Shuffle meme results

I almost forgot to post the answers to my shuffle meme. Everybody is probably over it with this meme, but here are my results anyway. I listed the person who correctly identified the artist and song. Names in parentheses got either just the artist or just the title.

As an aside, my first favorite song was Manic Monday. I currently listen obsessively to TMBG and Talking Heads.

1. Someday mother will die and I’ll get the money. They Might Be Giants, I Palindrome I. Geeka
2. When you grow up livin’ like a good boy outta. Scissor Sisters, Take You Mama. Quartzpebble
3. This is the beat that make you shake your rump. Black Eyed Peas, Ba Bump
4. I’m wearing fur pajamas. Talking Heads, Wild Wild Life. Anonymous
5. Ground control to Major Tom. David Bowie, Space Oddity. Dancingfish
6. Drop your glasses, shake your asses. Eve & Gwen Stefani, Let Me Blow You Mind. Comebacknikki
7. All I can say is that my life is pretty plain. Mind Mellon, No Rain. Comebacknikki
8. Hello darkness my old friend. Simon and Garfunkel, Sound of Silence. Academic
9. You never give me your money. The Beatles, You never give me your money. Dancingfish
10. Sunshine came softly a-through my window today. Donovan, Sunshine Superman. Silver Fox
11. The queen of light took her bow and then she turned to go. Led Zeppelin, Battle of Evermore. (Sciencemama)
12. I want you to know that I’m happy for you. Alannis Morissette, You oughta know. CAE
13. Reluctantly crouched at the starting line Cake, The Distance. Addy N.
14. She keeps moet et chandon in her pretty cabinet Queen, Killer Queen. Addy N.
15. Sitting on a park bench eyeing little girls with bad intent. Jethro Tull, Aqualung. Silver Fox
16. I was lying in the grass on Sunday morning of last week indulging in my self defeats. Len, Steal my sunshine. Addy N.
17. Alcohol on my hands I got plans to ditch myself and get outside. Beck, Beercan
18. We’ve come a long long way together. Fatboy Slim, Praise You. CAE
19. You’ve got to trust your instinct and let go of regret. 311, All mixed up. (Dancingfish)
20. Good mornin’ ladies and gentlemen, boys and motherfuckin’ girls. Prince, Pussy Control. Arduous
21. Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise. Fleetwood Mac, The Chain. Anonymous
22. At home, drawing pictures of mountain tops. Pearl Jam, Jeremy. Addy N.
23. 6 o’clock already? I was just in the middle of a dream. Bangles, Manic Monday. Arduous(dancingfish)
24. On the first part of the journey I was looking at all the life. America, Horse with no name. Silver Fox
25. Early in the mornin’. risin’ to the street. Light me up that cigarette and I’ll strap shoes on my feet. Sublime, What I got. Addy N.

It's that simple

Ecogeoman simply cannot understand why any man would discriminate against women at work.: "Why would I want to go to work in a sausage fest every day?!"

I suppose the ends are more important than the means?

Intellectual independence

Conventional wisdom* asserts that a student pursuing a master’s degree should be given a research project that’s ready to go. The questions should be developed, the field site identified, and the funding in place before the student arrives to begin work. These students have to complete lots of coursework and research in a short period of time, so they can’t fool around with harebrained thesis ideas. On the other hand, Ph.D. students are expected to develop their own project.

As I’ve progressed through grad school, I’ve noticed that there are many Ph.D. students who are unprepared to put together a project from scratch. The only people who are really capable of designing a new project in a timely way either have a master’s degree or worked in their discipline before starting grad school. Otherwise, students may flounder because they don’t have a deep enough understanding of the literature or the relevant experience to know what the pertinent research questions are.

I did have work experience (but no master’s) and still I came into an established project. I think the research has proceeded in different way than if I hadn’t been involved, but the fundamental idea was Research Advisor’s. In addition to the advantages of having the core ideas already worked out by an expert, I also had funding. I have heard of faculty who make incoming Ph.D. students rewrite funded proposals, tweaking them with their own ideas, in order to “take ownership” of the project. I think this is a waste of time. In my field, students usually have to write a research proposal to achieve candidacy. This exercise was very challenging and beneficial for me, even though I didn’t conceive the original project. By the time I defended the proposal, I had reworked it into something pretty different than Advisor had at the outset. But I couldn't have done that right off the bat.

