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.
One woman's journey through life.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Publish my Thesis? Huh?
My current advisor recently asked me a question I wasn't pleased to give an answer to.
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.
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.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
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:
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.
- 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.
Monday, September 13, 2010
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!
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!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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.
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.
Women in STEM
One of my favourite topics for women is STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I am all for increasing the number of women in STEM programs and careers. Yesterday I ran across several articles on the topic of women in technology and what can be done to increase involvement. Most of the thought for why there weren't a lot of women in STEM stemmed from a lack of development in childhood - more specifically through the toys we are given based on gender.
I believe this article (Why We Don't Need More Women in Technology...Yet) says it nicely:
I haven't made up my mind completely about the other article I read yesterday (Too Few Women in Tech? Stop Telling People How they Should Feel About it) but it did make the comment:
I believe this article (Why We Don't Need More Women in Technology...Yet) says it nicely:
I can relate to this a lot. Sure I had a large amount of Barbies and other dolls but I also had a good-sized Lego collection that I used to make little cities and houses, lots of houses. This turned into building doll houses, which turned into my bachelor's in architectural engineering, which turned into plumbing engineering, which turned into my master's in environmental engineering, which brings me to where I am now: my PhD in engineering. I doubt I would have been in a STEM-field today if I had stuck with making stories up and having my Barbies act them out.Before you retort with your personal vote of support for female education, I’d ask you to take a stroll around a toy store and imagine you can’t read. Imagine, if you will, that you’ve been taught a simple system of color-coding: Pink and purple is for girls, and blue, green and gray are for boys.
You will immediately notice the drastic segregation — the gendered version of the Jim Crow-era South. There are entire aisles of pink, and other aisles devoted to dark blues and greens. Imagine that you are only “allowed” in the pink and purple areas of the store, and examine the toys you find there.
The vast majority of playthings for little girls encourage them to think about nurturing others and caring for themselves — including, to a large extent, their appearances. These aren’t inherently negative lessons to learn, except for the fact that these lessons exclude others that deal with problem-solving, strategy, physics… you know, the kinds of things you learn from playing with Lego, K’nex, Stratego and other male gender-coded games and toys.
I haven't made up my mind completely about the other article I read yesterday (Too Few Women in Tech? Stop Telling People How they Should Feel About it) but it did make the comment:
Marina Martin, a business consultant, agrees with Schappell. “If you really want to see more uteri in tech, grab your nearest 3-year-old girl and make damn sure she’s around computers all the time.”I'll agree with that. So much of our thoughts/ideas/impressions about how things should be start when we're little. No one can dispute that the younger years are crucial for development. But this also terrifies me for if/when I have children of my own. So much pressure!
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