mentoring
jane | February 25, 2009I'm supervising a few independent studies this year, with groups of students working on fairly large and fairly fuzzily-defined design projects. These groups couldn't be more different from each other in terms of the way they act as a group, act as individuals, and interact with me. It's got me thinking a lot lately about group dynamics among students and the strong influences that certain individuals have over the behavior of the entire group.
One of the groups is highly functional---on the surface. The students all get along really well with each other and appear to complement each other…
terrasig | February 25, 2009Okay people, these students in Miss Stacy Baker's biology classes and Extreme Biology blog have been rocking my world for quite some time. They've now burst onto the national media and were all the buzz of the recent ScienceOnline'09 conference.
For those not familiar with the story, Stacy Baker is a biology teacher at the Calverton School in Huntingtown, Maryland, who began a website for student activities and class notes back in 2006. With the boundless enthusiasm of ninth-graders and more seasoned AP biology students, the site has become interactive: a blog, Extreme Biology, with videos…
terrasig | January 31, 2009I've been terribly behind on a billion things lately, most importantly spending time with my family and calling PharmSis and PharmMom.
However, DrugMonkey's post on Mentoring 101: Let's Talk About the Money drew from me a comment I feel I should post here despite coming after 60+ other comments there.
The bulk of the discussion was on 1) what do you do to educate your lab on the actual budget of running the show, 2) do NIH research grants really support graduate and postgraduate education? and 3) does recovery of indirect costs (ICRs) represent a boondoggle for university administration, an…
jane | January 7, 2009I just found out about this very cool idea, a sort of a call to arms to address those old, tired statements "where are the women in tech? why aren't there any women in tech? there are no women in tech! there are no women tech pioneers/innovators/role models because women don't like tech/are not genetically predisposed to be good at tech/can't hack it in our little boys' world".....sorry, got a bit carried away there. Anyway. I give you: Ada Lovelace Day.
From the pledge site:
Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women's…
jane | January 3, 2009For a few years now, rather than making new year's resolutions, I've been doing new year's themes. I've found it more rewarding to go with the theme idea, which is more like a principle for living one's life and guiding one's actions overall, rather than choosing specific behaviors on which to focus.
So, it's time to assess last year's theme and pick a new theme for 2009.
The theme for 2008 was FEARLESS:
When I look back on what really disappointed me about 2007, the thing that jumps out at me is that I often stand in my own way. .... In light of this introspection, the theme really named…
terrasig | November 25, 2008We had one of our most active comment threads the other day when I posted my thoughts on drdrA's own superb post about what is most important to her in being a woman in science. I noted my own desire to listen to and understand as completely as possible the issues of my women colleagues and discuss, in an upcoming ScienceOnline'09 session with Zuska and Alice Pawley (Sat 17 Jan, 11:30 am, session C), how they can enlist academic allies who have the traditional power and resource structure (i.e., white guys like me) to establish partnerships in working toward fair and equitable treatment of…
terrasig | November 14, 2008While I'm still compiling and formatting yet another fabulous overseas wine experience from Erleichda for today's main Friday Fermentable, I experienced a bizarre convergence last evening after writing my post on my dissertation defense anniversary.
After plowing through my post, I was catching up on Google Reader and was pointed to the latest post by writer-bartender, scribbler50, and his new blog, Behind the Stick. You must go read his post on, "yet another annoying snobbery afoot in that place I like to call bar-land. . .the newly minted single malt connoisseur."
The post by scribbler50…
terrasig | October 11, 2008Nobel Prize month also means that Denver's 5280 magazine has announced the annual results of their top 270 medical professionals in 79 specialties. While the picture here is the cover of last year's issue featuring my dear colleague, Dr John J (Jay) Reusch, the good doctor was again named among the top six physicians in Cardiovascular Medicine. Our other compatriot, Dr Daniel (Dan) Bessesen was named for the sixth year among the top specialists in Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism.
Even my former pulmonologist, Dr James (Jim) Good, made the list - for his 14th year! The Pulmonary…
terrasig | September 20, 2008Dr Ernest Eliel, a past-president of the American Chemical Society, passed away in Chapel Hill, NC, on Thursday evening. Dr Eliel was 86.
His obituary notes:
Born December 28, 1921, in Cologne, Germany, Dr. Eliel was the son of the late Oskar and Luise Tietz Eliel. He moved to the United States in 1946, and received a Ph.D degree from the University of IL at Urbana-Champaign in 1948. Dr. Eliel lived in South Bend, IN, where he taught at the University of Notre Dame from 1948 until 1972, at which time he moved to Chapel Hill, where he was the W.R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Chemistry at the…
terrasig | August 1, 2008This morning our dear friend and colleague whose wine escapades often fill this spot awoke to the rewards of retirement. My senior cancer research colleague, Erleichda, has just closed the book on 30 years with a single pharmaceutical company, unheard of in today's climate of layoffs and jumping from one company to the next.
