On Faculty Hiring

Can selecting the wrong thesis topic be the difference between getting a faculty job and not? I am working on an area which I find very interesting, but that doesn't really fit the buzzword categories necessary to get published in glamor mags. Yet, it seems like everyone I talk to mentions the importance of impact factor in publications when you're looking to apply for jobs. It feels very much like picking a hot topic when you first enter grad school, and may therefore have no idea what the hot topics in your field actually are, is critical to succeeding in this crazy game. 

Of course, there are always compounding circumstances, but it isn't very reassuring to hear the head of your departments current search committee say that they're only considering applicants with at least one Nature or Science paper. Then again, my particular MRU is well known for having a major prestige boner. 

Last week's conference left me feeling very mixed about where I stand right now, and where I want to go next. I love my field, but after spending two years in the DoD, my publication record isn't going to be spectacular (for very obvious reasons), and I worry. Of course, that could just be the cold-induced insomnia talking. 

Colds, my favorite conference souvenir...

Progress: Day 3

So I've learned some things about how Microsoft Word's word count tool works, and may wind up re-adjusting my goals. For example, it counts every entry in a table of numbers. It also deals very oddly with symbols and equations.

November 3rd:

Starting Metrics:
Ch. 1 -820
Ch. 2 - 1,943
Ch. 3 - 1,480
Ch. 4 - 873
Ch. 5 - 41
Ch. 6 - 7
---------------
           5,165

Paper 1 (Ch. 1) - 5,504
Paper 2 (Ch. 3) - 1,102
Paper 3 (Ch. 3) - 1,635
Paper 4 (Ch. 4) - 2,906 {currently in advisor limbo}
Paper 5 (Ch. 4) - 1,222
Paper 6 (Ch. 5) - 155
Paper 7 (not even slightly related to my thesis) - 1,811
-------------------------------
                            14,376


The papers relevant to Chapter 2 are already written, and hence are not included in the totals (but total 7,764 words, which may help Ch. 2 expand a bit more quickly)

Thesis Meter:

1685 / 10000

Paper Meter:

143 / 5000

NaThesisWriMo?

So if you have friends who write fiction, you've probably heard of National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, where they all try to write 50,000 words during the month of November. Why November? Because the people who started it wanted to take advantage of the more miserable weather. Fair enough.

To help motivate myself, I've decided to adapt the concept for thesis/paper writing. 50,000 words is probably longer than my entire thesis should be (50,000 words ~ 200 double spaced pages without figures). Instead, I'm setting my goals as adding 10,000 words to my thesis, and an additional 5,000 words in papers. I'm also going to *gasp* update the blog with progress reports. (References are not included in the word counts). Unlike the actual NaNoWriMo, there's no prizes, other than things being done. Which is a pretty awesome prize.

Starting Metrics:
Ch. 1 - 561
Ch. 2 - 1,650
Ch. 3 - 1,185
Ch. 4 - 36
Ch. 5 - 41
Ch. 6 - 7
---------------
           3,480

Paper 1 (Ch. 1) - 5,504
Paper 2 (Ch. 3) - 1,102
Paper 3 (Ch. 3) - 1,635
Paper 4 (Ch. 4) - 2,906 {currently in advisor limbo}
Paper 5 (Ch. 4) - 1,222
Paper 6 (Ch. 5) - 155
Paper 7 (not even slightly related to my thesis) - 1,811
-------------------------------
                            14,335


The papers relevant to Chapter 2 are already written, and hence are not included in the totals (but total 7,764 words, which may help Ch. 2 expand a bit more quickly)

Thesis Meter:

0 / 10000 (0.00%)

Paper Meter:

0 / 5000 (0.00%)

Downsides of Fellowships

So it's been nearly a year since I wrote anything. Not much has really changed, and I just didn't feel like repeating myself. I did get a SMART fellowship in the end, but it's a mixed blessing.

You see, this week, one of the students who started in my group at the same time as I did defended. Mostly because our advisor ran out of funding for him, and he had enough to constitute a thesis. I'm really happy to see someone graduate, but it's been frustrating as well. In the rush to get this student out the door, they've worked on three papers, while one of mine continues to languish in my advisor's inbox. I'm hoping this is not another 2 year wait... I've got proof that he can be functional, when forced to be, just no force.

Because I'm funded, I'm no longer a priority. There are no external forces to make my advisor read my papers right now. So instead of defending soon, the scope of my projects just got a little bigger, so he can justify keeping me until the funding runs out. In the meantime, I stay firmly at the bottom of his reading list. Motivating yourself to write papers under these conditions is damn hard, but I'm trying. Me working harder/faster won't change my graduation date. Writing more papers won't even get me papers any faster.

I just want feedback. But apparently that's too much to ask.