Productive (adj)

In addition to some extra letters after your name, the ins and outs of grad school should leave you equipped with the following set of peripheral skills. And they're nothing to sneeze at; grad students are hard workers and their own greatest critics, but we often overlook the boring professional development going on behind the scenes. Many of these build on skills from elsewhere in life or from previous education. They translate well to the outside world, especially to whatever your eventual career will be. 1. Giving a talk. This is no small feat; people in general are terrified of public speaking. We learn from experience how to pull a chunk of research and make it digestible to an audience of experts or nonexperts; how to organize it; how to deliver it in an allotted timeslot and how to answer questions. The best way to work on this skill is to practice: at informal presentations and local conferences. Then you're ready for the big leagues. Remember, no one likes...

Here are my tips for putting together a successful panel for an academic conference. Committees are happy to get panel applications rather than individual abstracts because it means less work for them. These are simple tips that have worked for me in the past. Your experiences may differ, of course, depending on your field of study and the particular conference, the vicissitudes of the conference committee, and the "trendiness" of the topics that year. -Find another person whose work and your own have the same broader subject matter or approach. It helps if they are from a different institution or department from your own, but it's not necessary. Don't be afraid to venture outside your own level: professors and postdocs and grad students can happily be housed together. I have found it best when you are at least acquainted beforehand. -Ask them to join your panel. If yes, you are now a twosome, and it gets easier. (If no, repeat step one.) -Brainstorm for ...

Following in the footsteps of my friend Sarah Kriger , here are my new year's resolutions. 1. Post something worthwhile on Productive(adj).  Links to other online stuff I do (see 2 below) don't count. A year off with a new baby is a unique time to take stock of how things are going research- and life-wise, and I ought to take advantage. I know those of you who have followed this blog long term (and it would have to be long, since my update schedule has been outrageously bad) have heard some of these before, and to them I apologize. All I can do is try to do a little better. With a year off to look after the strangest & most adorable baby ever, and all the time off from parenting that her 6 naps a day afford me, I think I have a chance to decrud my blogging. [weekly] 2. Keep on with the Weekly Roundups over at the Bubble Chamber . I say "keep on" because by and large this has been something I've been able to stay on top of during school. So, stay the ...