As a professor, journal editor, reviewer, and mentor, I review a lot of writing. I come from a long tradition of mentors who focused on writing — during my PhD, I often heard stories of my grand advisor returning his students’ work covered in red line edits, and then I […]
Image: Feedback © Alan Levine CC BY 2.0 This post is jointly written by Steve Heard and Jacquelyn Gill, and appears in addition on Stephen’s blog Scientist Sees Squirrel. Early this summer, we asked for your experience and your attitudes about the practice of candidates asking for feedback on their […]
A couple of weeks ago, one of us (Steve) posted “How to write, and read, a (job) rejection letter”. One piece of advice to job candidates got some interesting pushback on Twitter, including from […] Ecologist Stephen Heard of Scientist Sees Squirrel and I are teaming up on a post about getting […]
It’s resolution season, which means we’re spending more time than usual assessing ourselves, our efforts, and our goals. I’ve had a few people reach out to me lately asking me for suggestions on how to actively promote diversity in their departments, so I thought I’d share some strategies that are relatively easy. […]
Some of the best aspects of academic jobs can also be the most challenging: Deadlines are often self-imposed. We have to juggle a wide range of tasks each day that often involve mental gymnastics in order to switch gears (and we mix metaphors!). We’re our own bosses, and usually our own […]
Academics juggle a lot of balls. The absent-minded professor stereotype is, for some of us, an apt one. Because our jobs involve multiple independent demands on our time, we’re often tossed (or hold on to) more balls than we can handle. Balls get dropped, neglected, or stay in the air […]
I love words. I’ve been an avid reader since I was a kid, and I worked in bookstores throughout my late teens and early 20’s to pay for my habit. I play Scrabble, and I collect vocabulary the way some of my colleagues collect bird sightings or rocks. I married […]
Five weeks ago, I completely severed both tendons in my left pinky. I was just about to start working in the lab, training my PhD student on the initial processing of a peat column from our Falkland Islands trip in December. We had bought a large serrated kitchen knife specifically to slice through 1 […]
The mammoth is actively contemplating — perhaps a bit too much!– but as you can see, this blog has been a little neglected since I started my faculty position last fall. I’ve got a nice series of posts lined up, but to kick things off again, here’s a great contribution […]
Training in academia is often trial-by-fire, and learning how to review manuscripts is no exception. Because you’re technically not allowed to share manuscripts you’re reviewing with others, it can be especially tricky to learn how to do them (I do know some PI’s who share manuscripts with their grad students […]
The Contemplative Mammoth 