My friend began in this industry when it was still considered a noble pursuit and continued to be an ambassador for all that is good about pharmaceutical research & development, with his primary concern the welfare of those stricken with cancer and the cultivation…
jane | June 17, 2008I have a few undergraduate students working in my lab for part of the summer. They started this week. Working with undergrads is something I do every summer---well, except for last summer, when I was on maternity leave. So you'd think I'd remember, at this point, how the drill goes: how to get them up and running, how much time and attention they need, etc.
Apparently I forgot a lot in a year.
I've forgotten how little undergrads know when they start out---even the best and brightest of them. I've forgotten that they don't know "the rules of the lab", or how to "do" research, or what I…
jane | April 28, 2008If you read almost any academic blog, or Rate Your Students, or really any site that academics frequent, you'll encounter discussion, debate, and general bitching about students' lack of ability to (a) properly cite sources and (b) avoid plagiarism. Discussions with my academic friends in more writing-intensive disciplines bear out what cyberspace illustrates: students don't, or can't, or won't, properly cite sources.
This carries over into computer science, too, though, and that's something that's been on my mind lately: How do we teach students how to properly "cite", and avoid…
terrasig | April 25, 2008MD/PhD student Jake Young at Pure Pedantry came up with a great idea and is collecting recipes for cheap, grad student/med student meals. (We of Eastern European heritage love a kid who suggests an inventive application of kielbasa.).
The submissions in the comment thread remind me that our food supply system is so screwed up that the most nutritious foods are the most expensive. When one is living on a student stipend, paying your own way, or , more seriously, if you are one of millions of US citizens living in abject poverty, one usually purchases the most calories per dollar. In our…
jane | March 7, 2008Say you are a woman in computing. Maybe you're struggling to get through school. Maybe you're trying to start up a mentoring program, or have a great project idea, or are facing a career transition. And maybe you need some funds to get your project/schooling/transition off the ground, or at least help it along.
There's a program that might be of assistance....
The Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology, and the Systers Online Community, sponsor a program called Pass-It-On Grants. The idea behind the grants is to develop a network of women, who provide financial assistance to their…
terrasig | December 15, 2007On this day in 2005 we first signed on to the blogosphere on the original Terra Sigillata at Blogger. I had spent over six months reading the blogs of other in the areas of medicine and science and wondered if there was any need for yet another blog from another frustrated scientist. But I'm an academician stuck in a position where I don't teach full-time. I really used to enjoy beginning my pharmacology lectures with little vignettes about the latest drug news or some information about an herb or dietary supplement. I've also been fortunate to have a lot of clinical colleagues who would…
terrasig | October 29, 2007The always-insightful blog commenter, PhysioProf, had a terrific post yesterday on DrugMonkey about managing the various types of trainees in a research laboratory.
Some are focused on just doing interesting science. Some are working towards the goal of eventually achieving scientific independence and becoming independent PIs themselves. Some don't know why they are doing what they are doing, and may not even have ever asked themselves. Some are preparing themselves for working as scientists in industry. Some may be preparing themselves for non-scientific careers in which they make use of…
terrasig | November 30, 2006FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, November 30, 2006
CONTACT: NIH News Media Branch, 301-496-5787
NIH ANNOUNCES MORE THAN 50 AWARDS IN THE PATHWAY TO INDEPENDENCE PROGRAM
Five-Year Grants Foster Transition to Research Independence
Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health, today named 58 recipients of the NIH Pathway to Independence Award.
The Pathway to Independence Program, announced in January of this year, offers a new opportunity for promising postdoctoral scientists to receive both mentored and independent research support from the same award.
"New…
terrasig | November 20, 2006Long ago in a place far away, I was a full-time pharmacy professor. I love pharmacy students, almost as much as I love medical and nursing students. But, to me, pharmacy students were special because they would one day be the frontline health professional seen first by the majority of the public.
I took very seriously my responsibility to share with my students every known mechanism of drug action, why some drugs were better than others, and how some drugs interacted with others. I credit my pharmacy students with encouraging to develop my interest in herbal medicines, sifting the wheat…
terrasig | September 26, 2006Dr Bruce Alberts, recently departed president of the US National Academy of Sciences and Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF, just spoke this morning at a symposium celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Duke University School of Medicine. The overall program is incredible, with four Nobel laureates in three days, plus a number of Lasker Award winners including one of this year's (Linda Grieder).
I'm compelled to put up this quick post on Dr Alberts' talk because of his ambitious plan for improving scientific literacy of the US and the scientific prospects for grad students and…
terrasig | June 10, 2006[A regular reader, SciMom at Doubleloop, thanked me for putting up this post on my old blog this past Wednesday. As I don't believe that any of my new SiBlings here covered the passing of this amazing scientist, I am reprinting it here for our new and more diverse audience.]
Cancer research and the cause of women in science and medicine lost a true leader and shining example last week with the passing of Dr Anita Roberts to gastric cancer. She was only 64.
From her Washington Post obituary:
Dr. Roberts, the 49th most-cited scientist in the world and the third most-cited female scientist,…