Things I Should be Doing Instead...

Instead of biking/shopping/browsing facebook/redecorating my apartment/going to festivals/watching movies I should be studying for the qualifying exam in September.  So I can graduate faster.

Studying for the exam is pretty much the last thing I want to do this summer but every semester I'm in school is another half-year of lost earnings potential.

Unfortunately repeating that to myself simply isn't working as a motivator.  I need something more.  Something concrete that I can hang on my wall so I look at it everyday and remember my goal.  I just need to figure out what that something should be...

Bad Project

I'm a bit behind - one of my labmates told me about this video today but it's pretty awesome.  A parody of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, the Hui Zheng lab at Baylor College of Medicine put this together for the 2011 Molecular and Human Genetics Retreat (and won 1st prize!).  





While the ideas expressed in the video apply largely to those working on a PhD (I want to graduate in less than five years but there ain't no getting out here) they can also apply to anyone who's every inherited a project from someone else (I want good data...but I got a project straight from hell).

Grant Writing 101

Is everyone's first grant writing experience not very fun?  I submitted my first grant just before winter break after two months of working on it.  I didn't know what to expect when I started the process, but it certainly didn't go as I planned.


I was trying to stick to the tips outlined by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the typical be concise, proof-read, have others proof-read, start early, know the grant agency, and so forth.  That didn't really happen.

My team (this ground was written by a group of four-ish) started about two months early, technically, but didn't really spend a lot of time working on it until the few weeks before the deadline.  This lead to a lot of last-minute changes and not a lot of proof-reading.  In fact, aside from the four of us reading it, only two outside people read the grant.

In terms of knowing the agency (the EPA in this case), my team looked through the accepted proposals for this grant from previous years trying to figure out if ours would be a good fit and what the agency was looking for.  In this regard I think we did well.

I think our proposal was concise, but I'm not very objective about it.  However, I'm not sure if the grant flowed together very well, I think you could tell that multiple people worked on it when it should really read as one author.  I'm glad the grant proposal didn't do the items from "How to Fail in Grant Writing," items such use lots of acronyms without defining them, or don't state goals/objectives/hypotheses.  That part of the grant was done correctly. 

I thought this was really interesting though:

63 percent of graduate students who did not receive a grant had only one to three people read their proposals. But 21 percent of the successful graduate students had seven or more people review their grant proposal before submission. Postdocs seemed to have recognized the importance of this strategy, as well, as 32 percent reported that four or more people had reviewed their proposal before submission.

- from Grant-Writing Tips for Graduate Students

Nice statistical evidence on the importance of having people read your grants before you submit.

The last piece of advice from the Chronicle's tip article was "don't take rejection too seriously."  I have yet to receive the official papers saying the proposal was rejected but I don't doubt they're on its way.  I'm lucky that I don't have to worry about funding at all but I wouldn't mind trying to apply for other grants in the future.  I can use all the practice I can get!

Classes, the Unnecessary Evil

I've always thought that the purpose of graduate school was to become very specialized in one topic.

For a bachelor's degree you learn a lot in four (plus or minus) years and it covers a wide variety of topics. For a master's degree you hone in on one topic from your bachelor's and specialize; becoming the master of that area. And finally for a doctorate you become really really specialized in one area from your master's degree.

I think the following comic from PhD Comics says it well with the following graph:

"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham
www.phdcomics.com

It's so true. And if you don't already subscribe to PhD Comics you should. Seriously.

Throughout that period of school you take a lot of classes. Because the bachelor's degree is so general you have a wide variety of options to chose from. The same, more or less depending on where you do your master's at, goes for the master's degree. But by the time you get to your doctorate all your research is cutting-edge - or at least to new to have classes devoted to the topic. So you take the classes that you think will help you pass the qualifying exams or the few that you find interesting.

Classes then become this evil, time-consuming thing that helps to foster procrastination. Why work on that journal article when you have homework to do? So few classes are applicable (at least for me) that it's almost a waste of time. Professors don't like teaching them because they take away from time they could be writing grants, students don't like taking them because it takes time away from research.

Classes at the graduate level are one of the really big differences between the educational system in the United States versus Europe. Here in the US it's classes and research until you fill the credit requirements and then just research. In Europe, or at least the UK, it's research-based where students work mostly towards the end goal (thesis/dissertation) without having to fiddle around with classes.

I'd like to just get these classes done so I can focus on my research! Especially right now when I'm trying to learn MATLAB (and failing, sigh) but still have a large "to-do" list accumulating. Perhaps this is just me complaining but how do you feel about class-work at the graduate level?

Promoted!

This past Tuesday I was officially promoted! What that means is that I was (finally) given my Research Assistant (RA) paperwork...tax forms, direct deposit forms, benefits info, etc. Exciting!

Working in the lab

What does that mean for me other than the fact that I get paid and get things like health insurance? Basically nothing. I'm doing what I was doing before. This is actually two months late in getting set up which is a tad frustrating and disappointing. Frustrating because I would have gotten paid for all I've done and disappointing because this is a joint venture between a university and my company. The university says it would like to do more with industry but then when a company steps up and says they want to corroborate the university does a poor job at getting everything together. My company approached the university in April about this corroboration, I started in late August, and all the paperwork was just completed this week. For a school that wants to increase their presence in Milwaukee for engineering this slow-to-act approach is not ideal. Disappointing, yes.

In any event, I've felt much more official working in the lab this week! The fact that I'm getting paid now is also quite motivating.

MATLAB

MATLAB, short for the MATrix LABoratory, is a strange program. Throughout my bachelor's and a bit during my master's I would hear people complaining about the program but I never had the opportunity to use it. Looking back on it now I wish I had!

One of the two courses I am taking this term is a modeling class; modeling how pollutants move/travel by dispersion/advection/diffusion/etc. I'm not sure how worthwhile the actual class will be because I don't forsee myself needing to model pollutants in the future but MATLAB has the opportunity to be a great tool.

The only problem is that I don't understand what I do wrong when it doesn't work! Take the following for example:

r=zeros(1,5);
i=1:600;
ufs=uf(i:end);
ufs=[uf(i:(i-1))];
Ru(i)=mean(uf.*ufs)

Do you understand what that is saying? Me either. That's what my professor gave me for the answer but it's not one that MATLAB is recognizing. I'm just trying to do an autocorrelation! And what I have above is not correct.

I'm sure MATLAB will be a very useful tool...once I figure it out. Until then it's a big pain.

The Chronicle of Higher Education & What to Call Yourself

Julie from A Very Focused Blog About School and Work, recently introduced me to the website The Chronicle of Higher Education. I'd been on this website before due to people linking the articles on Facebook but I had never paid it much attention. Now I visit the site once every few days looking for advice, ideas, and just to check the news. The chronicle isn't just another website though, they have a print edition too that one can subscribe too. I'm a poor graduate student so I stick with the free content I can get.

One of the front pages of The Chronicle of Higher Education, print edition.

A few weeks ago I had posted about wanting advice for several burning questions I had. One of the questions I had was "How do you manage publishing papers under one name (maiden name and then another name (married name) later on?" Of course the simple answer is to never marry or change your name. By this point in my life I'm pretty confident that I don't want to use the simple answer. From the Chronicle of Higher Education's forums I was able to learn what others had done. For those curious, most people in that position had either done something like:

"Really Neat Paper on Something" by Jane Smith (as Jane Doe)

or

"Really Near Paper on Something" by Jane Doe-Smith.

I'm not a fan of having to write out a long name for myself. If I wrote out my full name as it stands today it would be 22 characters long (not including spaces of special character) and to include a married last name? That would put me at 29 characters (again, not including spaces or special characters). I'm a fan of the first option.

If you were in this position which would you choose?

Lunch

Occasionally, actually very frequently during the school year, I make really bad lunches for myself. Week-old bread, tuna of indeterminate age, shrived up apples, etc. These lunches are barely edible at best and I try to get through it by eating them very very quickly.

But I love food. I think food is delicious. And these lunches make me very sad.

I don't make lunches like this on purpose, most of the time it's because I haven't been to the grocery store in a few weeks and there is a limit to what the Walgreens down the block will carry. As I've said before, I try to eat healthy but sometimes school gets in the way and there simply isn't enough time to take care of myself.

In order to make these lunches more bearable I turn to the internet for consolation. Specifically, TasteSpotting and foodgawker. On these websites I can look at page after page of tasty dishes, most with recipes, and pretend that I'm eating something better. Something fresh and home-made, with a main dish AND dessert.

Usually when I do this I end up bookmarking a lot of recipes for me to come back to and make for dinner. Sometimes the pictures live up to what I think they'll taste like, sometimes they don't. Either way it's a good chance for me to expand my food horizons and to pretend that I'm eating like a queen.

How to Write Less Badly

One thing I've always thought I do well, or at least sufficiently, is write. Contrary to most engineering types I've met, I like to read and write. Lab reports? Class papers? Inter-office memos? No problem, easy. All those things abound during the first years of engineering classwork but start to trail off as one does more math, equations, and technical drawings. I'm a bit out of practice now I think.

I was cruising around the website, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and stumbled upon this little gem: 10 Tips on How to Write Less Badly. This article really resonated with me because of my recent writing adventure: my master's thesis.

When it came to writing my thesis I had great ideas on how to make everything flow together and on what to write. Getting these ideas from my head into a word processor? That was more like pulling teeth. I had no idea how hard it was going to be! Or how long it was going to take. That experience made me go "yes!" when I read points four (give yourself time) and five (everyone's unwritten work is brilliant). Not to mention point number ten: edit your work, over and over. My goodness did my thesis need work on the editing front. I tend to write how I talk, which is not a very good way to write technical work. Reading and rereading helped me to catch the numerous errors I made.

The other suggestions that the article had, such as "write, then squeeze other things in" and "set goals based on output, not input," I thought were helpful. I'm soon going to try to turn my thesis into a paper I can publish, there are two grants I want to apply for, and my current adviser thinks I will have enough laboratory results to publish another paper by December. Whew. In other words, I have a lot of upcoming writing I need to be working on and if I start employing some of the tactics from this article, the whole process should be much less painful than my thesis was.

Publish my Thesis? Huh?

My current advisor recently asked me a question I wasn't pleased to give an answer to.

Advisor: Did you publish your findings from your master's research?

Me: No, I never did.

Advisor: Hmm... I see.

I wish I had published my master's research. Unfortunately my master's is from a very non-research orientated school, it's more of a terminal masters, and I'm the first graduate from the program that's gone on to pursue doctoral work. The program isn't too old, I think it started in 2004 and I graduated in 2010. But my old advisor (who also happened to be the department head) was not concerned about publishing anything. I don't think he's published anything since he completed his doctorate in 1991. My advisor, committee members, and the director of the school library all said I should publish it. My problem was that everyone urged me to publish but no one would tell me how to, or offer to review it.

Taking matters into my own hands I took a course titled "Writing and Editing for Publication," a class through the technical communications department. The class was helpful...if I wanted to publish an article in Cosmo or Popular Mechanics. That wasn't really what I was after but I did learn some things that improved my grammar (e.g. proper use of effect and affect) and writing technique during the editing part of the course. Unfortunately this still left me without any idea how to take my 102 page thesis and turn it into a paper I could publish in a peer-reviewed journal. That was all last year.

After my current advisor asked me if I'd published my work two weeks ago I decided to consult the post-doctorate student I work with at work. As part of his post-doc he is required to publish a paper or three and has expressed an interest in having me work with him on said papers (we're in the same department and I've helped with his research). I'm very glad I asked him for advice!

I knew nothing about the process. He'd previously mentioned this journal called Nature, saying it was crème de la crème of peer reviewed journals. I was skeptical until I heard others from a different sphere talking about it too. Turns out every journal has an impact factor, which is apparently a "measure of the frequency with which the 'average article' in a journal has been cited in a given period of time. The higher the number, the better the journal.

