Money makes the world go 'round

I'm an odd human. Sometimes I lounge with my computer and get nothing accomplished. Five hours after dropping my bum on the couch and I still feel stressed about everything I have to do (However, I usually have acquired a wealth of "useless" knowledge, courtesy of Wikipedia). Other times, such as half the time I've been sitting at home over this break, I get an uncommon amount of work done. As the new year dawns on me, one big thing on my mind is money...and isn't that the case for many fellow scientists? At most points in our career, money will be an issue. Scholarships, grants, fellowships, assistantships, some other "ship" word I don't even know about yet. Even the best and most successful researchers need to write grants to run their awesome research.

2012 is bringing with it many financial issues (not necessarily bad ones, just ones that I need to deal with), and for some reason I've been pretty on top of dealing with them. My first financial responsibility is my first conference! I plan on attending a meeting in NC this spring. I'll have the chance to present my research to other students and professional scientists (hopefully as a presentation) and meet new people. With this exciting prospect comes the need for funds - funds for the registration fee, gas money, meals, any socializing, etc. Luckily, there are many options to fund conference trips, especially for students. I recently learned that there are some funds in the grant that supports my assistantship for a conference, which I know I am so lucky to have. There are usually other sources of cash - in my case, I can also apply for grants from the graduate school, the graduate student association, my program's grad student association, and the society itself. Even if you can't get your entire trip covered, grants can take a good chunk out of your expenses, especially if you're giving a talk or presenting a poster.

The other thing I have to prepare for....finding funds to support myself during my last year of grad school. Yes, often good things come to an end (Not always, however. What a stupid quote. Anyways...) and my research assistantship will be up this summer. I have some options. The one I'm working on right now is finding fellowships and scholarships to apply for. This is proving difficult mainly because many fellowships set you up with a project or location. I have a project...I just need money to live :( My other option is going back to a teaching assistantship. I would love this option, but would then be without funding for two months. I went through that this year and let me tell you, not fun at all (I luckily had money set aside but that meant putting off a car purchase...bummerrr).

Anyways, that's my way of being productive without physically being at the lab. Oh! I can't forget updating my poster for the Graduate Poster Session next month. Man, it's gonna be a busy year.

Fact of the Post: One of the many reasons I love the tiny country of Belize: the Wildlife Conservation Society has concluded that fishing closures in Belize has helped increase predatory fish populations such as barracuda and groupers. Herbivorous fishes such as parrotfish, however, have not been as successful. But no worries! The Belizean government has recently placed a nationwide ban on parrotfish fishing. The restoration of such species may help coral reefs recover (herbivorous fishes can take care of the algae that has taken over many reefs).

I'm back baby!