This post is jointly written by a postdoc in ecology/evolution, and a PhD student in education sciences. Our backgrounds may be very different, but we share the interest in changing the learning culture at university, which currently leaves some of the brightest minds behind. To explain what we mean by that, we would like to take you on a personal journey about our own struggles and how they shaped our views on the higher education system.
“Perhaps because I visited these forests and was struck by their uniqueness (such as the remnant Nothofagus forest) and vibrant life, I felt the recent massive destruction as a mental and even physical stress.”
Why does being considered Asian or Asian American matter in STEM fields? How do these categorizations impact ecologists that identify as Asian or Asian American? In this post, we discuss our journeys as Asian American ecologists. Additionally, we present evidence and argue that disaggregating demographic data for Asian Americans is essential for increasing diversity in STEM fields, with specific regard to ecology.
Could collaborative funding become a widely available option from the start of an academic career?
Life in nature is full of systems that we can learn from. Systems like the poison-frogs and their signals. We can observe life responding to the laws of nature to learn how systems work. The principles that we learn can guide our understanding of other systems.
In biology, data on species abundance, diversity and traits are made openly available in big biodiversity databases: big data. Here, I highlight some problems that big data approaches can have, which is particularly worrying if analysis outcomes are used to inform (inter)national policies on conservation strategies.*
Tyrian purple is a unique dye, which comes from the snail Hexaplex trunculus. Thousands of years ago, so many snails were harvested that the shells left behind forever changed the landscape of many Mediterranean cities. These middens, mounds of shell remains reflect the demand of ancient royalty for something as simple as the color purple. By pairing archeological studies of middens with modern experiments, the feeding patterns of H. trunculus can be revealed.
A big part of a student’s daily work is organizing their professional life – managing tasks and effectively using their time each day to meet long-term goals. But, as a friend of mine recently pointed out, little in our training prepares us for this critical, but difficult, task. In this post, I describe tools and share resources and advice related to short-term (daily/weekly task) organization that I’ve picked up in my last three years of grad school. This is a follow up to my previous post on tools/resources related to long-term organization.
A big part of a student’s daily work is organizing their professional life – deciding on project priorities, keeping track of resources, mapping out long-term research plans, and setting appropriate goals. But, as a friend of mine recently pointed out, little in our training prepares us for this critical, but difficult and unintuitive, task. In this post, I describe tools and share resources and advice related to long-term organization that I’ve picked up in my last three years of grad school. I’ll be following this up with a second post on tools/resources related to short-term (daily/weekly task) organization.
The next iteration in a series of posts entitled “Reflections on the Past”, by Hari Sridhar. Read how Hari revisits old papers in ecology and evolution through interviews with their authors. To view the full series visit: http://www.reflectionsonpaperspast.wordpress.com
The next iteration in a series of posts entitled “Reflections on the Past”, by Hari Sridhar. Read how Hari revisits old papers in ecology and evolution through interviews with their authors. To view the full series visit: http://www.reflectionsonpaperspast.wordpress.com
Myriad species exist where males within the same population display alternative morphologies, often referred to as minors and majors (“lovers and fighters”), that are associated with different ways of gaining access to mates. Their coexistence is typically explained using sexual selection theory. However, other explanations exist, but they have not been explored in great depth yet.*
I find myself more and more willing to go out on an interdisciplinary limb with age. Is it the job security, boredom of my discipline, alarm at impending climate and biodiversity issues intersecting with society?
In this incredibly demanding environment, it was so important for me to find my own pleasure in my work, to understand that I could fix my own principles and values, not look for them elsewhere. It took me awhile to figure this out….
This is a series of posts entitled “Reflections on the Past”, by Hari Sridhar. To view the full series visit: http://www.reflectionsonpaperspast.wordpress.com
This is a series of posts entitled “Reflections on the Past”, by Hari Sridhar. To view the full series visit: http://www.reflectionsonpaperspast.wordpress.com
This is a series of posts entitled “Reflections on the Past”, by Hari Sridhar. To view the full series visit: http://www.reflectionsonpaperspast.wordpress.com
All Duke PhD students in ecology are required to enroll in a class entitled Ecological Perspectives: Evolution to Ecosystems. The syllabus covers two subdisciplines of ecology, taught collaboratively by faculty from each subdiscipline with no cross training. Only two out of 16 students identified with either subdiscipline. What did students learn?
All Duke PhD students in ecology are required to enroll in a class entitled Ecological Perspectives: Evolution to Ecosystems. The syllabus covers two subdisciplines of ecology, taught collaboratively by faculty from each subdiscipline with no cross training. Only two out of 16 students identified with either subdiscipline. What did the instructors learn?
Preservation of natural spaces, species, and resources were viewed as being intimately linked to preservation of the white race and its power. The rhetoric boiled down to essentially this: preservation of nature means preservation of what belongs to white people, the superior race and the only race qualified to steward these resources.
Can you leave academia, take a long break, and come back? I talk about my experience of being a returner to science and how I am taking up mentoring to share my experience with others.
When plants made their foray onto land 460 million years ago, they weren’t alone; along with them evolved a new type of fungi, without which the first plants would likely not have survived. Fast forward to the present, and those same fungi now inhabit the roots of 80-90% of modern vascular land plants, offering nutrients in exchange for carbohydrates, with groups ranging from coveted truffles to species with newly discovered symbioses in the Mucoromycotina, previously thought to be only parasitic or saprophytic.
That graphic cliff of emissions is telling us we cannot keep doing the same thing – as if that inconvenient report never came out – we cannot keep flying everywhere to network and hear each other talk in person
This is a series of posts entitled “Reflections on the Past”, by Hari Sridhar. To view the full series visit: http://www.reflectionsonpaperspast.wordpress.com
Academics should question whether advising students to do as we do, or follow in our footsteps, is really the best advice for students.
Rapid Ecology 