hotter than Dr. Isis's Naughty Monkeys, because I wear better shoes [when I do my science]. To demonstrate, I present a sampling of actual shoes I have worn while collecting my hot, hot science data. The field assistant is bonus. She doesn't wear shoes...although we tried once with a pair of these. They lasted all of about 4 minutes in the field. The Princess Pup prefers to do her science in the buff.

Well, my data collecting trip could have gone better. Besides the 2" of snow, and the fact one participant had to bow out (hopefully to be rescheduled soon), I discovered that one of my participants was not actually at the company I was visiting, but at a competitor's company. In another state. Needless to say, I didn't make that interview, and had to embarrassedly confess and reschedule, and then somehow pull myself together to carry through on the remaining meeting and interview. In the end, I learned a lot about how companies work and how I might be able to investigate various things,…

I'm back at the ranch of the Aged Parents, and preparing to COLLECT REAL DATA tomorrow. It may be that it is supposed to snow 1.5" tomorrow and I have to drive 4 hours, it may be that one of my participants canceled on me at the last minute, but by tomorrow, I really really should have DATA. I hope this works out...

Hat tip to a reader who pointed me at this recent Chronicle article by two women scientists who tell their stories of bringing their infants along to their field research sites. And pretty hardcore stuff too. Two months in the Yukon studying snow for an assistant professor (Joan Ramage Macdonald), and peat bog research by a Ph.D. student (Maura Sullivan). When I read the article, I felt a wave of familiarity wash over me. Minnow accompanied me in the field several times during my post-doc The story of her first field experience is here. Below the fold, key recommendations from the Chronicle…

Earlier this week, I thought that it would be a great idea to nip over to a local field site and get some work done. Wednesday seemed like the perfect day. The mere fact that I am only now getting a chance to write this should indicate that ideas and reality don't always mesh. 10. Your laptop will get infected by a virus (called XP 2008 Antivirus) on Tuesday afternoon, leaving you sans computer for two days. (You'll also have to reinstall all your programs and files once you get it back.) 9. Your dean will insist on scheduling a mid-morning meeting on Wednesday - and then fail to show up.…

One of the nicest things about being a PhD level scientist is that I don't have to go in the field all the time anymore. (Trust me, I paid my dues during graduate school.) Mostly, I sit in front of a computer and write proposals (and eventually papers). But sometimes I do get to go out into the field, the place that inspired me to do science in the first place. Last month I had just such an opportunity. I needed to be the second person on a field crew for a graduate student's project. Over the course of one very long, very hot week, we got treated to wonderful beauty (both grand and intimate…