tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88641374036676707192024-03-13T09:49:57.467-04:00An American Postdoc in CanadaScience, technology, oddities, amusing US/Canada differences, being a postdoc, and a few surprises thrown in.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-16614032749947216362013-05-11T10:58:00.000-04:002013-05-11T10:58:06.190-04:00For longevity's sakeI am no longer a American postdoc in Canada, but this blog will remain up as a tool to help other future postdocs, scientists, or heck, just anyone deciding to uproot and settle down in Canada. A word of advice if you're coming here looking for immigration guidelines: I was a temporary resident only, on a temporary resident visa, and never applied for permanent residency (PR). I hope this blog is of some help to you, because I certainly had fun writing it!<br />
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-LoonieChemist<br />
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<br />looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-83172711601229144112012-06-24T08:35:00.003-04:002012-06-24T08:45:01.117-04:00Getting the car back to the United States from Canadaa.k.a., realizing that no one importing/exporting cars from the U.S. to Canada and v/v knows what the hell they are doing.<br />
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You may have remembered me writing some helpful posts about <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/03/importing-car-to-canada-ontario-groan.html">bringing my car to Canada and what documents that entails</a>, and also <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/04/importing-car-to-canada-finally-its.html">finishing off the whole long process</a>. I paid my overpriced insurance and my overpriced registration, but that was ok, and I just dealt with it.</div>
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And then it was time to bring the car back to the United States. And literally, the guards at the border in Detroit thought I stole my own car because I was an American citizen moving back to the United States, and I had Ontario plates.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jean-Luc, you're so applicable.</td></tr>
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Really. I got hit with "failure to import a vehicle," after I showed them my title, which is still Pennsylvania-based (remember how <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/04/importing-car-to-canada-finally-its.html">they stamped "REGISTERED IN ONTARIO" to my title and then gave it back to me because I was only taking it temporarily to Canada?</a>). They did not like that at all, even after I explained the situation. Sir, I have a Ph.D. Sir, this car is 12 years old. Sir, my family and I have owned this car since it was first driven off the lot in 1999.</div>
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"Well where is it originally from?"</div>
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"Georgia."</div>
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Oh my goodness, it's like people don't understand that some people have moved states at least once in their lifetime.</div>
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After demanding to see the title, the registration, my passport, and my Pennsylvania plate (which was on the moving truck and not with me), they asked how much cash I was carrying on me and directed me to go inside their little hut. I wasn't allowed to take anything. I was to leave my keys on the dashboard and take only my wallet inside. Windows were to be completely rolled down. As I went inside, I saw 2 guards converging on my car. I thought that was it. I was going to come back to all my stuff stolen.</div>
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Inside the importation office, I explained the situation to the guard who eventually laughed it off, told me I had done nothing wrong, but to get a Michigan title, plates, and insurance, which I was of course going to do anyway, as that's what you do when you move states. I got out of there really fast before they changed their minds. </div>
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The thing is, I still don't even know what it was the border guy wanted me to do, especially since I had a bunch of wordly goods with me in the car and was obviously moving. How can you have a license plate already for the country in which you're not yet a resident?</div>
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Fast forward to the Michigan Secretary of State office, where you get everything changed over. This place is... an interesting place to people-watch.</div>
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I brought everything. Michigan no-fault insurance. My passport. Both work visas. My lease. 2 bills. My title. My registration. Everything was ok, until she looked at that problematic title.</div>
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"You need an import form for this car."</div>
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Even though it was never exported from the United States? "Yes. It's registered in Ontario."</div>
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But it's titled in Pennsylvania. You're telling me I have to drive to Detroit, hop the border, then hop the border BACK again, pick up the import form, and pay $10 in bridge fees? "Well.... we MIGHT be able to look at your border crossing record. Take a number."</div>
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The lady who helped me next blinked not a single eye at the Ontario registration, but ran through the transfer of license, registration, title and plates efficiently with no questions. So now I'm 100% Michigan, and the only remnants I have of Ontario are the plates, which are now hanging up on my wall along with the GA and PA ones.</div>
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A common thing I've done every time I've had to do something with international nonsense and the car: If they give you what you want, <b>get out of there before they realize they've messed up, if they have. </b> Just goes to show you how little faith I have in people who do vehicle imports/exports between the U.S. and Canada.</div>
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<br /></div>looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com96tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-82727192183947429622012-06-24T07:54:00.002-04:002012-06-24T12:44:39.834-04:00The times, they are a-changin'.So. I know it's been 3 months (eek). There is an important reason for my absence, however. It was called The Job Search.<br />
