Scientiae

I didn't realize how quickly October would come and go, and it's almost time for Scientiae!

The October 2009 Scientiae Carnival is up. Just skip on over to my laboratory to read this month's contributions.

The theme was The Road Not Taken and I think everyone will enjoying reading about the different paths our fellow STEM bloggers have taken to get where they are.

Thanks to all who contributed to this month's carnival!

Hello all!

I, Mad Chemist Chick, will be hosting the October Scientiae Carnival from my Laboratory this month. Fall is in full swing (at least in my little corner of the world) and I find that it usually one of the busiest times for those of us in the STEM disciplines. In academia, mid-terms are approaching with end of the semester activities following soon after. In industry, there seems to be a sprint for the finish as once the holidays hit, it can be impossible to get anything accomplished until the New Year. I hope everyone finds some time to slow down and enjoy this very lovely time of year (after you submit your posts to the carnival of course!)

I found inspiration for this month’s carnival theme after hiking through the woods to see the beautiful fall colors. I am borrowing it from one of New England’s great poets, Robert Frost. The October carnival theme is The Road Not Taken. His poem, The Road Not Taken (1916) is often seen as an expression of individualism though some argue it has a more ironic meaning. For reference, the poem appears below:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Was there a point in your career or research where you were faced with two possible paths? Which one did you chose and why? Do you ever regret that decision? Or perhaps it was the best decision you ever made but you did not realized it until much later. Or have you ever taken a path only to discover it dead-ends or is circular? What did you do next? Have you, like the traveler in the poem, saved a path for another day, in regards to an alternative or second career maybe, and hope to get back to explore it someday? Perhaps some other poem is more apropos to your life and career. Feel free to submit a post on it. As always, other topics that may interest you are also welcome.

Write your posts and submit them by 12AM, Saturday, October 3, 2009. I will get the posts compiled and posted no later than October 5^th. Please email a permalink URL for your post to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com. I look forward to reading your submissions!

And it's up at Academic Crossroads! Check out our collective thoughts on "Inspiration or Desperation?"

So I proposed Friday 4 September as an original deadline to this month's carnival called Inspiration or Desperation? but it seems like many bloggers are dealing with some back-to-school madness. Of course, reading my feeds suggest that the vast majority of posts go up right before the formal deadline of the call, but I'm going to extend the call until midnight on Saturday 5 September to give folks another day to reflect.

Hello hello hello. It's that time for another Scientiae. I'm sorry for showing up a bit late with the call for posts, but with another semester starting I had to get the summer tasks off my plate. Then I had to wait for the muse to strike for a quality theme for this month's Scientiae.

The theme this month: Inspiration or Desperation?

I have been thinking about office decorations as new people move into assorted spaces. Every office seems to be dominated by those people who put up cheesy positive slogans like "Teamwork: Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is a progress, working together is success - Henry Ford" which invariably seem to be balanced against the person posting a message designed to mock these things like "Teamwork: Share Victory, Share Defeat." Invariably, the semester start brings a time to reflect positively or sarcastically. Talk amongst yourselves and submit the posts in the usual fashion by Friday 4 Sept. The carnival will be my Labor Day gift to you.

w00t! The August 2009 Scientiae carnival is official live over at Terra Sigillata!

The theme of "Summer days, driftin' away" brought out a majority of posts from colleagues who, like me, are having difficulty in using the summer for regeneration and renewal. For those, we share common pain and bewilderment. However, about a quarter of the posts were written by women whose skills for balance I can only strive to achieve.

Many thanks to all of you for bearing with me while I failed to balance my own life and get this post up on-time. It was an honor to field your lovely, thoughtful writing and shepherd these works out to the intertubes. Thank you for inviting me to contribute to your community!

Many thanks to all of you for bearing with me while I failed to balance my own life and get this post up on-time. It was an honor to field your lovely, thoughtful writing and shepherd these works out to the intertubes. Thank you for inviting me to contribute to your community!

My Y chromosome and I are supremely honored to have been invited by skookumchick to host the August edition of Scientiae, the blog carnival of "stories of and from women in science, engineering, technology, and math." But remember: "Posts are welcome from women and men and everyone in between if they focus on the topic of the Carnival."

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer. In academia in particular, summer is often a time when institutional responsibilities (teaching, committees) are at somewhat of a lull - still buzzing but less demanding than usual for most. One has much more time to devote to research and other scholarly efforts that may have come second to teaching and service during the primary academic year.

However, summer is also supposed to be a time for renewal, recharging, and reconnecting - an opportunity to take some time off and take care of yourself a little better, perhaps at least a little better than during Spring semester. The sun is out longer, you can spend more time with your family, get in a run after work, take a vacation at the beach or mountains - maybe even visit a foreign country. Perhaps you even mix work with pleasure and take advantage of a scholarly workshop in a great destination.

But competing with this concept is often the albatross of unfinished papers, the need for field research, new grant applications, summer students, and preparing for Fall academic responsibilities.

For example, there will be no summer vacation for the PharmFamily; perhaps not even more than a weekend away until at least Christmas. The first of July saw the beginning of a new training year for my better half, this week found our daughter starting her next grade as we are on a year-round elementary school schedule, and I am living in academic hell. We all need a vacation - badly. I personally need to get away from the heat and humidity for the dry air of Colorado and the intense colors of nature that only hypoxemia and the Rocky Mountain West can provide.

