In my closet

This subject has come up time and time again. For a wonderful cover on the topic, check out Dr. Bik's blog post in DeepSeaNews. But I thought I'd give my personal perspective on......fashion in the lab.

I grew up in DC, where my idea of a successful adult was largely molded by the suits and lavish two-piece outfits on Capitol Hill. I knew that when I grew up, I too would wear beautiful blouse, tailored pants, cute skirts, and heels....heels for days! However, my love of science began early, and soon my dreams of cute outfits diminished to socially acceptable duds that wouldn't get destroyed in the field or around chemicals in a lab. The more I feel like an adult though, the more I start to wonder why I can't still be the fashionista I envisioned - just the scientist edition.

By all means, if you're most comfortable in jeans and a tee, go for it, especially in my environment. I definitely wouldn't dress up for the field - that's beyond impractical. In that case I'll break out my Keens! But I'm very much a "dress to impress" type of gal. I try to look pulled together for classes and work (OK, so sometimes I get lazy, like on weekends when I'm the only person in the lab or going in for a final). I was taught to dress properly when visiting the house of the Lord, and while I've downgraded to jeans for church, I still feel a need to dress them up so it looks like I put some sort of effort into my appearance. I see a bit of this in my lab, but more often than not it's jeans or shorts and a tee. But I encourage anyone else who likes to put together outfits on a daily basis to go ahead, build up a cute wardrobe and share it with the world! Even if half the time I just end up sharing my growing sense of style with baby clams :/

As a random example, I would love this top:

Old Navy....hey, I'm on a RA salary here.

and a white sweater in case it's chilly, with black trousers or my dark wash trouser jeans.

Old Navy

Maybe finish off the look with some sparkle?

Payless.

Anyways, that's my goal. As I'm now halfway through my program and am starting to think seriously about conferences and jobs, not only will I be armed with awesome interview/first impression attire, but I'll feel comfortable and invincible in them :)

Fact of the Post: A Science article I recently read for my seminar concluded that the beloved Triceratops is actually the juvenile of another dinosaur species.

Goo goo gah gah

Interns anyone?

So I just realized that I never got to writing about the almighty internship...

Internships are important. They expose you to the field and the people in that field. They give you real experience and a chance to see the good, bad, and ugly of your career path. They let you decide if you're making the right move, or if you should tweak your plans. They allow you to meet people who can be very helping late on - besides the coveted recommendation, they can give you advice and serve as a guiding hand. Even one good internship will do a lot for you, both on your resume and for memories that will last a lifetime! (OK I'm done with the cheesiness). So, the good, bad, and ugly of my internships from the college days.


Education intern at an aquarium
The good: made wonderful friends, got some experience in public education, developed my love of fish, learned a lot, played with dolphins!, discovered I can be a great teacher (pre-TA), worked on my public speaking skills, saw that spark of interest/amazement in children every day, took on a fear head on (I had to hold a giant millipede and stand next to hissing cockroaches for an hour...and I survived!)
The bad: dumb adults (and by dumb I mean disrespectful of the animals and of us) and children that were out of control and required us parenting them....sorry, not my job, I'm not the one who birthed them.
The ugly: unpaid (I also had a real job to get by), the aquarium was an hour away and I didn't have a car at the time...that meant getting up before 6am to make it to work before 9 (it's bad when 8am is sleeping in)

REU Intern (REU = research experience for undergraduates)
The good: got real experience working in the lab, made more wonderful friends, took a step in getting comfortable being away from the family (this was the first summer I spent away from home), eventually got a publication out of my work, made lots of contacts which led to (what I assume were) awesome recs for grad school, got dirty out in the field, GOT PAID WOOOO
The bad: Spending 24/7 in the lab at one point to finish my work (OK, 8am-6pm, but having the lights cut out on you is damn depressing)
The ugly: Again, didn't have a car at this point, so my independence was limited

Yes, sometimes internships suck, but as you can see, in a successful internship the good outweighs the bad. And if it ends up sucking....well, I still consider that a success. You now know you don't want that career and you can change gears without too much loss. Perhaps it means an extra year of school, but that's better than realizing this after working for years and then having to go back to school. So get out there, get some experience, explore, and have fun!

P.S. REUs are amazing, and they're all over the country. Check out this site; most cater to minorities in science (of both race and sex) and/or people without prior research experience. The link I posted is specifically for ocean sciences, but they come in many other flavors: chemistry, engineering, earth science, etc.

Fact of the Post: Notre Dame researchers have determined that the act of walking through a doorway decreases your ability to remember things. Gahhh that's why I forget what I'm doing when I walk into another room!

He's probably thinking "Who the hell is she?!"

Don't underestimate the power...

...of a class that you assume has no relevance to your life.

I've done it. You've done it. We've all done it. You take a class, perhaps because it's a requirement, maybe because it's the lesser of a couple of evils. You set your sights on completion and revel in the fact that once it's over, it's over. It'll never pop up in your life again.

LIEEESSSSS!

Two particular instances come to mind.

1. In undergrad I was required to take Chemical Oceanography. Yes, it's just as painful, if not more painful, than it sounds. Equations that I'll never remember, my first (and only) academic warning, a cruise spent curled up in the fetal position on the deck from a bad case of sea sickness. But I fought through it and celebrated the end of that class and all that came with it.