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Postdocs don't last forever, and I was at a good stopping point with mine. A major point of me doing a postdoc was to branch out from what I did from my Ph.D. and try some new techniques. I felt I had the training I needed, so I set out on the job hunt. In this economy, you probably know what this meant.<br />
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I applied for 36 jobs and kept track of them with an Excel spreadsheet. That meant 36 tailored resumes/CVs and cover letters. From the start of the job application process to the start of my new position was almost 3 months, and I consider that pretty fast. Most positions to which I applied, I did not hear anything back. About 7-10 gave me rejections. Luckily, I got 2 of them and chose one to go with. So where am I now?<br />
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Well, gentle reader, I am actually now in Michigan. I am an American scientist in the United States, and this hardly makes for an interesting blog title. So after a couple more advice posts, I'm going to put this blog to bed. It has served its purpose well, but now its purpose is done. I hope you have enjoyed reading and have gained some insight (if you are in the U.S.) into our neighbo(u)rs to the north!looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-64298034059934549592012-03-23T11:26:00.002-04:002012-03-23T11:27:50.294-04:00Welcome, visitors from Nature Publishing Group!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iqzO_M9I28M/T2yUDhGiCbI/AAAAAAAAAKw/2-4Sqvj0P-M/s1600/npg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iqzO_M9I28M/T2yUDhGiCbI/AAAAAAAAAKw/2-4Sqvj0P-M/s400/npg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
If you are from the Nature Publishing Group, I welcome you to my blog and urge you to have a look around. This blog was created to share current issues in science/research groups/life from the perspective of a young Ph.D. in chemistry who moved to Canada for her postdoc. I urge you to visit the following links to posts of particular relevance:<br />
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Communication, core to every scientist:<br />
<a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.ca/2011/07/importance-of-communication.html">http://looniechemist.blogspot.ca/2011/07/importance-of-communication.html</a><br />
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Thoughts on nanotechnology:<br />
<a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.ca/2011/09/small-is-beautiful.html">http://looniechemist.blogspot.ca/2011/09/small-is-beautiful.html</a><br />
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The beauty of interdisciplinary science:<br />
<a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.ca/2011/02/interdisciplinary-science.html">http://looniechemist.blogspot.ca/2011/02/interdisciplinary-science.html</a><br />
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Choosing to do a Ph.D. and following it with a postdoc:<br />
<a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.ca/2011/01/why-phd-why-postdoc.html">http://looniechemist.blogspot.ca/2011/01/why-phd-why-postdoc.html</a><br />
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Thank you for visiting!<br />
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Kristin, a.k.a. the American postdoc in Canadalooniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-82988419600003992192012-02-25T11:50:00.001-05:002012-02-25T16:17:47.126-05:00Academics and starting a family later, if at allI was a graduate student for 5+ years. Most of my friends are graduate students and have been for at least 3+ years. Also, almost all of my good friends who are also currently graduate students are male. And today, because of this, I came to an amazing revelation:<br />
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In one week, I will be going to my first baby shower. In two and a half weeks, I will turn 29. I made it to almost 29 without attending a single baby shower.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I may be highly educated, but I have almost NO idea what to do here. (picture from babygearworld.com)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We can back up and analyze this six ways from Sunday. A large part of it is that I just do not have that many close friends who have had children. And a large part of THAT is because my close friends are eternally in school and not financially ready for kids. And going deeper into the rabbit-hole, a large part of THAT is that my friends are largely male. Venn diagram, anyone? Let's be safe and assume U.S. friends only.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pardonnez pour le Open Office illustration.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b>My female friends are not less-educated. I just have less of them (and that's what I'm trying to illustrate).</b> I would say that by and large, people who are graduate-level educated make up the majority of my friend base. Because I am in a STEM field, and so are many of my friends, the population of males is just going to be larger.<br />
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There have been many, many science bloggers that have exhaustively discussed the prevalence of children in Ph.D.-parent relationships, the average age of Ph.D.-parents at first child, the dearth of women in tenure-track professor jobs because of the difficulties (or not?) of balancing work/life, or because of the general environment, etc. The general trends are what you would expect: those with more education wait to have children and typically have fewer children than those who are less-educated.<br />
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But hold on. Then there is something else. The average age for EVERYONE (highly educated or not) having children is increasing. So perhaps I, at almost 29, and my friends, who are typically younger than I am, just haven't hit the baby boom yet, and those blue circles will increase in size as time goes on.<br />
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And here I sit making graphs and analyzing instead of thinking of how to prepare/shop for a baby gift. In light of the above graphs, it's not too surprising, eh?looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-48847796306923044832012-02-20T09:40:00.000-05:002012-02-20T09:40:26.435-05:00Dredging up the French, part 2 (turbo mode!)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Allons enfants de la patrie, le jour de gloire est arrive!</td></tr>
