Sorry about the quiet. It's hard to blog right now when I'm essentially mourning the loss of two years of data, because my co-author didn't do proper due-diligence, and I trusted what he gave me. Paper was submitted for review, and while most of the review was positive, and I think we'll be able to get the first paper out, a recommend reference has more or less invalidated everything we'd lined up for the next few manuscripts. The reference in question is experimental data that my co-author couldn't find, and points out some flaws in our potential that can't be ignored for the other manuscripts.
It doesn't help that I would have left my PI if I didn't think I had 3-4 papers worth of data when I considered leaving. So I'm also kicking myself about that.
I guess it's a good thing I'm working on 4 different projects at once. Still sucks.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Prioritizing without Deadlines
After almost one year without few real deadlines in my life, I think I'm finally learning how to balance my different projects in a way that 1) everything gets attention and 2) things actually are completed. One of the biggest changes I've made is starting to outline manuscripts before I'm done with data generation. It helps me identify what data I need to generate, and makes me think about how many steps are going to go into it.
At some point in my undergraduate training, the idea of making metrics for everything was beaten into my brain. Every so often, I will sit down and make my priority matrix for every project I'm currently working on. First I split them into two types: things which need computation time, and things which need brain time. Each project gets a 1-10 score in several categories, which I assign different weights.
50% of the score is immediacy of the next deadline. When I actually have them. 20% is for length of time I expect it will take to complete. 20% is for how long it's been since I worked on that projects, and 10% is for how important I think it is to its master project. The entire score gets multiplied by the number of tasks that depend on this task. However, I let myself get frustrated with projects and take a break from them, and if I'm inspired on a particular project, I will give it more attention.
So far, I haven't had any deadlines take me by surprise, and I haven't heard any complaints from my advisor that I'm not producing the right data, but with the annual grant review coming up, that may change.
At some point in my undergraduate training, the idea of making metrics for everything was beaten into my brain. Every so often, I will sit down and make my priority matrix for every project I'm currently working on. First I split them into two types: things which need computation time, and things which need brain time. Each project gets a 1-10 score in several categories, which I assign different weights.
50% of the score is immediacy of the next deadline. When I actually have them. 20% is for length of time I expect it will take to complete. 20% is for how long it's been since I worked on that projects, and 10% is for how important I think it is to its master project. The entire score gets multiplied by the number of tasks that depend on this task. However, I let myself get frustrated with projects and take a break from them, and if I'm inspired on a particular project, I will give it more attention.
So far, I haven't had any deadlines take me by surprise, and I haven't heard any complaints from my advisor that I'm not producing the right data, but with the annual grant review coming up, that may change.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Pondering Beyond Academia
On Twitter and in blog comments, BabyAttachMode has started an interesting conversation about if those who left academia regretted doing so. I've been thinking a lot about careers and "what next" lately, and the more I think about, the more I want to spend at least part of my career away from the academic research environment. There are a lot of reasons for this.
I'd like to have kids, and not feel so guilty about taking a reasonable length of time off for maternity leave. I know in my current situation, I'd be expected to at least be working from home within two weeks. My boss has no kids of his own, and some of his previous students have done just that, so that's what he expects. Not that I'm planning on any right now, but things happen.
I'd like to earn closer to what my husband makes. And that isn't going to happen in an academic postdoc. In a national lab, it's much more plausible, but many labs aren't near somewhere he could work. Also, there is some totally awesome research happening at the smaller labs like PNNL.
I miss working with people on projects that can be completed. Open-ended questions are interesting, but I miss being able to say I'm done with something, and mean it (see: project that won't die). I liked having a final product that I could point to and say I contributed to that part, over there. It's the part of me that identifies as an engineer instead of scientist.
Unlike most grad students I know, the majority of my friends are *not* in graduate school. I have my belly dance friends, my craft night crew, and I married out of the ivory tower. It helps keep me sane and grounded, and remember that there's more to life than papers and grants (like Brave coming out! The hair algorithms! Squee!) It also shows me how borked certain things in my current academic environment are. The only professor in my department who regularly seems happy are the 2 old guys who are || this close to retiring, and our two young Russian hot shots, who I'm pretty sure are a) crazy and b) rolling in grant money. And because they work all the time, it's not like they're miserable from 9-5 and then go have a life. This is what they do. Is it any wonder that the longer students are in graduate school, the less likely they are to want to pursue an academic career (can't find the article to cite)?
I'm also very lucky to have family that will understand and support either decision, with a very solid knowledge of what every option entails. I've got an aunt and 2 grandparents from academia, an uncle from the national lab system, and parents in a tech industry. When I was an intern at GiantEquipmentManufacturer, my boss had his Ph.D, as did his boss, and 4 of the 5 other people in our little group. Not only that, but they had degrees from all over the academic and geographic map.
Of course, the grass is always greener. But I can't help noticing that the grass over here is awfully brown lately.
I'd like to have kids, and not feel so guilty about taking a reasonable length of time off for maternity leave. I know in my current situation, I'd be expected to at least be working from home within two weeks. My boss has no kids of his own, and some of his previous students have done just that, so that's what he expects. Not that I'm planning on any right now, but things happen.
