The job interview is Wed AM. It's a phone interview at a non-profit research institute that is not university affiliated. They are local (in the same city I work in now) so we would not have to move if I took this job.
I am excited about the interview but will be interviewing them just as hard as they'll be interviewing me. It's a research institute that is doing cool stuff that I think I could be happy doing temporarily, I'm just not sure I'd love it. But I'm trying to keep an open mind.
Working on my diss ms over the last couple of weeks makes me re-think this leaving academia stuff. I really love my research, but there aren't any research organizations that will let me do exactly what I want, exactly in the area I've been doing research. So leaving academia really does mean giving up some of the stuff I've done and have an interest in continuing.
But I'm jumping the gun, first I have to get offered a job (any job). I'm trying not to stress until I have to (but if you read through my blog you'll see I'm not all that good at that). I'm hoping that I'll hear from the "we got your materials late" job this week as they said they thought that they would be done with their first round of interviews by the end of May. I hope they contact me even if they hire someone else, it's just nice to know where you stand.
So there's my job update. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this later this week.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Big News!!
I have a job interview!
I also have a really nosey lab mate who is probably looking over my shoulder as I write this so more to come later!!
I also have a really nosey lab mate who is probably looking over my shoulder as I write this so more to come later!!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
RBOC: thoughts from my day
* Taking a cue from DC I want to find a nickname for my husband so I don't always have to call him "my husband" or DH, so I'm up for suggestions. You may wonder why I would ask all of you (who do not know my husband) for suggestions, my answer is that I think it will be fun for me (the one who does know him) to try on the nicknames that you suggest.
* I had an annoying exchange with one of the office staff at work today. I had to take a departmental advance from my advisor's grant to pay participants a month ago. I'm supposed to settle this advance in 30 days but I've only spent 1/5 of it and was told that they really don't like to take back $$ (since they give us a check). So I write to the person in charge and explain that I've only spent 1/5 of the money but will be running participants for the next two weeks and will spend much more of the money, could I have a two week extension. I got an email back with a friggen lecture about how it's important to reconcile these things in a timely manner. I was so friggen annoyed. 1. I'm contacting you before the 30 days is up. 2. I explained exactly why I was asking for the extension. 3. It's pretty damn stupid for me to give them cash, so that I can turn around and ask for another friggen check (which I'll have to go to the bank and cash) in order to pay my participants for the next two weeks. 4. Everyone who has been around forever told me this was no big deal and that the office hates to take money back so just tell them you'll reconcile in two weeks! Ugh.
* Manicures should last longer than 4 days! Got mani and pedi's with my sister to make up for the one I got on Saturday and was chipped to all hell this AM. I'll let you know how long this one lasts. I got my last pedicure from the same place I went to today and it lasted over 3 weeks.
* I need to find some good beach reads. I'm going to FL for girls weekend with my sisters in 2 weeks and I intend to sit by the pool and read/nap continuously. :) Any suggestions?
* One of my RAs came in today unexpectedly. She was originally not going to be in town but instead she came in and helped me kick ass on some data management stuff I've been bogged down with. And she's coming back tomorrow!! Yay for help.
*Started working on diss ms based on the comments from my undergrad mentor. Didn't get very far at all but it makes me feel good to even do the tinyest bit. If it rains this weekend (last I heard it is supposed to on Saturday), I'm heading to the coffee shop to write, write, write.
I think that's all my random thoughts for today. Enjoy.
* I had an annoying exchange with one of the office staff at work today. I had to take a departmental advance from my advisor's grant to pay participants a month ago. I'm supposed to settle this advance in 30 days but I've only spent 1/5 of it and was told that they really don't like to take back $$ (since they give us a check). So I write to the person in charge and explain that I've only spent 1/5 of the money but will be running participants for the next two weeks and will spend much more of the money, could I have a two week extension. I got an email back with a friggen lecture about how it's important to reconcile these things in a timely manner. I was so friggen annoyed. 1. I'm contacting you before the 30 days is up. 2. I explained exactly why I was asking for the extension. 3. It's pretty damn stupid for me to give them cash, so that I can turn around and ask for another friggen check (which I'll have to go to the bank and cash) in order to pay my participants for the next two weeks. 4. Everyone who has been around forever told me this was no big deal and that the office hates to take money back so just tell them you'll reconcile in two weeks! Ugh.
