The other day I was talking to a last-year PhD student about finding a postdoc position. I’ve written before about the various ways I’m aware of to get a postdoc position, but in this conversation, I was recalling all the things I tried that were utter failures. My situation at the time was a tricky …
Category Archive: The professional academic
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/12/14/how-not-to-get-a-postdoc-position/
How to run an online academic book club
Back in August, the first copies of Mark Vellend’s book The Theory of Ecological Communities were released. I got one of them and found out from the publisher and from the Twitter-sphere that the books were in high demand. A couple people on Twitter suggested forming a book club, and being a compulsive organizer, I …
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/11/30/how-to-run-an-online-academic-book-club/
Some advice on applying for faculty jobs, according to six Harvard assistant professors
This is the year — the first year I’d be applying for faculty jobs, if I wasn’t so adamant about not relocating. I finally have first-author papers, the last checkbox to check on an otherwise pretty decent CV. [1] The trouble with doing too many things is not finishing any of them. I had too …
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/10/26/some-advice-on-applying-for-faculty-jobs-according-to-six-harvard-assistant-professors/
Making science products Open: an informal guide to copyright and licensing
I grew up a hacker (in the original sense) and thus a True Believer in open knowledge. And so, when it came time to start publishing science, I figured I’d make all my products Open. But it turns out that there’s a bewildering array of things to think about if you want to do so. …
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/10/19/making-science-products-open-an-informal-guide-to-copyright-and-licensing/
Demands for 48-hour proof turnarounds are unacceptable
Perhaps this sounds familiar… You wrote a manuscript and it got sent out for review. It got generally good reviews, and so you revised the manuscript once or twice. Then it was accepted. Hurrah! Break out the milkshakes. [1] or other beverage of choice Then … crickets … nothing. After a few months, you email …
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/10/12/demands-for-48-hour-proof-turnarounds-are-unacceptable/
Advice for new postdocs
In case you missed it, last week was National Postdoc Appreciation Week. I almost missed it, but Harvard conveniently put up a huge banner and offered us a bit of free food (Super yummy Mexican food this year!) Good food = appreciation? Sure, why not. September seems to be a common time for new postdocs …
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/09/28/advice-for-new-postdocs/
The thing that pushed me to post a preprint
I have mixed feelings about preprints. On one hand, I like the fact that they allow for the exchange of ideas on pace with the rate that science happens. On the other hand, in ecology, the concept is preprints is all muddled. In the fields where preprints originated and are now standard practice (physics, math, …
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/09/14/the-thing-that-pushed-me-to-post-a-preprint/
The Modern Grad Student Paradox
I was sitting in the audience during the discussion of the Hacking Ecology 2.0 Ignite session at ESA this year and Josie Simonis, who was on the panel, said something that really resonated with the grad students in the audience and on Twitter. They said that graduate students face a real paradox: grad students need to …
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/09/07/the-modern-grad-student-paradox/
Online book club forming for “The Theory of Ecological Communities”
If you follow me on Twitter or obsessively read the comments of the Dynamic Ecology blog, you’ll know that I’ve been excited about the publication of Mark Vellend’s new book, The Theory of Ecological Communities, for many months. The book happened to come out just around the time of the ESA meeting, so the publishers …
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/08/30/online-book-club-forming-for-the-theory-of-ecological-communities/
Seasons of the Scientific Conference
Maybe one or more of these sound familiar? Newbie. You’re an undergrad or a brand new grad student or something in between. There’s a big regional or national conference nearby and it costs relatively little for you to go. So you go! You spend hours poring over the program, looking for the talks that seem awesome. …
Permanent link to this article: https://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/08/02/seasons-of-the-scientific-conference/
Follow
Recent Comments