xykademiqz
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As Saturday is always the slowest, most boring day on the web, presumably because everyone is grocery shopping/watching kids play sports/mowing or plowing, depending on season/doing laundry, I will do my best to post something on Saturdays (at least every other Saturday) going forward. MechEngPhD asked: … I’d be particularly interested in hearing about your
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A new bane of my parental existence: People who insist on carpooling for the sake of carpooling and who, anxious about achieving perfect reciprocity, end up wasting way more of my time (and theirs) texting about it than is saved by carpooling. Stop texting me and just let me take everyone’s kids, OK? I love
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A friend of the blog, Alex, has an essay published in Inside Higher Ed. Check it out! https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/07/23/asking-faculty-answer-diversity-questions-wont-achieve-institutional-goals-opinion
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Graduate students come with a range of technical backgrounds/levels of preparation, a range of natural aptitudes/talent, and a range of attitudes toward gradate school (comprising the willingness to work hard, coachability, etc.). There are other relevant axes if excellence, but for now let’s focus on these three. Ideally, a student has a great aptitude, background,
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*cough, cough* Anyone home? It’s really dusty in here. I know my blogging frequency has dropped to nearly zero, but I’m still here and I plan to stay here, just not as often as I used to. I don’t want to commit to a posting frequency, because all commitments make me want to flee screaming
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We all know that one by George Carlin (paraphrasing): ” Inside every cynical person hides a disappointed idealist.” I wonder if I’ve hit the level of cynicism that ends up being toxic to those around me, rather than serving the primary purpose, which is to steady me for inevitable disappointment in the face of people’s
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Dear Passionate Organizer of Stuff, I am glad you enjoy your clutter-free desk, alphabetized books, and color-coordinated to-do-lists. I am glad the teachings of Marie Kondo elucidate a path toward joy for you. What I ask is that you leave me the fuck alone; that you do not passive-aggressively or — let’s face it —
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As faculty at research institutions, we have a lot of freedom in how we run our groups and that’s generally a good thing. Most of us do many things in similar ways: we have group meetings and individual meetings with our students; we teach them how to write research papers and give presentations; we train
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I’ve been working on my annual report for 2018. It was not a bad year; I got a lot of new money, an award, but paperwise it was lower than my usual annual output and I know why — senior students graduated in the two years prior and the group is full of newbie folks
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On the one hand, things would likely not be better elsewhere. On the other hand, things might be better elsewhere. I like my department. I like my colleagues, I really like most of those with whom I interact frequently, I like department staff, and I like department leadership. I am, however, not delighted with our
xykademiqz 