* Manicures should last longer than 4 days! Got mani and pedi's with my sister to make up for the one I got on Saturday and was chipped to all hell this AM. I'll let you know how long this one lasts. I got my last pedicure from the same place I went to today and it lasted over 3 weeks.
* I need to find some good beach reads. I'm going to FL for girls weekend with my sisters in 2 weeks and I intend to sit by the pool and read/nap continuously. :) Any suggestions?
* One of my RAs came in today unexpectedly. She was originally not going to be in town but instead she came in and helped me kick ass on some data management stuff I've been bogged down with. And she's coming back tomorrow!! Yay for help.
*Started working on diss ms based on the comments from my undergrad mentor. Didn't get very far at all but it makes me feel good to even do the tinyest bit. If it rains this weekend (last I heard it is supposed to on Saturday), I'm heading to the coffee shop to write, write, write.
I think that's all my random thoughts for today. Enjoy.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Job Market Woes
I haven't applied for a job in 2 weeks.
There are just not any new postings out there at all. And I haven't heard from any of the jobs I've applied for. I'm stressing.
I've started to compile a list of schools that I can send applications to for part-time adjunct positions. This scares me, I don't have any idea how I can teach enough adjunct classes to actually live and still make progress on my research.
I have been thinking about contacting an I/O psychologist I know who does consulting on the side and sometimes needs assistance. I have no idea if they have any consulting work coming up but it can't hurt to ask. I am not an I/O psychologist so who knows if I even have the skills this person would need if they did have consulting work.
I need to do something though. Not sending out applications is worse than getting rejection letters.
There are just not any new postings out there at all. And I haven't heard from any of the jobs I've applied for. I'm stressing.
I've started to compile a list of schools that I can send applications to for part-time adjunct positions. This scares me, I don't have any idea how I can teach enough adjunct classes to actually live and still make progress on my research.
I have been thinking about contacting an I/O psychologist I know who does consulting on the side and sometimes needs assistance. I have no idea if they have any consulting work coming up but it can't hurt to ask. I am not an I/O psychologist so who knows if I even have the skills this person would need if they did have consulting work.
I need to do something though. Not sending out applications is worse than getting rejection letters.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
If you apply for NIH, DOE, or NSF funding , you should read this.
Federation Stakeholder:
Last week a much anticipated supplemental funding bill was voted upon in the Senate. The bill, Supplemental Appropriations Act 2008 (H.R. 2642), provides supplemental funds for domestic programs including NSF, NIH, DOE and others. The Senate passed the bill 75 to 22.
The bill now goes back to the House of Representatives, who are expected to vote on it after the Memorial Day recess. President Bush has vowed to veto any bill that includes domestic spending that exceeds his cap of $108 billion. The Senate’s vote of 75 to 22 makes the bill veto proof. We call upon you to encourage House members to do the same.
It is particularly important that this bill pass because it is the only additional funding that these agencies will get until spring, 2009. It will allow the agencies to fund many current research proposals that have been recommended for funding but for which there are not sufficient funds under the current appropriation. It could mean that your or a colleague’s proposal can be funded!
Please contact your member in the House of Representatives and ask them to support H.R. 2642 as passed by the Senate. To identify your congressional representative, visit http://www.house.gov and input your home zip code. Once you have identified your representative call (202) 224-3121 and ask to be transferred to their office. Tell the person in the office that you are calling to encourage Rep. ___ to support H.R. 2642, as passed by the Senate. Make sure to give your name and address to confirm you are their constituent. Please encourage other colleagues, friends, supporters to call their Representatives and voice their support.