That summer I attended an REU, and my project required running hemolymph (AKA crab blood) samples through a spectrophotometer. The grad student in my lab explained that I first had to create a standard curve with samples of known concentrations and then run my actual samples. My mouth all but hit the floor. I almost laughed out loud at the irony. Of course I knew how to do this.....it was all I had done in my Chemical Oceanography lab. The student proceeded to watch me run through a standard curve and a sample in a matter of minutes. If nothing else, I was able to impress a grad student with my stellar spec skills.

2. This semester I am taking a seminar on evolution and speciation. During the first class, the teacher asked us to describe our projects and say whether the knowledge of species was important. I didn't think it was important for my project. I mean, I'm studying pesticide toxicity in well known mollusc species, how would that matter?

Fast forward a couple of months. I'm completing my thesis proposal and one of my committee members questions our certainty that we're working with the right species of clam. I stated that I'm using the Northern quahog, Mercenaria mercenaria. But as the hatchery I'm using is in Florida, was there a chance I was actually getting the Southern quahog, Mercenaria campechiensis? We realized that answered that question would require extensive genetic testing that I didn't have time for. I ended up going through my proposal and changing it to say that I am using Mercenaria sp. My teacher would surely laugh in my face if he knew that speciation managed to affect my project.

So lesson learned: everything is useful. Don't say I didn't warn you.


Fact of the Post: A video of an octopus caught walking on land!

Race....and sea piggies

Yes, not what you might expect, yet I've come to a revelation. I'm going to start writing about whatever science I come across - marine biology or not. See, while marine biology is my first passion, I have a curiosity and appreciation for all fields of science (mmmm maybe not organic chemistry). Also, marine biology may be a huge portion of my life, but I think it'll be nice to mix things up once in awhile....and it might help me stay on top of blogging : /

So about a month ago I went home for my fall break and - as I usually do - looked up the Smithsonian Musuem of Natural History to see if there were any new exhibits. Lo and behold, there was! I hopped on over for the temporary exhibit "Race: Are We So Different?" I was drawn in by the website's explanation of the exhibit as a look at race from all angles: biological, social, economical, historical. I thought I'd spend 10 minutes in there, read a good tid bit and move on.

I was in there for about an hour.

The different angles were so interesting. The biological background of why people's skin look different and how that has been influenced by our evolutionary history. The history of the word "race" and how it's meaning has changed. Statistics on racial differences in income, education, and health - and how they don't always match our assumptions (Did you know that Mediterranean people also have a high occurance of the sickle cell allele?! I didn't! There was a story about a man of Italian descent who took years to realize and then convince doctors he has sickle cell because people assume it only occurs in people of African descent). There were movies and photos of people of all races, of all mixed ethnicities, sharing their stories. It was really one of the more insightful exhibits I've seen in a long time.

So take a minute to check out the site, and please go to the exhibit if you happen to be in DC before January.

Fact of the Post....comes from the Natural History Museum! The museum's Species of the Day is the sea pig, Scotoplanes globosa. Read about it here!



Oink oink!



On the Water

My new home has opened my eyes to many new possibilities - one of which seems to be water sports. Everyone at the beach is surfing, Boogie boarding, and the like. Well, this weekend I took a wack at a water sport - wakeboarding.



This is how I spent a good portion of the afternoon.

 I was surprised to find out that the hardest part wasn't getting on my feet, it was holding on. Turns out it's not quite as easy to hold on to a moving boat. Still, it was so relaxing to spend an afternoon in the water. We ended the day withshrimping and made shrimp and grits for dinner. No better way for a bunch of marine scientists to end a day in the South.

Fact of the Post: A group of researchers, including two students from my awesome alma mater, are studying acoustic communication in mantis shrimp.

I'm excellent at serenading.

What to do when I Grow Up...

Today I participated in a prospective student lunch. It was so much fun, talking about our grad school experience in a low-key environment. The student was very easy-going and interactive, which was awesome. One of the questions she asked us was what we planned on doing once we were done here. It forced me to admit out loud that I have no idea what I'm doing. Half of the time I want a research position, half of the time I want to teach, and a slim number of times I play with the idea of a PhD program.

See, I'm the type of gal that's always had a plan. Always knew what the next step would be. And for the first time in my life, I don't have a plan. Some people many find that thrilling - I find it terrifying. I suppose that's a testament to the manny routes that marine science can lead you. For now, I'll focus on finishing my proposal.

Fact of the Post: A researcher at Georgetown has indicated that a dolphin's ability to quickly heal from shark bites may provide insight to the care of injures in humans.

I Suck at Updates

So unfortunately the whole month of July has gone by without an update. Since my last post, I have been caring for my larvae, running some tests, and writing my project proposal. Now comes something else to add into the mix of lab work and writing - classes begin in less than two weeks. I'm very excited to be a second year...less classes, no longer the one learning the system. I'm also just excited to meet a new class. This week is orientation for new students, so we'll be meeting the first years on Thursday at the latest. Which reminds me - that means I've been here for a whole year!

In addition to my own work, I've been able to help with other projects going on at my campus. More specifically, I went sharking! I ended up being more nervous than I thought I'd be, but it was still fun, and I hope to go out again.

Love me some rays

Fact of the Post: The smell of dead lampreys seem to scare the crap out of live ones.



PLLEEEAASSEEE NOOOOOOO