Research is like a slot machine

Ecogeoman recently compared working as a scientist to a gambling addiction. He has a point.

Funding rates are crappy. He applied for 10-12 small grants in the last several months hoping but never expecting to be successful. Lo and behold, he actually won two of them and he is on cloud nine. He mused that this taste of success is enough to keep him going...for a while.

It’s like gambling at a casino. The slot machine has to pay out just frequently enough to keep your interest so you’ll continue to put the money in. In science, you have to get enough grants funded to keep you wanting to try for the next one.

We hypothesized that people who make it in research are ones who can sustain longest on intermittent success. Alternatively, the most successful people probably enjoy more frequent success. We think maybe that’s not so much the case. Instead, we think that there’s selection for people who can coast on glory for longer, thereby getting more done before they are overcome with the depression of failure. There's clearly a positive feedback.

My career plan: shrug

I come from a working class family. My dad is a skilled tradesman, my mom stayed home with the kids until she became a receptionist/office manager when I was young. Most of my siblings went to college, but none had advanced degrees until S4 got a master’s to keep up her teaching certificate. In short, I had no experience with the concept of a Ph.D. before I went to college and had Ph.D.s for professors. Scientists were people interviewed on the news about cancer breakthroughs or marine biology.

I went to a smallish, non-Ph.D.-granting university with a tiny master’s program. I had little exposure to research until my last semester when I got to work in the lab of a new faculty for course credit. Right after I graduated, that assistant professor took me to a small, student-friendly meeting to present a poster representing my work. It was the best professional experience I’ve had.

Everything at that meeting was new and exciting. I didn’t know who anyone was, so I didn’t know who to be intimidated by and I was fearless. I learned so much and met so many people, including Research Advisor, who then hired me to be a technician.

I came to RA’s lab not knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I still wasn’t considering grad school; Ph.D.s were for other people, not me. I figured I’d try the research gig for about a year, then try something more applied for a year and see what I liked best. After several months, the research bug bit me and I eventually enrolled in a grad program.

Now that I am approaching the end of grad school, it’s really hard to imagine the next step, let alone where I’ll be ten years out. In the fall, I’ll probably have to start seriously looking for post-docs, which just feels weird. There are so many different directions that appeal to me where I could use my current knowledge and skills in new ways. I sort of figure an opportunity will come along and the choice will be obvious. But now there’s Ecogeoman’s career to consider as well. And there are some great opportunities on the horizon in my current (non-university) lab. While I know that it sometimes isn’t good to stay in the same lab after a Ph.D., quite frankly it might be the best way for me to get on a nonacademic career path.

So, here I am, almost with a Ph.D. that I never expected and never planned for. I’m optimistic that it will all work out in the end. I plan to keep crossing bridges as I come to them since that has served me well so far. Really, it’s all I know.

scientiae-carnival

Shuffle meme

All the cool kids are doing this meme, but I've been resisting because I don't have an iPod. I broke down today when CAE specifically tagged me to do it. I figured I could make do by leafing through my old-school travel cd case to list the 25 songs I've listened to the most lately. Unfortunately, I pretty much only listen to 2 or 3 cds, so I tired to come up with songs I really like even if they're not in regular rotation. Even that didn't get me to 25, so I took a trip down memory lane to fill in the list with favorite songs from throughout my life. I think I need to cut back on the NPR.

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through when someone gets them right.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING.


Bonus points if you can pick out the two songs from the cds I have on repeat. More bonus points if you can identify what was my first favorite song.

1. Someday mother will die and I’ll get the money
2. When you grow up livin’ like a good boy outta
3. This is the beat that make you shake your rump
That make your booty go ba-bump, ba-bump
It’s that beat that make ya bump ya bump (ohh)
4. I’m wearing
fur pajamas
5. Ground control to Major Tom
6. Drop your glasses, shake your asses
7. All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
8. Hello darkness my old friend
9. You never give me your money
10. Sunshine came softly a-through my window today
11. The queen of light took her bow and then she turned to go
12. I want you to know that I’m happy for you
13. Reluctantly crouched at the starting line
14. She keeps moet et chandon in her pretty cabinet
15. Sitting on a park bench eyeing little girls with bad intent
16. I was lying in the grass on Sunday morning of last week indulging in my self defeats
17. Alcohol on my hands I got plans to ditch myself and get outside
Dancing women
Throwing plates
Decapitating their laughing dates
Swirling chickens caught in flight
Out of focus
Much too bright
Coming down
Shiny teeth
Game show suckers trying to bleed
But I got a drug and I got the bug
And I got something better than love
18. We’ve come a long long way together
19. You’ve got to trust your instinct and let go of regret
Youve got to bet on yourself now star
cause thats your best bet
Watch me now with a wicked and wild and I said
We come with the funky style
That gets us known for the show
And well mix the hip hop reggae if we say it is so
And fuck the naysayers cause they dont mean a thingcause this is what style we bring
20. Good mornin’ ladies and gentlemen, boys and motherfuckin’ girls
21. Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise
22. At home, drawing pictures of mountain tops
23. 6 o’clock already? I was just in the middle of a dream
24. On the first part of the journey I was looking at all the life
25. Early in the mornin’. risin’ to the street. Light me up that cigarette and I’ll strap shoes on my feet

Lost = awesome

This season of Lost has been brilliant. The pacing is fantastic, the plot is dramatic and complex, and every single episode ends with a twist out of absolutely nowhere. I can't wait to see what happends next!

They best not end the series by revealing that the whole thing was someone's dream.

RBOC

I have been unusually busy in the evenings this week so I haven't written any substantial posts. So, bullets.

• I sent my advisors the second draft of my paper. I wonder how long it will take them to read it. I expect it to be a while.
• I have a committee meeting coming up. I want to convince them that I should drop the last proposed chapter of my dissertation. I really hope they agree to it.
• If you are going to invite your lab to your home for an open house to entertain a guest scientist, tell people what day you want them to come. Tell them before the day you want them to come.
• If there is a lull in conversation at such an open house, play telephone. It's hilarious when your guests speak a variety languages and children are involved.
• It FINALLY feels like spring. There have been several days with highs above 70F. yay.
• Lost is back tomorrow!

A Note

Dear Former Self,

Thank you for taking good notes sometimes. Occasionally, I think you are a genius for remembering to record what you did in the lab, like the time you saved my ass by noting how you did that one step in the convoluted protocol.

That said, I wish you would do the dishes more often.

Take care,
Current Self

I'm a trained monkey

I'm off to the lab this afternoon to do some seriously mindless work. If I'm lucky I'll tick off 6 more samples from the counter at the sidebar. Even though this task is crummy, tedious, boring, and dirty, I enjoy it as long as I don't have to do it every day for weeks on end. Candid Engineer has a post about why big brain thinky types like to do repetitive lab work (actually, there are a bunch of great posts at Candid Engineer in Academia) that I think is pretty much spot-on. It feels good to see the work get done. Also, I like to get my hands dirty with the project so I develop a more intimate knowledge of it.


So you say, "EGF, you don't work on weekends! That violates your 40 hours rule." That's true, but I do want to graduate and the only way to do it to get things done. However, unless I have a huge and looming deadline, when I work on weekends I reserve the right to choose whatever I feel like doing rather than worrying about what has highest priority. I figure it's bonus work so whatever I get done is great. I don't want to be resentful of being there; I want to be pleased with myself for getting something extra accomplished.

Every thing I do today is one thing I don't have to do tomorrow.