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I talked about how my French is coming back to me <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/02/dredging-up-my-french-from-deep-dark.html">a year ago</a>, but since then, it's been on the accelerated path. On the one hand, I've got a province where French isn't REALLY spoken a lot, but you can definitely find it. On the second hand, I've got the boyfriend who was in Ontario French immersion school (and his father and sister will banter back and forth with him on occasion). And on the third hand, and likely the most prevalent in my everyday life, we've got our new Quebecois postdoc and new Iranian postdoc, who both speak French. They speak French to each other and to anyone else who admits they know a bit of French and would be willing to speak it occasionally. The Ontario-native grad students and I are included. It's super cool.<br />
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That's three hands of French, people. French is launching a triple-pronged and multi-accented attack at me. It sounds dumb of me to say "I know it's an official language and all, but I didn't know it would be so prominent," but that's kind of how I felt moving to Ontario, land of English-speakers.<br />
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I find myself falling into the trap that I always do with all of the (bits and shreds of) foreign languages I know. People talk to me in the foreign language. I understand, but knee-jerk answer in English. My comprehension is solid and immediate, but so desiring am I to convey information back quickly, that I answer in the most expedient way possible. I have to convince the postdocs to stop letting me do this.<br />
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Has anyone else moved to Ontario and noticed an unusual influx of French into their life?looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-42200601273362133362011-12-30T17:42:00.000-05:002011-12-30T17:42:46.091-05:00Retraction WatchInsert a mind-numbingly and excuse-laden list of reasons why I haven't posted. There are many reasons. Let's just chalk it up to a) being busy, and b) mental stress.<br />
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However, I have something fantastic that is above and beyond worth its own post. In fact, it's worth its own blog. And that's where there is a blog dedicated to it.<br />
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<a href="http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/">Retraction Watch</a> is a wonderful blog run by science writers Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus and chronicles various and sundry recent retractions from scientific journals. I find this blog and its content so important that it gets a special place in my RSS feed right alongside the journals I follow. And believe me.... follow it, I do. Some retractions are relatively harmless, and while not completely excusable, they are forgiveable. Then, however, there are the retractions that involve doctoring of images, cutting/pasting of photos or text, and downright irreproducibility of data. These lead to, likely, more retractions, and then <a href="http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/montreal-heart-institute-researcher-dismissed-following-two-retractions-for-image-manipulation/">firings</a> (Zhiguo Wang), and then possible <a href="http://scientopia.org/blogs/ethicsandscience/2011/07/07/what-are-honest-scientists-to-do-about-a-master-of-deception/">stripping</a> (Bengu Sezen) of <a href="http://www.science20.com/cool-links/dutch_psychologist_diederik_stapel_relinquishes_his_phd-84542">Ph.D.s</a> (Diederik Stapel).<br />
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Friends, I'm scared of getting scooped just as much as the next guy. However, I'm even more scared of scientific fraud. This makes me want to do things right in order to avoid having my name associated with retracted work. I imagine that after you retract (or your work is retracted FOR you), you feel much like this:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Found guilty of scientific misconduct? This will be a statue-y, nude version of you afterwards.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Career over, job prospects ruined, scientific cross to bear? It sounds awfully threatening and also awfully scary. I really don't fancy that being me. I think I and many other budding scientists can greatly learn from the stories of the falls from grace that other researchers have taken. <br />
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Really. Go check out <a href="http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/">Retraction Watch</a> if you haven't yet.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-45279669058648189392011-11-12T19:31:00.002-05:002011-11-12T19:40:32.565-05:00The Penn State situation (from a Penn Stater)This is one of those situations where I had to go and get a good Canadian beer (Sleeman's, from Guelph, ON) in order to be able and sit down and write this. Walking the fine line between supporting Penn State and yet denouncing the horrible crimes committed in my town has been emotionally exhausting, chiefly because the actions of the PSU administration have made me so upset that sometimes I wonder why I even bother. Every day I go through a range of emotions, such as "shocked, sickened, angered, disgusted, embarrassed, and saddened beyond belief," to quote my alumni association email.<br />
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Here's how it is with me and Penn State. When I moved to State College, PA in 2005, I never dreamed it would become more of a home to me than any of the previous places I had lived. In fact, the whole football thing seemed kind of weird, as did the hero worship of Joe Paterno. But while there, I began to build a life, meet my best friends, and obtain a doctorate. State College got into me, and tailgating was fun, and so were whiteout games, and so was that blasted "WE ARE..... PENN STATE!!" cheer (I always said that was a dumb cheer, because who else would we be? It catches on, though).<br />
