- Spending time with smart people …
I was recently asked by a colleague to name a favorite 'life hack' for research or academic life. My first thoughts centered around productivity tips and tricks. However, the more I reflected, the more I came back to the concept that success isn't really measured in getting mo...
- Productivity Tip #6: I’m Not Telling You to Lie
You don’t have to say you are away to use your “out of office” feature. You just have to be bold. My favorite flavor of bold is the Texan Dean who declares in an email bouceback that the eight people and email addresses listed serve as portals for specific types of emails, in...
- Managing a Budget as a New Investigator
Got your R and the realities of budget management sinking in? Want to prepare yourself financially to get to that R? Three newly independent investigators at Vanderbilt shared their wisdom with Newman Society members today.
Budgeting Before You Get Your R
Dr. John Stafford
...
- Three (Grant) Peeves in a Pod: Check Yourself
Reviewers review. We will notice. These fresh mistakes straight from study section:
1.) Please agree with yourself.
If the abstract says n = 110, the aims say 100, the statistical section says 110, and the budget justification says 100, it makes me cranky.
2.) Please explain...
- So You Want to Be On An Editorial Board? Some Protips for That.
A mere month ago, I was a humble researcher with an amazingly cool lab. But this month, things are different. I've been named a Reviewing Editor at a society journal. And that's sort of a big deal for academic folks. So let me dust off a bit of confetti from the ticker tape parad...
- Finally! Data on What Study Section Really Cares About
In 2009, NIH revamped their scoring system asking reviewers to provide numbers ranging from 1 (best) to 9 (worst) assessing applications Environment, Investigator, Innovation, Approach, and Significance.
NIH has emphasized Innovation (insert jazz hands), leaving many a weary gra...
- Exciting AND Consistent? Verbs and Nouns in Scientific Writing
Pop quiz: Which of these sentences is more interesting?
1. We did the experiment, and it was a vivid example of the power of broccoli to make kids gag.
2. We performed the experiment, which vividly demonstrated the power of broccoli to make kids gag.
You chose the second...
- Three (Grant) Peeves in a Pod: Formatting
Ever since the holy trinity important things have come in threes—listen up. Every study section I have been in for years includes the complaint that certain grant authors:
1.) Cheat the font sizes in their tables and figures.
Don’t make me adjust my bifocals. It makes me cran...
- Why you should read The Opposable Mind
For fifteen years prior to this book's publication, author Roger Martin studied successful leaders, interviewing more than fifty of them for up to eight hours at a time, trying to find a pattern to their success. The pattern he discovered was what he calls "integrative thinking....
- Productivity Tip #4: Do You Put the PRO in Procrastination?
Do You Put the PRO in Procrastination?
Procrastination is closely related to impatience. Their kinship is based on our bias toward the present over the future. Both are examples of the human tendency to overdiscount future events. In both impatience and procrastination, we o...