It seems to be getting more common for students to embark on a Ph.D. straight from undergrad. I see the appeal for the students, since a Ph.D. doesn’t necessarily go faster after a master’s, and for the faculty, who get better trained staff with lower turnover. Still, I think this trend is a little disturbing because many students coming right from undergrad are overwhelmed by the independence of grad school. It’s not that they are incapable of doing the work, but that they don’t have the necessary experience to initiate it. In my opinion, people starting a Ph.D. right from university should either join an established project to which they can contribute something new or vital, or they should be given a small project to get them started. I think it’s not right for faculty to take on inexperienced students without giving them something to start with. They are, after all, students.

*This whole post comes from my experience with how things work in eco-, geo-, and/or ecogeoscience.

May Scientiae is awesome

I have had the May Scientiae Carnival at A Cat Nap bookmarked since Flicka Mawa published it last week, but I just got around to reading it today. If you haven't seen it yet, go check it out now! Flicka did an incredible job of putting together a whole bunch of amazing posts on "career paths, perspective, and a changing self-image".

The scientists who wrote posts for the carnival have taken a wide variety of paths to get where they are now. I'm struck, though, by how many have faced uncertainty along the way or had very different goals at the outset. I perceive many of these bloggers to be extremely successful, ambitious, and goal-orientated. And they are, but they don't all have the clear long-term vision that I thought they had. It makes me feel better about my own insecurities and uncertainties to know that not everyone has it all figured out from the get-go.

Does competence trump an annoying personality?

Back when I was looking for grad schools, I interviewed for a spot in a lab where they told me I was "perfect on paper". That was not, however, enough for this professor to take me on. He wanted to be sure I would "fit in" with his lab. In fact, this guy had his whole lab approve new members before he made offers. In effect, everyone had to like each other. I wonder if they had better lab dynamics or if it was just a gimmick.

Since then, I have met some people who I find exceedingly annoying, yet they are good students (or post docs or faculty or whatever). In the case of university labs, I wonder if the irritating personality traits are considered by faculty when they take on students, given that they will have to work together for 4-6 years. Perhaps these people aren't annoying to their supervisors. Maybe it's just judgmental me. I have been known to have limited tolerance for human frailty. note the silly font

Is there a balance for selecting staff that are both competent and cool? Does it matter? Should aggravating personality traits be overlooked, or is that a reasonable way to decide among candidates who are otherwise equal? I don't mean people who seem abusive, racist, dangerous, etc., just run of the mill annoying. What do you think?

Committee meeting: done

I had a committee meeting yesterday. My department didn't require annual committee meetings until this year. In the past, the committee would only meet together twice: once at the student's prelim exam and once at her defense. I guess a few "uncomfortable" defenses made the department decide it needed to be like other decent programs and require annual progress meetings.

I guess because the annual meeting was an unknown entity, I got super anxious about it. I knew it wasn't supposed to be a big deal so I'm not sure why I was so worried. I guess I thought they would tear apart the work I had done so far or not approve the changes I wanted to make to one of the chapters. Also, I felt very disorganized and irresponsible because I hadn't fully checked out the room arrangements. I was right to be worried about that because the room had a speaker phone with no speaker* and an expired calling card (one of my committee members had to participate by phone).

The phone stuff eventually worked out and the meeting went fine. Thank goodness for Research Advisor, who just the day before had passed a paper to me that covered exactly what I needed to substantiate the revisions I wanted. After two hours (!) of discussion, we agreed on a much reduced version of a chapter I proposed two years ago at my prelims and they nodded approval at the data I have so far for the other chapters. I even received some very positive feedback from my outside committee member (delivered in restrained and measured verbiage) that made me feel really good. He told Research Advisor he thinks I am "a winner". Can't beat that.


*Me to Academic Advisor in a most shrill voice, "I don't deserve a Ph.D. if I can't even set up a meeting room with a phone that works!" How melodramatic of me.

sweet science dreams

Today I attended a seminar so far outside my discipline that I just couldn't get into it. It was part of a larger event, otherwise I wouldn't have been there. I did something I've actually never done before: I fell asleep. I know many people frequently fight dozing during talks, but it's not usually a problem for me because I'm a terrible napper. I definitely space out during boring seminars, but I don't fall asleep. This one was so boring that I just couldn't help it.

I didn't just have heavy lids, I actually had a dream! I think I was dreaming about the seminar because I woke up at one point thinking I had a great question to ask and I felt really proud. Then I realized I had no idea what was going on on the screen.

I felt really bad for being so rude to the speaker. Honestly, the work seemed important and I'm glad that someone is doing it (and that it's not me), but I just couldn't understand enough to get engrossed. Luckily, my head wasn't rolling or anything...maybe he didn't notice my eyes were closed.