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I miss State College and my friends like nothing else. That's why it saddens me so much to see my town and my campus in turmoil. To think that something so terrible could have happened in State College sickens me, and yes, I have read the entire grand jury report and kept up with multiple news sources. The Paterno firing is also an interesting issue, and perhaps one about which those outside of State College (i.e. 99.9% of the news media) have very little insight, because they simply don't know the history. Paterno and the Board have been butting heads for years. It seems very convenient to get rid of him and Spanier (the president) and let them take the fall.... yet what about the others that knew? Gary Schultz and Larry Curley are still employed by the University, and their legal fees are even being paid by the University. I find this hypocrisy distasteful, but there's a deeper feeling. It's unnerving. It's unsettling. It feels like we're at the tip of the iceberg, and we're going to find out more very soon. We're at the proverbial abyss, looking down and not liking it. But we should face it. The sooner we face it, the sooner that we and the victims can start healing.<br />
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I wish with an aching heart that I could have gone to that candlelight vigil for the victims last night. Penn State's beauty really came out then, and of course, the media doesn't want to focus on it at all. Ten thousand people in front of Old Main brought tears to my eyes, especially this clip taken by member of the <a href="http://www.collegian.psu.edu/">Daily Collegian</a>, the student paper. In it, the Alma Mater is being sung, and they focus on the most applicable part: "May no act of ours bring shame/To one heart that loves thy name."<br />
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I miss Penn State. I love Penn State. We are not "Pedo State" or any of those cutesy little names that have cropped up by those who know nothing about the school other than the controversy and want to capitalize on a sore moment. The terrible acts of a few will not overshadow the good that Penn State does. We are Penn State. And we are sorry.<br />
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-KBC, Ph.D. Chemistry, Penn State, 2011looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-47399662100795937762011-09-27T21:29:00.000-04:002011-09-27T21:29:28.872-04:00Artsy scienceI've been working on various kinds of microscopes for about 6 years now, and I've taken a lot of pictures. A LOT of pictures. Somewhere in the realm of thousands. Most of them are of nanowires of varying populations and striping patterns, but a couple were of funny things that were strange anomalies (i.e. nanowire walls and nano-Doritos). Some of my pictures looked pretty artsy.<br />
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All of those pictures have been completely blown out of the water by a picture I took today. Grad student Justin and I were evaluating the extent to which plasma etching revealed gold electrodes by plating gold and observing it under our optical microscope. I have no idea what kind of etching happened to give us this shape, but there it is, a millimeter-sized treble and bass clef, both illustrated in fractal gold:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MnQ-ldTCq3U/ToJ3Uf3cH6I/AAAAAAAAAHM/QFmdGltJUOQ/s1600/trebleclef.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="305" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MnQ-ldTCq3U/ToJ3Uf3cH6I/AAAAAAAAAHM/QFmdGltJUOQ/s400/trebleclef.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Merry golden melodies!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Nothing about this is, of course, at all publishable, so I don't mind sharing it. We still have no idea what happened. It almost looks like strips of support electrode gold came up after plasma etching, but we aren't sure. In any case, it makes for quite a cool picture.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-3708831688306257842011-09-11T19:40:00.001-04:002011-09-11T19:42:04.555-04:00Small is beautiful!I know, I haven't posted on here in a while. That's because life happened, aka my social life exploded. I'm no less in the lab, but I am less at home and contemplating blogging. <br />
<br />
Still, I can't help but write about this topic. A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege to hear <a href="http://www.kavlifoundation.org/paul-weiss">Paul Weiss</a>, the director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA, give an ACS webinar entitled <a href="http://acswebinars.org/weiss">"Small Is Beautiful."</a> Paul and I overlapped at Penn State before he made the move to California, and he is a very insightful and brilliant person whose mind is always thinking about the next big thing. "Small Is Beautiful" was about the role of nanoparticles and nanoscience in present and future technologies. There were numerous questions that went unanswered in the interest of time, and it just goes to show how much the public doesn't know about the nanoworld.<br />
<br />
Then again, there is so much that nano researchers don't know about the nanoworld. We are just scratching the surface with studies of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotoxicology">nanoparticle toxicity</a> and nanoengineered electronics. There is also the (large, looming) question of how we can control nanoparticle assembly and direct them to where we want. So far, this has been explored by linking with DNA or electrical fields/electrofluidics, or just plain letting intermolecular forces do the work (references for all of these available on request), but it remains a very important field of study. One thing that we can glean from these findings: locating and directly positioning a single nanoparticle? Not so easy.<br />
<br />
I, for one, miss working with nanoparticles. I used to work with nanowires that weren't exactly nano-sized:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g24VSokGx7s/Tm1CN4ZcoeI/AAAAAAAAAGw/Lk2DT65Gt0M/s1600/KeatingNanowirePile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g24VSokGx7s/Tm1CN4ZcoeI/AAAAAAAAAGw/Lk2DT65Gt0M/s320/KeatingNanowirePile.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I didn't take this picture, but it's a scanning electron microscope picture from our group. Obtained from science.psu.edu.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Now I work with nanostructured microelectrodes. Essentially, the structural size scale is the same, but now I'm dealing with things that aren't free-floating in solution. The nanowires were electroplated on a solid scaffold, then released. The microelectrodes are electroplated on a solid scaffold.... and that's it. They have their advantages (namely, their ability to interface with electronics), but I miss the quicker reactivity imbued by free-floating particles.... not to mention the larger amount of redundancy. I used to be able to make 1 billion nanowires at a time, whereas I can only make 20 microelectrodes now.<br />
<br />
There is a certain allure of nanoparticles, especially when they're all colorful and pretty and they produce transmission electron micrographs that look like this:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z5rnGbc15oY/Tm1FcJpTYDI/AAAAAAAAAG0/rz604tMdOL8/s1600/hamad-schifferli+tem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z5rnGbc15oY/Tm1FcJpTYDI/AAAAAAAAAG0/rz604tMdOL8/s320/hamad-schifferli+tem.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the Hamad-Schifferli group at MIT. Image from MIT News.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Those are gold nanoparticles of varying shapes and sizes, and their colors change based on the shape and size of the particles. Definitely possible optics applications there, as unlike dyes, nanoparticles don't photobleach or break down under light exposure.<br />
<br />
I suppose I'm somewhat rambling, but my point is that small is indeed beautiful, and there is a lot about nanotechnology that needs to be investigated. Being a nanoscientist is fun, because I never know what I'll get to look at under the electron microscope next!looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-86538339804720055632011-07-16T08:25:00.001-04:002012-03-23T10:00:36.336-04:00The importance of communicationI realize I haven't posted here in over a month.... sorry about that. There were many things that have kept and still are keeping me busy, but I'd like to talk about lab communication and what an incredible tool it is.<br />
<br />
I have come to realize how valuable this is firsthand because of my situation. Both my old and new labs underwent a major outflux of old students followed by some overlap with new students (more overlap in the old than the new). I was part of the outgoing group in the old lab, and I am on the tail end of the incoming group at the new one. It's a tough time when the lab is in flux, because, as I'm finding, not everything gets passed down. Sometimes we have to reinvent the wheel, or some crucial little step that someone thinks isn't important is left out, and troubleshooting ends up taking forever.<br />
<br />
This is where good communication comes in. There are bound to be some things that get lost in transition, but good communication skills can greatly soften this blow. When I am handing down my knowledge, if I observe that someone isn't asking quite the right questions (because maybe they don't know what to ask), I seamlessly volunteer a little extra relevant information ("...and you should also do x, because of y."). This saves time in the long run, because they don't have to come ask me things every 5 minutes and get to try it out for themselves. I never realized I was doing this until I noticed that it isn't intuitive for everyone. I have observed a few other people doing it, though, and it's no surprise that better verbal communicators tend to write better papers and give better presentations. They are able to give sufficient background, put their work into context of what's been done before, and explain what they are doing to solve a specific problem. It sounds easy for some, but it's not for all.<br />
<br />
Long gone are the days when scientists could hide in their labs with beakers and flasks. Now, your work has to be explainable, and you've got to sell it.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-81571550895506813622011-06-04T12:08:00.008-04:002011-06-05T11:22:21.068-04:00Addressing my google searches<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Blogger collects stats regarding your traffic and referring websites, and I should mention that I saw a spike recently thanks to the link to my post <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/05/do-you-use-title.html">Do You Use the Title?</a> from <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/">Mike the Mad Biologist</a> over at scienceblogs.com. Many thanks, mad one! This post also got some recognition thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/PostDocsForum">The PostDocs Forum</a> twitter feed. It was very interesting to see everyone's responses.</span><br />
<br />
People also get here through all sorts of google searches. A good number of them are searches for this blog's exact name, "american postdoc in canada." I chose that obvious name so that it would get people to some kind of relevant information fast without having to wade through goodness-knows-what on google. I also get a lot of searches regarding the car, such as"bringing usa car into ontario canada" and "importing car to canada from us temporary job." For car importing posts, I will point you <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/03/importing-car-to-canada-ontario-groan.html">here</a> and <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/04/importing-car-to-canada-finally-its.html">here</a>; read in order. For people googling "different words in the us and canada" and "funny canadian words," I will direct you to my posts on Funny U.S. vs. Canadian words, parts <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/01/funny-us-vs-canadian-words.html">1</a> and <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/04/funny-us-vs-canadian-words-part-2.html">2</a>. <br />
<br />
But there are some more interesting searches that I feel should be addressed, and they come in the form of questions or statements that I haven't directly responded to here, but are definitely relevant. Here are a few google search snippets:<br />
<br />
<b><i>"How much do postdocs in Canada make?"</i></b><br />
<br />
I'm not sure if this googler was searching out of morbid curiosity or if he/she was trying to compare postdoc salaries in Canada vs. elsewhere. In my experience, Canadian postdoc salaries in academia are comparable to U.S. postdoc salaries, at around $30k-$50k per annum. Just like in the U.S., it varies widely by where you go, your previous experience, etc. Industrial and government postdocs, while fewer and further between, will likely have higher salaries.<br />
<br />
<b><i>"How come you have to pay to use the shopping cart in Canada?"</i></b><br />
<br />
Because they don't want them stolen, dear googler! Shopping carts are expensive, and many people walk to get their groceries. Imagine how nice it would be if you could just cart them home instead of having to lug them. A quarter or a loonie investment, however, should deter such behavior. The shopping cart locks are shown below.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/5042039551_38db899ab6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/5042039551_38db899ab6.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/polycart/5042039551/">Polycart</a> on flickr</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>"I am tired of PhD in chemistry."</i></b></span><br />
