Recently I had a fun little experience that reminded me I will never be "normal" and even friends and people who like me will most likely never grasp who I am. I hope I don't come across as either whiny or elitist, but this is my life experience (edited for verbosity).
I recently attended a major meeting for a highly-technical, leading edge field of research. I also am employed by an HBCU. I am currently working on some speechifying for my students in the Spring, so I wanted to spitball and share a few observations.
That was my example for the octet rule, and how the noble gases had just the right balance and all the other atoms wanted to be like them (or at least their electronic configurations).
A colleague of mine recently shared this surprisingly detailed story of academic fraud wherein the perpetrator has breached so many ethical standards that I think he should be stood against a wall and shot. On the surface, it seems to be a run-of-the-mill falsification of credentials scheme, but it gets much worse.
While reading the recent post here about homeopathic treatments for arthritis and the excellent summations of the Ebola outbreak by Faz.Alam, I happened to come across the following abomination. I would have linked to the original story on NaturalNews, but amazingly enough, it appeared too extreme even for them. I…
Today was the day the students in two summer programs hosted at a top-notch university presented their summer research. The programs seek undergraduates from nearby universities to perform research in R1 facilities. I really like these programs becasue they make a point of bringing in students who do not have the…
Disclaimer: I enjoy playing soccer. I'm not terribly good at ball skills, but I do understand positioning and can play solid defense. I even played in an amateur league a couple of years and was named most improved player the year we went to the finals. It's a lot of fun, and with the right group, I even try some…
I've been a bit fascinated by the discussions about nerd culture (particularly Big Bang Theory) that have turned up recently. After reading a very good discussion of BBT vs. Community here and this most excellent rant by a real physicist about BBT here, I started thinking more about the intersection of modern nerd…
I wonder, were I a professor in the Kansas public university system, if I could get fired for publishing this. Slate recently posted an article about a proposed policy change wherein faculty (of any rank) could be fired for improper use of social media. Here is the Slate article: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/…
If you work at a small university, you have likely noticed the big push over the past decade to get undergraduates, particularly STEM majors, involved in and having ownership of research projects. If you are really fortunate, you have have encountered a driven, passionate undergrad who is comfortable and confident…
