Milestones Galore!

Oh boy, once again it's been too long since I've written here. I have reached another milestone in my career - I officially have a thesis committee! In addition to my advisor, I have three other committee members who will help me out. I have two toxicologists, an ecologist, and a physiologist on my committee. This gives me an opprotunity to discuss how one should choose committee members:

Sometimes it's just logical for someone to be on your committee, either for technicality or other reasons. The ecologist is on my committee because he is on the grant proposal and will be helping with preliminary data collections. Another is on my committee because he is in the same lab group as my advisor and helped me come up wih thesis ideas. Other times it's about comfort and knowing someone. My last committee member is my former internship mentor. I know him very well and I know how he works. Additionally, my four members together make a well-rounded group with different but relevent areas of knowledge. I have heard suggestions of putting people on your committee with experience in the field and/or in your program. This could be especially helpful if your advisor doesn't have much experience or is new to the program.

I hope everyone had/is having/will have a great Spring Break! My breaks will be limited after this year, so a couple of friends and I went all out and took a cruise! I enjoyed visiting new countries like Honduras and Belize. I also got in plenty of snorkeling and we completed a SNUBA excursion. SNUBA is like SCUBA, except your tank is on a float at the surface and you are attached to it with a long hose. Therefore, no certification needed!

Next things on my list - present my thesis project in seminar and (gasp!) schedule my orals.

Confessions of an Oyster Lover?

So the past week has been busy as far as meeting with people and trying to finalize my thesis project. Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, I officially have a thesis project and advisor! The upsides? I've accepted a research assistantship that includes summer funding (which I had been pulling my hair over for the past two weeks) and I'm working on tying physiological and/or behavioral components into my project. The one downside? I'm working on clams and oysters. Yes, no fishies for me :( I decided that something had to give, and given all the good that comes with the project, I figured I could be lenient with the test organism. So far I know that I'll be completing a toxicology study; more details to come!

I have mixed feelings about giving up my TAship. On the one hand, I'm relieved to be rid of spending hours looking at lessons and dealing with many of my students. I'm tired of planning entire days around traveling to teach. On the other hand, I've had some amazing students and they're pretty entertaining. Oh well, now the TAship can go to someone who needs it.

Lately I've been finding a niche that's not related to my program. It's the Graduate Open Alliance, a new organization for LGBT grad students. It's been a bit difficult getting things off the ground, but I'm so excited about what we have planned for this semester. I'm the secretary this year, and it's the first time I've had such a huge role in an organization. On Friday we had a social trip to the gay club for a drag show, which is always so much fun! I love my marine biology friends, but it's nice to also have people who understand another side of me.

Well, off to bed soon for my Oceanography test!

Decisions decisions

Now that my classes are less intense, I can focus on another highly important aspect of graduate life - choosing an advisor and a project. I started talking to people last semester but finals and projects got in the way. My program is decently unique in that you have a year to find a project. In most other programs (including the other three that I applied to), you must find an advisor before you are accepted into the program, or even before you can apply. Personally, I like being able to walk over to labs and meet with people after class; it doesn't involved a huge trip on top of senior year of college. I did know that there were many faculty members who I'd be interested in working with, so at least I started school knowing I'd be happy in someone's lab.

Of course, the big thing right now is money and funding. This is where you must find a balance and decide what is more important for you - a funded project or a project you love. If you're super lucky, your project will fit both categories. I have seen a few projects that were funded, but did not interest me. As I will be working on this project for the next two years, I was not too keen on that idea.

My program has also been great in that it has allowed and pushed me to explore options that I wouldn't have considered before. Part of my required curriculum includes a seminar introducing first years to the program and the grad school process. Last semester, this seminar mostly involved bringing in people with projects and/or funding for students. The class exposed me to faculty members I would never have seen otherwise. Equally important, it made me realize that some projects were not as exciting to me as I imagined. I slowly started to open up my mind and consider new avenues. I entered the program focued on fish physiology, but now I have talked to people about parasitology and toxicology. I can still work with fish for either projects, but I would never have considered these topics before. The amount of knowledge that is still out there in this field is mind-blowing, and I'm so excited to be a part of it!