Once you find your desired journal look at their author's guide and follow it to a T. If the guide says you need 5,000 words make sure you have 4,999. My co-worker said that most times you'll be accepted conditionally and the journal will only give you a few days to make the required changes. Checking your e-mail often is a must! He also said to try and find out what the turn around time is for each journal; turn around time being the time between when it's accepted and when it will actually appear out in circulation. For me trying to publish my thesis this doesn't matter. It's stored in my alma mater's library, that was good enough to them to give me a diploma.

The last issue that my co-worker talked to me about was authorship. Such as, where my name goes on the paper. For my thesis for example, my name would be the first listed and my "boss" would be the last name listed. Other people who helped me with the research or through consulting would appear as the middle names. That's fine for a typical paper but I think mine is a bit different. All the work I did was pretty much on my own with very little direction. My old advisor knew nothing about my topic until I started working on it. Aside from weekly meetings with my advisor where I gave him a progress report we had little contact. And the contact we did have was nothing like my research relationship that I have with my current advisor. He said that for junior engineers such as ourselves it is better to be the first author on papers and then slowly move into being the second, third, n+1, and finally into being the last author.

We both wound up staying later at work than we'd planned on account of my questioning him (and it was Friday no less!) but I'm very happy he offered advice and helped me out. I'd like to start taking the steps to find a paper and work on getting my thesis into a publishable form soon, and then work on submitting it over the upcoming holiday season.

WANTED: Mentor

I need a mentor, or at least someone I can ask a lot of questions to! I have so many questions that I don't know the answer to such as:

• How do you manage publishing papers under one name (maiden name) and then another name (married name) later on?
• How do you balance school life, work life, and family life?
• How easy is it to have children and still work on a doctorate?
• What do you do when you propose to someone and they laugh at you?
• If your "husband" gets a job in a new city/state would it be better to quit everything & move or stay and finish out the doctorate?
• How do you go about publishing something on your own?
• How far should one downplay their achievements to their potential in-laws so as not to overshadow what their son has done?

I haven't found a good source for these types of questions yet. I've asked what questions I know my co-workers will know the answer to, such as the publishing on your own question, but I really don't know anyone else in the same type of situation as myself. There are two other female engineers where I work at: one is a austere older women who I do not socialize with while the other is a younger women who is very nice and willing to answer all sorts of questions that I throw her way. The problem is that she got married right out of high school, had children, and then did her mechanical engineering BS & MS degrees. No one else I know is pursuing a doctorate in engineering (or anything else for that matter) and I don't really know who to turn to. My other source of information is my sorority, Alpha Omega Epsilon, but I haven't come across anyone there I know who is in the same / was in the same situation either.

My boyfriend suggested trying to find a forum or blog or other internet source where I can read and learn what others have gone through. That lead me to the blog by Young Female Scientist (YFS) and How to be a Good Graduate Student (because the author is a female and wanted to focus on women's issues...but didn't). YFS is a good blog and is very interesting for me to read because it highlights issues I may eventually encounter while working in academia but doesn't answer all of my questions and it doesn't appear to be exactly what I am looking for. I've gone through all my latest Society of Women Engineers magazines looking for information but have come up short there as well.

Where else do I turn to? Any one have any good sources of information or should I just hope I eventually ask enough people that I find good answers? Also, if anyone has answers to any of my questions or wants to volunteer to be my mentor let me know! I need help.

Keeping up Appearences

One thing that I'm afraid of for continuing my studies is looking like the stereotypical grad student. You know, the person who becomes so caught up in their research that they forget to do things like sleep, eat properly, and exercise. In short, I don't want to look like the guy in the picture below.



To take steps against that I've set up a daily schedule for myself that's valid on my "school days" where I wake up at a set time, have breakfast, read journal articles, class/lunch/work in the lab, then dinner. So far it's working and I'm hoping I'll be able to maintain the schedule. I've been trying to keep healthy food in my apartment, limit the amount of sugar I have, and limit what I do eat. Because boy do I love food. Especially pastas and bread. Yummy. I also tend to east past when I'm full (oops).