I'd like to earn closer to what my husband makes. And that isn't going to happen in an academic postdoc. In a national lab, it's much more plausible, but many labs aren't near somewhere he could work. Also, there is some totally awesome research happening at the smaller labs like PNNL.
I miss working with people on projects that can be completed. Open-ended questions are interesting, but I miss being able to say I'm done with something, and mean it (see: project that won't die). I liked having a final product that I could point to and say I contributed to that part, over there. It's the part of me that identifies as an engineer instead of scientist.
Unlike most grad students I know, the majority of my friends are *not* in graduate school. I have my belly dance friends, my craft night crew, and I married out of the ivory tower. It helps keep me sane and grounded, and remember that there's more to life than papers and grants (like Brave coming out! The hair algorithms! Squee!) It also shows me how borked certain things in my current academic environment are. The only professor in my department who regularly seems happy are the 2 old guys who are || this close to retiring, and our two young Russian hot shots, who I'm pretty sure are a) crazy and b) rolling in grant money. And because they work all the time, it's not like they're miserable from 9-5 and then go have a life. This is what they do. Is it any wonder that the longer students are in graduate school, the less likely they are to want to pursue an academic career (can't find the article to cite)?
I'm also very lucky to have family that will understand and support either decision, with a very solid knowledge of what every option entails. I've got an aunt and 2 grandparents from academia, an uncle from the national lab system, and parents in a tech industry. When I was an intern at GiantEquipmentManufacturer, my boss had his Ph.D, as did his boss, and 4 of the 5 other people in our little group. Not only that, but they had degrees from all over the academic and geographic map.
Of course, the grass is always greener. But I can't help noticing that the grass over here is awfully brown lately.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Summer Vacation? Ha!
I go to a craft group weekly made of of people who by and large aren't in academia. My favorite question recently has been "Aren't you less busy now that the semester is over?" Ha! Um... no. You see, summer is when program reviews are, when my PI finally has time to read our manuscripts, and swings back into micromanagement mode. Summer is, in fact, busier.
At this point, I'm done with required coursework. I've finished my teaching requirement. As such, research is now my daily job. While I have more flexibility than my husband to decide to knock off early and enjoy the weather once in a while, I'm still expected in the office, working, most of the time. My advisor asked if anyone was planning on being out of town for the 4th of July, and it was very clear that the correct answer was 'no'.
Pretty much the only difference it that there are fewer undergrads underfoot, so it takes less time to get lunch. Ah, the exciting grad school life...
At this point, I'm done with required coursework. I've finished my teaching requirement. As such, research is now my daily job. While I have more flexibility than my husband to decide to knock off early and enjoy the weather once in a while, I'm still expected in the office, working, most of the time. My advisor asked if anyone was planning on being out of town for the 4th of July, and it was very clear that the correct answer was 'no'.
Pretty much the only difference it that there are fewer undergrads underfoot, so it takes less time to get lunch. Ah, the exciting grad school life...
Thursday, June 7, 2012
At Long Last...
After 2+ years on my advisors desk, 1 week fighting the submission website for the journal he chose and 3 days off nagging him to approve the final PDF, the paper is submitted!
Now, back to work on the next one...
Now, back to work on the next one...
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Learning from Negative Example Part III
Posts one and two in this series.
Things I've recently learned from my advisor:
Don't leave town unannounced the day before a senior student's (hopefully) final data meeting
That student will be incredibly frustrated and angry when they can't find you, and only learn where you are by asking other professors if they've seen you. Younger students will start worrying about our own odds of ever graduating...
Let the movers lift the heavy things
Yes, it's a very delicate piece of equipment. But the man who can bench 200 lbs and lifts heavy things for a living will be able to set it down more gently than you, especially after you've thrown out your back already.
Learn to adapt to new technology
Just because you learned to program in Fortran77 doesn't mean advancements haven't been made, that allow such crazy options as using descriptive variable names, and having lines more than 72 characters long. Every single programming language I know of got rid of go to statements for a reason...
Don't expect students to know exactly what other students on unrelated projects are doing
My role is to work on my project, and work with the members of my group doing anything related to my project. If there are people in the group who work in other physical locations, don't expect me to know what they've been doing: they aren't here while they're doing it and I have my own stuff to worry about. It's a good day when I remember what I'm doing...
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
May Madness
Since I started graduate school May has consistently been the busiest month of my year. This year, I'm preparing data for a conference talk I'm giving, trying to make sure there are new results related to multiple projects before the annual reviews in June, trying to get the paper out the door, now that my advisor finally gave it back to me, and all sorts of other fun. At least this year I'm not planning a wedding, and the talk does not require magical data fairy powers to be engaged.
Blogging has been slow. Between coding, writing up bits of manuscripts and end-of-semester minion wrap-up, my writing energy has been occupied. So here's my plea: if there's a material or materials science question you've always wondered about, send it to ms dot matscieng at gmail dot com, or leave it as a comment, and I will try to write something about it. The hardest part of blogging is definitely coming up with appropriate ideas.
Blogging has been slow. Between coding, writing up bits of manuscripts and end-of-semester minion wrap-up, my writing energy has been occupied. So here's my plea: if there's a material or materials science question you've always wondered about, send it to ms dot matscieng at gmail dot com, or leave it as a comment, and I will try to write something about it. The hardest part of blogging is definitely coming up with appropriate ideas.
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