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Suggestions for running a faculty search
By David Fay New faculty are the lifeblood of any department. Over the past 20+ years, I’ve seen different iterations of the faculty search process, including occasional forays into semi-dysfunctional chaos. One danger is when the process becomes unduly influenced by individuals or factions with a narrow agenda. Another is search fatigue or burnout, which…
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When I Retire (an aspirational poem)
By David Fay When I retire I want colleagues to say:Why are you retiring?You’re still publishing papers!You’re still doing important service!You’re still teaching a key course! Yes. When I retire I want to pass the baton running at a full sprint.Or at least a respectable jog. When I retire I want to my colleagues to…
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The complete @wyomingwormboy collection
by David Fay https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GGVDlv3-fYJwl49q8-JGnO8cr4iPuMhB
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Grant reviews of famous novels
By David Fay The Three MusketeersSuccess of the individual musketeers is overly dependent on the success of the other two musketeers. To Kill a MockingbirdMissing detailed IACUC protocol for mockingbird euthanasia. Moby-DickFishing expedition. Of Mice and MenPI lacks expertise in both systems. Great ExpectationsOverly ambitious. One Hundred Years of SolitudeUnlikely to complete studies within a…
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Why you should give ‘State of the Lab’ talks
By David Fay I’m a huge fan of transparency—at least when it comes to my personal suffering. If I’m under the gun and feeling stressed, then the whole lab’s going to know about it, dammit. In truth, I see only benefits when it comes to making the workings of the lab as clear as possible.…
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How to try out undergrad research
By David Fay You’re a freshman or early-stage college student. It’s exciting, it’s confusing, it’s intimidating, it’s a lot of things. In a nutshell, your job as a college student is to figure out what you want to do with your life and morph into a functional adult—all in 4 years! That timeline, by the…
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Choosing rotations and a dissertation lab
By David Fay Choosing a lab in which to carry out your PhD is admittedly one of the more important decisions you’ll make in your early scientific career. But it’s important to have some perspective. For starters, there’s no “best lab” or “best advisor” or “best project”. And there’s certainly no single “perfect lab” for…
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Why I almost quit grad school but didn’t
By David Fay Here’s why I almost quit grad school a few years in. (1) I wasn’t getting along well with my first advisor. And part of that was, of course, on me. (2) My project wasn’t going well, so I was discouraged and losing interest. This too was partially my fault for not applying…
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A Biologist’s Guide to Statistical Thinking and Analysis
by David Fay http://www.wormbook.org/chapters/www_statisticalanalysis/statisticalanalysis.html