Posts tagged “Graduate school”
When all your paychecks are surprises
I get three paychecks a year, but the timing of those paychecks is not consistent. In the past, the office that handles this sort of thing posted the expected date I’d get paid at least a month in advance (though that wasn’t a guarantee). I got a little nervous recently when I noticed that, while […]
Crying with an audience, or How to criticize your labmates
Presenting your ideas and work in science can be really intimidating. Your audience is skeptical and skilled and you know just enough to know how much you don’t know. I’m afraid of crying when stridently criticized during a presentation. My fear of that happening was recently somewhat alleviated. To get upset enough to cry, I’d have […]
You’re wrong, but thanks!
I’m getting closer to defending my thesis proposal, and I presented my questions and methods to my lab group recently. I was really excited that they had so many ideas and questions about my project. One of the things the group was most concerned about was that I don’t have a plan for validating one […]
Not good enough
I went to a computery workshop recently. I was a little nervous about going, sure I couldn’t possibly know enough to keep up. But I could have taught a lot of the material they presented on the first day and had no problems on the second day – I even had some ideas for improving […]
Why should taxpayers be responsible for your unicorn research?*
My advisor was in the news recently talking about a cool project our lab is working on. The piece did a great job of laying out some of the practical applications of the project, so I sent it around to some of my relatives. One of my aunts, who used to be an out and […]
Getting paid
I get three paychecks a year. I accept a little wiggle room around the dates, especially since the finance office makes it clear months in advance when I should expect to be paid. I even understand that those dates may change. But it’s pretty mean to move that date out almost an entire month with […]
Being prepared is a waste of time
When it comes to getting your travel reimbursements anyway. I complained last summer about the complicated process and long time frame for getting reimbursed for conference travel. My funding came from several sources that each required a different application. The applications could not all be filed at once and forgotten about – there was a […]