Thank you,
Meghan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meghan McGowan
Policy and Program Specialist
The Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
750 First Street, NE
Suite 905
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 336-5922
(202) 336-6183 - fax
www.fbpcs.org <http://www.fbpcs.org>
Last week a much anticipated supplemental funding bill was voted upon in the Senate. The bill, Supplemental Appropriations Act 2008 (H.R. 2642), provides supplemental funds for domestic programs including NSF, NIH, DOE and others. The Senate passed the bill 75 to 22.
The bill now goes back to the House of Representatives, who are expected to vote on it after the Memorial Day recess. President Bush has vowed to veto any bill that includes domestic spending that exceeds his cap of $108 billion. The Senate’s vote of 75 to 22 makes the bill veto proof. We call upon you to encourage House members to do the same.
It is particularly important that this bill pass because it is the only additional funding that these agencies will get until spring, 2009. It will allow the agencies to fund many current research proposals that have been recommended for funding but for which there are not sufficient funds under the current appropriation. It could mean that your or a colleague’s proposal can be funded!
Please contact your member in the House of Representatives and ask them to support H.R. 2642 as passed by the Senate. To identify your congressional representative, visit http://www.house.gov and input your home zip code. Once you have identified your representative call (202) 224-3121 and ask to be transferred to their office. Tell the person in the office that you are calling to encourage Rep. ___ to support H.R. 2642, as passed by the Senate. Make sure to give your name and address to confirm you are their constituent. Please encourage other colleagues, friends, supporters to call their Representatives and voice their support.
Thank you,
Meghan
------------------------------
Meghan McGowan
Policy and Program Specialist
The Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
750 First Street, NE
Suite 905
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 336-5922
(202) 336-6183 - fax
www.fbpcs.org <http://www.fbpcs.org>
I am so excited
that tomorrow is Wednesday!! Yay for 4 day work weeks.
I received comments from my undergrad mentor on Diss MS 1 today. Overall she said she really enjoyed my paper and that it was very well written. As I've mentioned in other posts, I find writing really hard so I was thrilled to read her comments, especially because she is the consummate editor so her standards are really high.
Now, I just hope I have time later this week to get to it. I have a ton of post doc related work that I need to get done this week. I'm running participants again next week so I won't have much time at all to write then.
I haven't had a chance to type up the letter to the editor regarding my reviewing post. But I will post a follow-up when/if I get anything from the editor.
I received comments from my undergrad mentor on Diss MS 1 today. Overall she said she really enjoyed my paper and that it was very well written. As I've mentioned in other posts, I find writing really hard so I was thrilled to read her comments, especially because she is the consummate editor so her standards are really high.
Now, I just hope I have time later this week to get to it. I have a ton of post doc related work that I need to get done this week. I'm running participants again next week so I won't have much time at all to write then.
I haven't had a chance to type up the letter to the editor regarding my reviewing post. But I will post a follow-up when/if I get anything from the editor.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Reviewing
I have been asked to review a paper for a rather low ranking journal. I am not knocking the journal, it serves a purpose for a popular sub field in which I've done some research. The reason the editor asked me to review was that I co-authored a paper that was published in said journal and cited in the paper I've been asked to review.
I pride myself in being a very conscientious reviewer. With my shiny new PhD, I'm only asked a few times a year and I want to be known as a good reviewer, especially by editors for the journals in which I'd like to publish. I also REALLY appreciate well written reviews that obviously indicate that the reviewer took the time to read and evaluate my work (even if it's not a positive review).
I am struggling with this paper that I've been asked to review in a way I have never struggled before. The author is obviously not a native English speaker. The grammatical, word choice, and sentence structure issues that make it clear that the author is a non-native speaker are also making it nearly impossible to get through the article. I want to make it clear that these writing issues are very serious. I have to read and re-read each section trying to figure out exactly what the author is trying to say. Sometimes there are words missing from the sentence so that I have to figure out what may be missing to make the sentence make any sense at all. It's an incredibly frustrating process, as it really clouds the science which is what I'm trying to evaluate.