<br />
As I said on facebook, join the club. Everyone gets tired of his or her Ph.D. at some point. If you aren't or haven't been by the end, you didn't put enough into it.<br />
<br />
<b><i>[Reasons] "Why a PhD is a waste of time."</i></b><br />
<br />
For some people, a Ph.D. is indeed a waste of time. I have thought about this subject a lot, and my current thoughts are that if you don't need a Ph.D. for your job, or if won't get you a significantly higher salary/degree of autonomy, you're better off not getting one. I credit my own Ph.D. work with helping me learn how to attack problems and solve them in a systematic way. I use these skills in every day as a postdoc, and that's why they pay me the (not) big bucks. However, if your reasons for doing a Ph.D. are "I want to put off getting a job," "oh, it sounds like fun, maybe," or "I hate my boss, and I need to get out of this dead-end job," you should greatly reconsider. There are other better alternatives than entering the ivory tower for a dedicated 5+ years on a meager salary.<br />
<br />
<b>ADDENDUM! A new funny google search!</b><br />
<br />
<b><i>"Is it true that Canadians only eat Kraft Dinner?"</i></b><br />
<br />
Yes. They occasionally spice it up with peameal bacon. That is all they eat. Ever.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-86670139821251568562011-05-29T10:28:00.000-04:002011-05-29T10:28:56.415-04:00Trying to cultivate some plant friendsFor the past year, I have wanted to plant my own...... something. I periodically, when inspired, go through a lot of fresh herbs, especially in the summer when they add some freshness. I have often thought that if I had a basil plant, I would love to just pick leaves off of it and throw them into whatever I'm making. <div><br />
</div><div>I now have a balcony, and this has made the planting urge come around even more. So yesterday, I went to the store and invested in a planter and a pot, some soil, a trowel, and some plants. I transferred them to their new homes, and now here they are:</div><div><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-96Ep-MpBfpg/TeJTt77rrcI/AAAAAAAAADY/9zE9bz-oVB4/s1600/2011-05-29_08-08-50_330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-96Ep-MpBfpg/TeJTt77rrcI/AAAAAAAAADY/9zE9bz-oVB4/s400/2011-05-29_08-08-50_330.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(L to R) Basil, oregano, rosemary, and a jalapeno!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>I use basil and oregano quite frequently in Italian or tomato-based dishes, and the rosemary looked too beautiful to pass over, plus I use it when I roast things. The jalapeno is a treat, since I have a major love of spicy things and use hot peppers all the time in cooking.</div><div><br />
</div><div>All of these plants are cheap to get both fresh and dried at numerous stores, but there is just something cool about growing it yourself. I like to check in on my new little friends frequently to make sure they're ok on the balcony. I kind of got way too excited that they made it through their first night.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The one little problem I might run into is the lack of sun. My balcony faces NNW. In the afternoon (around 4:30 or so), I start to get some nice sun on the balcony, and it lasts for a few hours. I have a feeling that that's not going to be enough for these little guys, though, because they really want full sun. Plus, Toronto is one of the most sun-deprived places I've ever lived. If I was back home in Atlanta, no problem, but alas.... I suppose if I kill them, I'll chalk it up to learning to grow things. This is my first crack at it since I was 4, after all.</div>looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-54984823720191657292011-05-22T14:33:00.000-04:002011-05-22T14:33:07.755-04:00Do you use the title?I don't use my title of "Doctor" often, especially not outside an academic atmosphere. My email signature says "Kristin B. ____, Ph.D." but more often than not, I erase it before I send an email because it's to people with whom I am familiar. This title is also on my CV. Nowhere in print (I believe) does anything say "Dr. Kristin ______" or, even (I feel) worse and incredibly redundant, "Dr. Kristin _____, Ph.D." I have a great aversion to that last one.<br />
<br />
Many people, when I express this aversion, give me the line of, "Why not use it? You worked hard for it." Sure, I worked hard for it, but I see no need to bring it to people's attention, especially if what I am doing (e.g. grocery shopping, volunteering, etc.) has nothing to do with my degree. To use it outside of a professional setting comes with overtones of pretension that I would rather not display. That's why I made the conscious decision not to have my Canadian checks and address labels say "Dr." I think a lot of this is based on my mother's treatment of the subject; people call her by her first name, and I have never heard anyone address her as Dr. unless it was the University of Michigan asking for donations.<br />
<br />
If people ask me what I'm doing here in Canada, I don't hide it. Usually I just say I "finished my degree in Pennsylvania" and am working at the university, and then if they press further, I'll tell them it was a doctorate. This leads to a funny side-note: my youthfulness apparently knows no bounds, because most people don't think I look old enough to hold a doctorate. They typically guess my age as 24-25 and have gone as low as "under 20" and as high as 27; at the time, 27 was correct.<br />
<br />
The grad student in me wants to get 1) perks, and 2) something, anything, for free. In many cases, I feel like revealing my doctoral status would give me some clout, but there is never a good way to bring it up without sounding like I think I'm better than everyone else. Once again, if people ask, I'll tell them (this is how I got approved for a Canadian credit card immediately despite having zero Canadian credit), but it seldom comes up, and if it comes up, people expect someone with the title of "Doctor" to be an M.D..... and I am certainly not that. I can only imagine how it would go on a plane:<br />
<br />
"Doctor? Yeah, I'm a doctor. That'll bump me up to first-class, right? Oh and by the way, if someone has a heart attack, I can't help, except to say they should've taken their 80 mg baby aspirin. kthx."<br />
<br />
