We have a small ornamental pond in the back yard, with a little bubbler in it to keep it from turning into nothing but a stagnant mosquito ranch. Here we find the Queen of Niskayuna contemplating the pond: (I’m not quite sure what she’s looking for, but it was cute. Sometimes she drinks the water,… Continue reading The Doggie In the Water
Author: Chad Orzel
New Teaching Evaluation Study
Inside Higher Ed, in their “Quick Takes” points to a new study of teaching evaluations that they summarize thusly: Students care more about teaching quality than professorial rank when evaluating professors, and professors who receive good evaluations from one group of students typically continue to do so in the future, and to have students who… Continue reading New Teaching Evaluation Study
Conference Blogging
It’s not the sort of thing I usually follow, but Ethan Zuckerman is blogging about the talks at the Pop!Tech conference (Pop!Tech 2006 site). There’s an impressive variety of topics, and Ethan gives good summaries of the talks (well, at least, the summaries themselves are pretty readable– I can’t speak for the accuracy, as I… Continue reading Conference Blogging
Bipolar Basketball
Not a lot of love for the ACC Preview post from earlier this week, and I got buried in work, so I didn’t get a chance to write up the Big East and A-10 previews. I’ll try to do at least one this weekend, but until then, the three basketball fans among my readers may… Continue reading Bipolar Basketball
It’s Not Science Without Graphs
After months and months of nothing, behold! Signal! Explanation below the fold.
Classic Edition: Hey, Ref!
Having made reference to the referee system in my post about a paper being accepted, this seems like a good point to dust off an old post about the peer review system in physics. Like many of the other Classic Edition posts I’ve put up here, this one dates from July of 2002. Apparently, I… Continue reading Classic Edition: Hey, Ref!
Virtual Labs
The New York Times today has a story about Web-based classes offering virtual labs, and whether they should count for AP credit: As part of a broader audit of the thousands of high school courses that display its Advanced Placement trademark, the [College Board] has recruited panels of university professors and experts in Internet-based learning… Continue reading Virtual Labs
Having A Family Helps Your Career?
From Inside Higher Ed this morning, interesting new results on marriage and academic careers: A year ago, a graduate student in economics at Cornell University released a study showing that men who are married are more likely to finish doctoral programs than are single men. When Inside Higher Ed wrote about the study, the graduate… Continue reading Having A Family Helps Your Career?
Accepted Paper Happy Dance
I got word yesterday that the last leftover part of the work I did as a post-doc has been accepted for publication as a Rapid Communication in Physical Review A. It’s not up on the web yet, but you can find an old draft on the ArXiV that will give you the basic idea. “But… Continue reading Accepted Paper Happy Dance
Kids These Days (Student Government Edition)
Inside Higher Ed has a story about the recent student elections at Penn State, which ended up with the winning candidates being belatedly rejected after making inappropriate comments: Jay Bundy won a plurality of votes in last week’s campus election and was poised to take over leadership of the University Park Undergraduate Association, recognized by… Continue reading Kids These Days (Student Government Edition)