I recognize that not all past and prospective Scientiae contributors are in academia. But I know that all of us battle during the summer with what we need to do and what we want to do.

So, I propose the theme for the August Scientiae carnival is:

Summer days, driftin' away. . .

Consider how you balance the demands and pleasures of this season. Have you found ways to make progress on your must-dos while also taking time for your family, friends - and yourself - and being in the moment of this time of year? Or are July and August just another month for you?

And so as not to exclude our colleagues in the Southern Hemisphere (where I am fortunate to draw 5-7% of my blog visitors at Terra Sigillata), why don't you take this time from your winter and reflect upon how you will enjoy your summer?

To submit entries, all you need to do is look here for submission information or read the following:

Please e-mail the permalink URL to your posts to scientiaecarnival at ye olde gmail by Friday 31 July. I'll compile them and post the carnival on either Saturday 1 August or, more likely, Sunday 2 August.


Many thanks to the Skook-meister for trusting me with hosting the carnival and to each of you in advance for your usual insightful and engaging reflections.

Hi everyone,

I'm ahead of schedule, due to the long weekend (and lack of daycare tomorrow). The July Scientiae Carnival - Mirror, Mirror, on the wall... is posted over at My Middle Years. Many thanks to all of those who submitted posts (and those who accepted their nominations). I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

Thanks for letting me host!
-Patchi

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder to submit your posts to the July Scientiae Carnival over at My Middle Years. The theme for this month is:

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...

Send in your posts - something old, something new, something funny, something blue. Please e-mail a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [at] gmail [dt] com by midnight on June 30th. The carnival will be posted on the 4th of July.

-Patchi

Hi everyone,

I'll be hosting the July Scientiae Carnival over at My Middle Years. I've been reading many posts in the blog wide world about self-image, so lets find out how we in STEM see ourselves. The theme for this month is:

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...

Think about who you see when you look in the mirror. How do you see yourself? How do you think others see you? Who would you rather see? Some days it might be hard to even face the mirror, other days you might stare at your teenage self looking back at you and wonder what happened since. What do you think that person looking at you is thinking? What would happen if you could step through the looking glass?

The images are infinite, and feel free to submit variations on the theme or anything else you view appropriate. Please e-mail a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [at] gmail [dt] com by midnight on June 30th. The carnival will be posted before the fireworks go off on the 4th of July.

I hope to see you soon!

-Patchi

We're excited to present the June edition of Scientiae, complete with lots of wonderful stories and conversations by women in STEM and their allies. Hurry up and get on board the train before it leaves the station. Read the whole thing at Sciencewomen: A scientist and an engineer being the change we want to see. Thanks for letting us host!

Just a quick reminder that the June Scientiae theme is "moving forward" and we're looking for posts about the how and why your science, work, and life are moving forward. Of course, other topics are welcome as well.

Write your entries and get them in by midnight UTC on May 30th, and I'll get them compiled and posted the first week of June. It probably won't be the first of June, because there's already something really important in the works for June 1, but I'll try to have carnival up by the 4th or 5th at the latest.

Please email a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com. If you don't have a blog, email your submission to the address above, and I'll happily post your entry on the ScienceWomen blog. More details concerning submission can be found here.

Hi, it's ScienceWoman, your host for the next edition of Scientiae. Alice and I are teaming up to host the June edition of Scientiae, the carnival by, for, and about women in science, engineering, technology, and math. As is the norm for the monthly Scientiae carnival, I get to choose a theme to help inspire and unite you all to write posts, though submissions on any topic related to women in STEM are always welcome.

At this time of year, some of us are just emerging from the end of the semester, while others still have another month to slog through before getting a reprieve. Some people are within spitting distance of finishing their research project or degree, while others feel like they have years more to battle cranky equipment or stare at disappointing data. While some of us maybe carefree and happy-go-lucky, others people may be struggling on the personal front.

We're all at different stages of our journeys, but something we have in common is that we are all MOVING FORWARD, so that's the theme of this Scientiae edition.

How are you moving forward in life? Are you close to your degree, tenure, sabbatical, or summer holiday? Is that paper almost ready to go out the door? Is your baby almost potty trained or are you training for a marathon? What keeps you moving forward in your science, work, and life? Is it the drive to cure a disease, make the world a more sustainable piece, or discover something that no one else knows? Is it the promise of exciting data at the end of a long assay? Is it the thought of people calling you Dr.? Is it your daughter's smile when she wakes up in the morning, or the enthusiastic tail wagging of your dog? When things get tough, how do you motivate yourself to move forward?

Here's a couple of sayings and cliches that might help inspire the creative juices:

• "It's always darkest, just before they turn on the light." (Cole Porter, Anything Goes)


• "When life hands you lemons, turn them into lemonade." (an old saying)


• "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." (Alternatively, the sign in my local donut shop proclaimed "When the going gets tough, the tough get donuts.")


• "Life is just a bowl of cherries." (A saying meaning that life is pleasant, but often used sarcastically to convey the opposite sense).

Now that you're all inspired(?), don't forget to write your entries and get them in by midnight UTC on May 30th, and I'll get them compiled and posted the first week of June. Please email a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com. If you don't have a blog, email your submission to the address above, and I'll happily post your entry here. More details concerning submission can be found here. Also, please broadcast this announcement on your blogs and share widely. I'm looking forward to reading a great batch of posts.