Calling all Ph.D.s! How do you introduce yourselves? Do you use the title in speaking or writing or anywhere but your CV? Did you use it and then find the effect wore off? I'd like to hear your opinions.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-19796599484205084842011-05-05T20:53:00.000-04:002011-05-05T20:53:04.813-04:00How my life as changed as a postdoc (a.k.a. why I love my postdoc)My life has changed as a postdoc. Not incredibly, but subtly. In little surreptitious ways that I don't notice when they crop up, but do notice upon reflection.<br />
<br />
I was really worried that when I started my postdoc, I wouldn't be able to be on the accelerated track because of my relative dearth of knowledge on the subject at hand. There are two major detection mechanisms in the world of biosensing: optical and electrochemical (or electrical, though I'm a bit rue to put it under electrochemical). Graduate work was optical; postdoctoral work is electrochemical. I planned it that way because of the broadening effect I hoped it would have. I knew it would be delving into something different, but I had a sneaking suspicion that in the back of my mind, it would be ok, because I had the knowledge base regarding biosensing and biodetection.... I just had to learn a few different techniques.<br />
<br />
So far, that's been what it's been, and there's been more. I've found myself taking on a subtle leadership role, which is surprising since I've only been here for 3 months. I advise the younger students when the PI is not around. I correct techniques that have gotten lost over the years and with the turnover of new students. Right now, I am heading up putting together a budget for a major grant for which we are applying. I would have never dreamed I would do those sorts of things in graduate school, but I am loving the freedom and autonomy. And to top everything off, of course I have my own labwork to do, but learning what I am about our system is playing second fiddle to what I am learning behind the scenes, though it is still incredibly interesting, and I am devoting a lot of time to it.<br />
<br />
Honestly, it's like I'm being groomed to become a tenure-track (TT) professor. The grant process is teaching me that, ok, it's hard. There is no doubt it's hard. But it's not impossible. I always thought it was like pulling teeth, and perhaps it is.... but perhaps also, the teeth aren't as firmly rooted as I had imagined. Advising the younger students has also been a real joy. They are so interdisciplinary, so smart in such different ways. I love contributing to both their education and the lab's as a whole. My ideas aren't just wanted, they're needed. I think I finally am starting to understand what my Ph.D. advisor wanted me to see for so long: that she truly loves what she does.<br />
<br />
In short, I'm glad I came here, and I love my job, and if you were worried about me going to a different country, don't. Things are ok here.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-15215706366390487682011-04-30T13:00:00.001-04:002011-04-30T13:03:54.962-04:00Importing the car to Canada. FINALLY, it's done.Last month, I presented to you a post about <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/03/importing-car-to-canada-ontario-groan.html">importing my car into Canada</a>. At that point, I had not obtained vehicle form 1 (the import form) because I was told I did not need it at the border. In actuality, I DID need it, and so I had to take a trip all the way out to Pearson airport (on the other side of Toronto) to get it. But now, the whole process is done, and my car is (almost) plated. <br />
<br />
So, let's sum up, shall we? For an American temporary resident in Canada, I needed the following things to import my little Toyota to Canada. Things are listed in the order I got them.<br />
<br />
-<a href="http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/drvlicen.shtml"><b>An Ontario driver's license</b></a>. This is pretty simple to get, and you only have to bring proof of residence. I got it back in March, and I now have my real license instead of the paper one. They confiscated my Pennsylvania license and gave me a copy in case I should ever need it. <br />
<br />
-<a href="http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5048-eng.html#s7"><b>Vehicle form 1</b></a>. Very important and absolutely essential. I went to the back entrance of Pearson and got it. Because I am a temporary resident, all fees were waived, and I got a beautifully signed and stamped receipt and Vehicle Form 1 for a grand total of..... $0. There were no <a href="http://www.riv.ca/ImportingAVehicle.aspx">RIV </a>fees, no air cond fees, no gas mileage fees.<br />
<br />
-<b>Safety and emissions inspection</b>. To get the car plated in Ontario, it needs to pass the<a href="http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/en/category/drive_clean/index.htm"> Drive Clean</a> program. Additionally, it needs to pass the safety requirements to get a <a href="http://www.ontariolicences.com/ssc.htm">Safety Standard Certificate</a>. Total cost should be around $100 for both of these. Princess was a little lacking, so I needed some work done to pass safety (see below).<br />
<br />
-<b>Daytime running lights</b>. Ugh. HUGE ripoff. I have the option of turning Princess' lights off; hence, they needed to render that impossible, to the tune of over $200. I asked them if I could just turn the knob to keep the lights on all the time, and they said no. So now the lights are constantly running (except when the car is off, of course). I don't like it, but it's essential for Canada.<br />
<br />
-<b>New brakes</b>. This was 100% my fault. They told me in Pennsylvania last October that the brakes were rusting, but by the time I took Princess to get inspected, the brakes were totally rusted through. New rotors and everything needed. My total bill with the lights, safety, emissions, and brakes came up to about $700. But now my little trooper is all fixed up and roadworthy.<br />
<br />
-<b>Title and registration</b>. I already had these. I'd say they're essential to the process, but I think only the title is. Because I had my registration, they just took that. I made copies of them beforehand because I didn't know what they would take and keep. See below for what they did with them.<br />
<br />
-<b>Insurance</b>. Oh boy. My insurance in Ontario is over 100% higher than it was in the U.S. I got it through <a href="http://www.caa.ca/index_caa.cfm">CAA</a>, and I was walked through the process very professionally. I also purchased roadside assistance. My temporary insurance cards were emailed to me, so I could present proof of insurance.<br />
<br />
I gathered allllllll these essential things up, trooped over to my local Service Ontario kiosk which is also a branch of the Ministry of Transportation, and obtained....<br />
<br />
