A day in the life of...
Jul. 9th, 2008 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterOne of the interesting parts of being a scientist is that it requires wearing a lot of different hats.
There's the "Field Biologist" hat, which involves traveling out to exotic locations (like Tucson) to track down obscure organisms, braving the hardships of the wild and the vagaries of the weather. I spend lots of time with maps during this part. This part is awesome.
Then there's the "Experiment" hat, which overlaps with some of the other hats but mostly seems to involve collecting and analyzing data (how I get to this point involves wearing some of the other hats). I like this one because it involves a lot of tangible things: measurements, numbers written on pages, set time frames, chemicals in test tubes, color changes, and occasional exclamations of, "BING!" or "It's SCIENCE!"
Then there's the "Grant-writer" hat, which is how I get money to wear the other hats. It involves convincing other people that the things I do are worth spending money to do--that they contribute to some broader theoretical framework in some way that expands our understanding of the world around us, or some other such nonsense. This alternates between being stressful and rewarding (in my mind I go, "This is a useless waste of time" and then "This explains EVERYTHING!").
Then there's the "Educator" hat, which involves things like blogging about ants, writing popular science articles about them, getting interviewed for podcasts or TV shows, bringing ants into classrooms, or talking about ants with my friends or students. This is inspirational.
There's also the "Mathemetician/Statistician" hat, for figuring out how to make sense of the results of experiments. Mmm, number-crunching. Very rewarding when I finally figure out how to do something.
The "Librarian" hat, for finding out about related research and keeping those publications organized. (Appeals to one's meticulous side)
And the "Manuscript-writer" hat, for making sense of the mathematical outcomes. This one often causes a lot of hair-pulling. Oh sure, I can write, but it can be hard to avoid self-censoring.
Oh, and I shouldn't forget the "Zookeeper" hat, which refers to both mentoring activities (<--joke) and taking care of ant colonies. Somewhat mundane, but necessary. Okay, maybe mentoring activities should fall under a separate "Mentor" hat.
Oh, and there's a "Performer" hat in there somewhere, too, for the presentations I give either here at school or at professional conferences. High stress but ultimately inspirational, especially when other people get fired up by my work.
So it's no wonder I feel kind of busy sometimes.
Today, I am hoping to accomplish the following:
1. Send a draft of my dissertation proposal to 3 of my 5 committee members.
2. Submit a travel grant for a conference in October, which also requires writing a poster abstract.
3. Rewrite 4 articles for Ask-A-Biologist (mercifully brief, but 'twill still take time).
4. Feed and water all of my ant colonies.
5. Make sure my undergraduates feel generally happy and as though they are making good progress (because they are).
It's already 1:00, and I've been able to make some, but not all, revisions to my proposal draft. Wish me luck with the rest.
There's the "Field Biologist" hat, which involves traveling out to exotic locations (like Tucson) to track down obscure organisms, braving the hardships of the wild and the vagaries of the weather. I spend lots of time with maps during this part. This part is awesome.
Then there's the "Experiment" hat, which overlaps with some of the other hats but mostly seems to involve collecting and analyzing data (how I get to this point involves wearing some of the other hats). I like this one because it involves a lot of tangible things: measurements, numbers written on pages, set time frames, chemicals in test tubes, color changes, and occasional exclamations of, "BING!" or "It's SCIENCE!"
Then there's the "Grant-writer" hat, which is how I get money to wear the other hats. It involves convincing other people that the things I do are worth spending money to do--that they contribute to some broader theoretical framework in some way that expands our understanding of the world around us, or some other such nonsense. This alternates between being stressful and rewarding (in my mind I go, "This is a useless waste of time" and then "This explains EVERYTHING!").
Then there's the "Educator" hat, which involves things like blogging about ants, writing popular science articles about them, getting interviewed for podcasts or TV shows, bringing ants into classrooms, or talking about ants with my friends or students. This is inspirational.
There's also the "Mathemetician/Statistician" hat, for figuring out how to make sense of the results of experiments. Mmm, number-crunching. Very rewarding when I finally figure out how to do something.
The "Librarian" hat, for finding out about related research and keeping those publications organized. (Appeals to one's meticulous side)
And the "Manuscript-writer" hat, for making sense of the mathematical outcomes. This one often causes a lot of hair-pulling. Oh sure, I can write, but it can be hard to avoid self-censoring.
Oh, and I shouldn't forget the "Zookeeper" hat, which refers to both mentoring activities (<--joke) and taking care of ant colonies. Somewhat mundane, but necessary. Okay, maybe mentoring activities should fall under a separate "Mentor" hat.
Oh, and there's a "Performer" hat in there somewhere, too, for the presentations I give either here at school or at professional conferences. High stress but ultimately inspirational, especially when other people get fired up by my work.
So it's no wonder I feel kind of busy sometimes.
Today, I am hoping to accomplish the following:
1. Send a draft of my dissertation proposal to 3 of my 5 committee members.
2. Submit a travel grant for a conference in October, which also requires writing a poster abstract.
3. Rewrite 4 articles for Ask-A-Biologist (mercifully brief, but 'twill still take time).
4. Feed and water all of my ant colonies.
5. Make sure my undergraduates feel generally happy and as though they are making good progress (because they are).
It's already 1:00, and I've been able to make some, but not all, revisions to my proposal draft. Wish me luck with the rest.