Like a Smack in the Face

As I prepare to return to school this weekend, I feel like it's an appropriate time to look back on my first semester of grad-level academics. I had to take physiology, ecology, and a seminar. Overall, I learned many things

1. I like physiology much more than ecology...sorry, it's the truth. My mind is just better at working through equations. However, I do love field and lab work, which made both classes worth it.
2. Yea, you know how as you move up each level of education you're told that no one will hold your hand, but they really do? Yea...that actually ends at this level. There will always be people ready and willing to help, but not unless you reach out to them. No one will try to stay on top of your reading or problem sets - it's up to you to decide what's worth doing, especially if you have another job (teaching, lab work, etc). After failing both of my first tests, I definitely started studying for exams earlier and more often with my classmates. Which gets into my next point...
3. An F really isn't the end of the world....OK, an F in an entire class is, but one test or assignment does not define you unless you let it. If you continue to produce F work, then yea you're done. If you say "OK, I effed up, time to straighten up" then you'll be fine.
4. I became one of those people who studies for hours on end for finals...try 12 hours straight, with two breaks for food :/ And I came very close, but somehow managed to not pull an all-nighter....still all-nighter free! (OK, so I actually did try and gave up at 3am...whatever)
5. It really helps to develop a thick skin, so that when professors put you down you can brush it off and fix whatever is wrong and move on with life (or at least hold off on the tears until you're alone).
6. It helps to have someone/thing outside of your school life, otherwise you'll go nuts. For many of my fellow cohorts, it's dancing or working out or playing a sport...I'm working on making working out one of those releases. This past semester, it's been my amazing roommate who has absolutely nothing to do with my grad school life. We vent about our school/work lives and then bond over life stories and Jersey Shore. It's a beautiful friendship.
7. Despite all the crying, hair-pulling, and curses at various objects and people, it's all worth it if you truly love what you do. I mean seriously, I've spent classes at the beach and on boats, how awesome is that?! It has even led me to my new mantra/saying - "I play in the water like it's my job" :D

Benthic sampling in Ecology lab.

New Year, New Goals

Happy New Year to y'all! Hoping that everyone had a good 2010 and is looking forward to all that 2011 can offer!

My first semester was definitely a learning experience - learning to be more independent, learning to be less of a student and more of a scientist. So here are my science-related goals for 2011:
- Find a thesis project that will make me happy and fulfilled (OK that one is more of a requirement but whatever)
- Take my classes a bit more seriously so I'm not stressing out over grades come May
- Join a society so I can get myself out into the scientific community

Oh, and while I'm here, some good news - my internship paper was published!
Read all about it!

The Woes and Joys of Teaching

I think I'll start with something that was surprisingly fun - teaching. Most of my fellow first-years (and many grad students across the country) received teaching assistantships to teach up to three sections of intro biology labs for undergrads. The level of responsibility differs between schools, programs, and even within programs. Some TAs just grade for large lecture classes, some lead discussion sections, and some are the sole instructors. Even within my program the amount of responsibility differed - those teaching non-majors had more work since their kids wrote papers and completes projects. As a lab teacher for majors, I only graded weekly quizzes (which I wrote) and two practicals. I had the majority of control over my classes; the lab coordinator wrote the manuel, but I was usually able to figure out from other students or trial and error what was actually doable.

It certainly took a while getting used to teaching. I mean, I look like I'm 15 and I sound like it, how was I supposed to control a bunch of people who were (at the most) only four years younger that me?! But surprisingly, my students were for the most part very respectful. I did have to get an attitude at one point, but that was the extent of my harshness. I've still learned some important things for next semester:
- If I don't know something, say so and follow up on it. I was pretty good about this but I'll definitely keep it up.
- Think of every possible scenario and make a rule about it in your syllabus. I was caught offguard a couple of times, so now I know to include those issues in my new syllabus.
- I'm a teacher first. Sometimes I felt bad about saying no to students I like, but a fellow first-year (and former high school teacher) reminds me that I'm not their friend.

I'm so excited to continue teaching next semester!

Life gets in the way sometimes...

So my initial plan was to keep regular posts about how I got to where I am, and how I'm surviving graduate school. Then a little thing called....graduate school....happened. So my apologies; I promise I'll stay on top of things as my life will apparently become ten times calmer (according to older students). So for a quick overview of the past couple of months...

- Somehow survived the hardest semester at my program with a passing GPA....which means I get to keep my TAship, woot!
- Also survived my first semester teaching undergrad biology labs. It started out very stressful, and I often wondered if my kids liked/respeted me. But seeing some kids pass with Bs and Cs when they were failing at mid-term period, to have kids argue over who's lab I should teach next semester...I've never felt such a reward.
- I feel extremely close to my cohort, and to everyone in my program in general. Late-night study sessions will do that to you.

I'm currently back in DC for winter break, so I'll have more time to catch up. For now, a pretty accurate representation of the past four months of my life: