Physicists frequently get laughed at for referring to problems as “trivial” when calculus is required to solve them. “Maybe it’s trivial for you, Einstein,” people will say, “but it looks pretty hard from here.” It’s nice to see that other fields are prone to the same sort of thing. Take, for example, this list of… Continue reading Easy Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Month: July 2009
PNAS: Dennis Lee, Biotech Researcher
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Dennis Lee, Biotech Researcher
PNAS: Pam Korda, Medical Device Developer
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Pam Korda, Medical Device Developer
PNAS: Denise Hills, Geologist II
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Denise Hills, Geologist II
Academic Poll: To Grade, or Not to Grade?
Over at Dot Physics, Rhett wonders about the role of homework in a world that includes cramster: Then what is the problem? The problem is with my jobs. Yes, jobs. I have two jobs. My first job is to help students learn. I am a learning-faciliator if you like. I do this in many different… Continue reading Academic Poll: To Grade, or Not to Grade?
Thursday Baby Blogging 072309
It’s been a really busy week, so I’m too fried to do anything but a really basic Baby Blogging picture. So here’s SteelyKid with Appa and some of her many other toys: The biggest recent milestone is that she’s started eating actual food– pieces of cereal, little dried banana puffs, and that sort of thing.… Continue reading Thursday Baby Blogging 072309
PNAS: Mike Sperry, Planetarium Specialist
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Mike Sperry, Planetarium Specialist
PNAS: Sandra Ulbrich Almazan, Enzyme Scientist
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Sandra Ulbrich Almazan, Enzyme Scientist
The Anacapa Society
I’ve had a few conversations with other small-college folks about how there ought to be some sort of group within DAMOP for people at small colleges, given how many of us there are who do AMO physics. Nothing has ever come of it, because nobody wants to take on the administrative hassle of organizing such… Continue reading The Anacapa Society
Make the Hugos Better
Worldcon is less than two weeks off, which means that it’s time once again for the SF part of blogdom to explode with complaints about the quality of the nominees. There are some reasonable reactions, but it’s mostly slightly over-the-top broadsides. It’s worth emphasizing again that the source of the problem is also the solution… Continue reading Make the Hugos Better