I think that watching what I eat, getting enough sleep, and exercising (did I mention that I have a "boot camp" class twice a week?), will help me to stay in prime condition for school. It should also keep me sane, right? That's the plan at least!

Coxie Pt. 2

Hello world, meet Coxie.



What you see in the picture are three microbial fuel cells. The one on the red is a microbial fuel cell (MFC), the one on the green is a microbial desalination cell (MDC), and the one on orange is top secret for now, formerly a MDC.

Coxie was acting up today. I made some modifications to the test plan this week and that could be the reason for the misbehavior but I won't know till the week after next. Ah, research.

Coxie

A few posts ago I mentioned that I was reading through How to be a Good Graduate Student. In that article it was suggested that I should have "30-second, 2-minute, 5-minute and 10-minute summaries of your thesis ready at a moment's notice." I am not at that point yet but I'm getting there. I'm mostly not there yet because I'm still in the beginning stages of my work.

This past weekend I was at a perfect place to practice this idea: MSOE's greek reception. MSOE is my alma mater and the annual greek reception was a way for me to show support for my sorority, Alpha Omega Epsilon, and help with fall recruitment.

While there I was able to share with my sisters some of what I have been working on. I've been picking up where another student left off with desalination using microbial fuel cells. One of my sisters mentioned my habit of naming inanimate objects and decided that my three microbial fuel cells needed a nickname. "Ballcock" was suggested due to my fondness for toilets and thus my cells were named. I think my sisters were trying to come up with something embarrassing for me to say and ballcock does fit that definition. Now the name has been shortened to Coxie and that's not so bad to say at all. :)

I haven't had the opportunity to use Coxie yet (explaining where the name Coxie came from to my research advisor doesn't seem very professional) but someday I will be discussing my research with a colleague and the term will slip out. Ah, well.

No Sleep Till...

I'm up much later than I wanted to be tonight. Classes start tomorrow! In less than 12 hours I'll be in class actually. I had planned on going to bed around 10 or 10:30 at the latest and here I am, a full hour later than anticipated. Not a great start to the semester. I'm placing blame for up-late blues on anticipation and excitement. And also maybe on the fact that my boyfriend is watching MacGruber very loudly in the other room. He starts the term tomorrow too, but he does not suffer from the same anxiety as I do.

My kitten, which I suppose should be called a cat since she's three years old now, is very excited for school to begin. That means I will be home more! Someone will be around to play with her during the day and keep her company. She must be very pleased indeed. I can tell because she's been extra-cuddly all night and has currently curled her purring self into the space between my arms as my hands type away.

I should try to force myself to sleep. Shut down the computer, rest my head on a pillow and so forth. If only I hadn't left my binder full of papers to read in my research lab! That would probably put me to sleep in no time at all.

How to be a Good Graduate Student

In preparing to start academic research I've found this website to be an invaluable resource:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030424095650/www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.html

My previous research experience is limited to industry and the little research I did for my master's degree, which was more of a terminal master's anyway. In getting ready to start my PhD in engineering I've been mostly lost.

I have an adviser now? What do I do with one? How do I stay on-task when there is no set program to follow? What should I worry about? What shouldn't I worry about? This guide has helped.

I would definitely recommend the above website to anyone going into graduate school.

Where to start?

So much has happened since I last updated. Mostly, I registered for classes and began my research.

I'm taking two classes this term: environmental microbiology and pollution dispersion processes. Hopefully taking classes and working won't be too bad here. When I was working on my masters it was pretty easy to take classes and work but I'm not sure what this school will be like.

I'm working on two different tracks with my research. I've picked up where another student left off with microbial desalination cells and am putting together a literature review on enzyme biofuel cells.

The research appointment officially started last Monday. I didn't realize I would be starting so soon! Classes don't start till this week.