Begging, borrowing, and stealing in the name of research (at a PUI)

Starting a research lab at a PUI can be a challenging experience. Startup funds can be minimal, and sometimes you don't get them right away due to budget issues. (ahem) The consumables that you completely take for granted in grad school, such as acetone, pipet tips, centrifuge tubes, etc., become a Really. Big. Deal.

So this is what the first half of 2010 was all about: how can I beg, borrow, or steal various lab necessities in order to minimize the blow to my start-up funds.

Did you hear the one about the kid who traded up a cell phone for a porsche? Imagine if we did that in lab! I can see it now. I give my undergrad a Fischer click pen. Undergrad trades it for a TLC plate. The TLC plate gets traded for an NMR tube, which in turn gets bartered for a wash bottle. Eventually Undergrad makes it to a 1-mL eppendorf pipet. What to trade for next?

The possibilities are endless, especially given the random contents of most of my colleague's labs.

What a great way to solve my budget issues! Trade all the useless crap from professors long gone for stuff I need.

scientiae-carnival

go-to questions

I'm at that really awkward stage of packing where I'm not quite living out of boxes but I'm not living in a normal apartment either.

My tiny apartment has exploded-- half-packed boxes cover every available floor space of the kitchen/living room and drawers are pulled halfway open, serving as a constant reminder of how much I still have to pack. Of course, everyone around here keeps asking how the packing is going. It's the new go-to question. Of course, this makes me think back to various go-to questions for different stages of life. You know, the question that you get asked several to dozens of times a day. The question to which you might not have an answer, or maybe you have a five sentence spiel memorized since you have to spout off dozens of times a day. When the former is the case, it only drives home the underlying message: that you are stuck in place and need to move forward.

Let's take a walk down go-to question lane:

senior year, high school: So, where are you going to college?

senior year, college: What are you doing next year?

first year, grad school: What research group are you going to join?

fourth year, grad school: When are you going to start writing?

fourth and a half year, grad school: What are you doing next year?

first year, visiting ass.: How are classes going?

first year, visiting ass.: What are you doing next year? (from faculty)

first year, visiting ass.: You're leaving? What would you want to leave (from students)


Luckily for me, I do have a job for the fall, so those last questions have an answer. I can move on from this visiting ass. position.

I can already anticipate the go-to questions from my future colleagues: How does this place compare to TempCollege?

What go-to questions have you encountered?



scientiae-carnival

Should I stay or should I go?

Historically, my big life decisions have not required me to select from just one of two choices; I have not met many proverbial forks in the road... more like sporks. For example, when I decided to go to graduate school, I knew I had the option of many disciplines. I also knew that I could easily change my mind at any point and leave. If LargeU ended up not being a good fit, I could (with minimal pain), pull up roots and switch to another program or school.

Likewise, when I decided to accept the Visiting Ass faculty position at TempColleg, I knew that I wasn't risking much: visiting positions are becoming more and more common (woohoo! Teaching postdoc, anyone?), so I wasn't worried about the job becoming a black mark on my CV. If I hated it, it was only nine months. If I liked it, bonus points.

So in recent months, I've been exploring new territory. I had to decide whether to go back on the active job market or continue on for another year at TempCollege. I chose to not put out any applications. The Boss was terribly disappointed that I was closing the door on all potential opportunities. The argument was made that I could leverage any tenure-track offers to try to gain a position at N.A.'s institution.

Now, a door has opened at N.A.'s institution. Would I still have this option if I had put out applications in September? No. In November? Maybe, but it would have been very interesting when it came time to do interviews.

So I guess in my case, it appear that by closing the door to other tenure-track possibilities, I have opened a (teeny, tiny) door to a potential position that would put me in the same city as N.A. Stay tuned for updates on my two-body situation!

scientiae-carnival