I haven't even finished reading the article as it is taking me 3x longer to read each section that I would have expected. So here's my dilemma. Should I even write a real review for this piece?
On one hand I want to send the editor a note saying that the writing issues make it impossible for me to evaluate the science and therefore I can't do the review. On the other hand, I do not ever refuse to do a review and feel guilty for even wanting to do this. When I agreed to do this review I had no idea the time and energy it would take and I feel like it's such a waste of time trying to figure out what the author is trying to say. Even if I write a full review my #1 comment has to be that the paper needs to be completely re-written to ever appear in the journal.
As another issue, I am also wondering whether the editor even read any of the paper. How could they have missed the major writing problems with this paper? I suspect that this journal never triages any of their papers (not many in my field do, almost every one of them send out every paper to be reviewed), so even if the editor noticed the writing issues perhaps they still have to send it out via journal policy.
So I'm interested in hearing from all of you.
1. Would you write a thorough review or just let the editor know that it's unreasonable to review the manuscripts current state? I am also curious to hear whether you would do the same thing if the paper was just really poorly written but it was not clear that it was a language issue (i.e. you knew the person was a native speaker of the language or it wasn't as clear cut as it is in the case of this particular manuscript)?
2. Do you this (or if you are an editor, do you) editors should read at least some of the article prior to sending it out for review?
3. Do you think that editors should send out papers even if they know there are major writing issues with the paper?
4. Does your field do any triaging? Are you pro and anti this process?
I'm really interested in hearing what other have to say.
I pride myself in being a very conscientious reviewer. With my shiny new PhD, I'm only asked a few times a year and I want to be known as a good reviewer, especially by editors for the journals in which I'd like to publish. I also REALLY appreciate well written reviews that obviously indicate that the reviewer took the time to read and evaluate my work (even if it's not a positive review).
I am struggling with this paper that I've been asked to review in a way I have never struggled before. The author is obviously not a native English speaker. The grammatical, word choice, and sentence structure issues that make it clear that the author is a non-native speaker are also making it nearly impossible to get through the article. I want to make it clear that these writing issues are very serious. I have to read and re-read each section trying to figure out exactly what the author is trying to say. Sometimes there are words missing from the sentence so that I have to figure out what may be missing to make the sentence make any sense at all. It's an incredibly frustrating process, as it really clouds the science which is what I'm trying to evaluate.
I haven't even finished reading the article as it is taking me 3x longer to read each section that I would have expected. So here's my dilemma. Should I even write a real review for this piece?
On one hand I want to send the editor a note saying that the writing issues make it impossible for me to evaluate the science and therefore I can't do the review. On the other hand, I do not ever refuse to do a review and feel guilty for even wanting to do this. When I agreed to do this review I had no idea the time and energy it would take and I feel like it's such a waste of time trying to figure out what the author is trying to say. Even if I write a full review my #1 comment has to be that the paper needs to be completely re-written to ever appear in the journal.
As another issue, I am also wondering whether the editor even read any of the paper. How could they have missed the major writing problems with this paper? I suspect that this journal never triages any of their papers (not many in my field do, almost every one of them send out every paper to be reviewed), so even if the editor noticed the writing issues perhaps they still have to send it out via journal policy.
So I'm interested in hearing from all of you.
1. Would you write a thorough review or just let the editor know that it's unreasonable to review the manuscripts current state? I am also curious to hear whether you would do the same thing if the paper was just really poorly written but it was not clear that it was a language issue (i.e. you knew the person was a native speaker of the language or it wasn't as clear cut as it is in the case of this particular manuscript)?
2. Do you this (or if you are an editor, do you) editors should read at least some of the article prior to sending it out for review?
3. Do you think that editors should send out papers even if they know there are major writing issues with the paper?
4. Does your field do any triaging? Are you pro and anti this process?
I'm really interested in hearing what other have to say.
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