-<b>My license plates</b>! Imagine me holding up my plates like Link holds up the Triforce. That's how momentous this was. The plates + registration for 1 year came out to about $90. The Pennsylvania title was stamped "registered in Ontario" and <b>given back to me</b>. The Service Ontario staff member helping out the guy who did all this for me said it was because "these things cost like $150 in the States, and we don't want them to have to get a new one." This is the first time Ontario has expressed interest in saving me money. However, my PA registration was confiscated, and I didn't get it back. Instead, it was replaced with an Ontario registration, which doubles as a title essentially. So I went in with all the stuff above, and I left minus my PA registration, but with an Ontario registration and front/back plates. <br />
<br />
-<b>Holes drilled in the front of Princess</b>. Poor Princess doesn't have a place for a front plate, only having been plated in Georgia and Pennsylvania, which do not require front plates. I have to get holes drilled and bolts put in, but this should only be about $20. This is the last thing I need to do before she becomes truly Canadian!<br />
<br />
So yeah, the process is long and costly, and I'm so, so glad it's over.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-4195667818557238842011-04-13T20:13:00.000-04:002011-04-13T20:13:31.839-04:00Funny U.S. vs. Canadian words, part 2By far, the most popular post on my blog so far (and the most searched) is <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/01/funny-us-vs-canadian-words.html">Funny U.S. vs. Canadian words, part 1</a>. Those were pretty general, and I've learned some more. The terms for things are just slightly different enough that I understand the words, but used in a context I'm not used to, I just get lost and have to ask for an explanation. As a disclaimer, a lot of these are education-related (I do work at a university, after all), and many of them were observed from Ontario natives. American English first, then Canadian equivalents.<br />
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<b>"As-falt" = "Ash-falt."</b> Or, in the words of one Ontario native, "Ash-vault." Asphalt, people!<br />
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<b>Governor = premier</b>. Basically, the leader of a state = leader of a province. For me, it's Dalton McGuinty. Learnin' my politics!<br />
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<b>Grades = marks</b>. Not incomprehensible, just a term you don't hear much in the U.S.<br />
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<b>Napkin = serviette</b>. Ah, a French influence!<br />
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<b>Nonprofit = not-for-profit</b>. I wouldn't have noticed it, but it looks so British!<br />
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<b>"Pah-sta" = "Pasta."</b> I had no idea how to convey the Canadian pronounciation, but it's a flat a, like in "at." I make great amounts of fun of them for this.<br />
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<b>Powdered sugar = icing sugar</b>. It took me a minute to figure it out.<br />
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<b>"Prah-cess" = "prohcess."</b> My way of saying process now sounds downright twangy.<br />
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<b>Proctoring = invigilating</b>. In other words, watching university students take an exam. Oh, wait, I mean WRITE an exam (see below). One of the more boring jobs of a grad student, but it makes money.<br />
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<b>Silverware/flatware = cutlery</b>. Oh, Americans, they think we are HILARIOUS for saying silverware, especially when we talk about plastic silverware. I am guilty of this infraction.<br />
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<b>Taking exams = writing exams</b>. This is a major point of confusion, because whenever someone tells me they wrote an exam, I think they created it.<br />
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<b>Teacher workday = professional development/professional activity day</b>. Days that students get off so that teachers can catch up or do workshops.<br />
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<b>xth grade = grade x</b>. For example, "The advanced school has them learning grade 11 math in grade 10."<br />
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Every day, I collect more funny Canadian words, so it's likely that there will be a part 3!looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-46968881709745108252011-04-09T08:20:00.000-04:002011-04-09T08:20:54.497-04:00Accepting complements in scienceTaking compliments to heart is something I need to learn to do. People wouldn't go out of their way to tell you they felt a certain way if they didn't really feel that way, right? (Unless there's some deviousness afoot)<br />
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Case in point: I gave a talk about the wonders of the nanoworld to a crowd of around 100 at <a href="http://toronto.nerdnite.com/">Nerd Nite Toronto</a> on Thursday night. The talk went just as I wanted it to go, my ad-lib was ON, people laughed at my jokes, and I got lots of compliments afterwards. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pvrUcoB7RHY/TaBMpGBKzsI/AAAAAAAAABg/qjw4ToSgC-o/s1600/IMG_0852.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pvrUcoB7RHY/TaBMpGBKzsI/AAAAAAAAABg/qjw4ToSgC-o/s400/IMG_0852.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me right before giving THE TALK.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I know it went well, but the one thing I can't help but dwell upon is the one question I couldn't answer. This question was regarding alpha particle emission from gold nanoparticles/clusters. We don't talk about nanoparticles in terms of nuclear reactions, and I embarrassingly didn't even remember that an alpha particle is basically a helium nucleus, so I froze a bit and really had no answer. Upon talking to the asker later, I found out he was interested because of his job, but that still didn't make the question easier to answer.<br />
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I guess it keeps me human in science, though. If you're just praised all the time and not faced with adversity, you're never going to grow. The opposite is true as well. I could give a talk on metal nanoparticles drunk and blind, but it could always be better. Compliments tell me I'm on the right track, and roadblocks spur me to improve.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-32048402471001998182011-03-28T21:36:00.001-04:002012-03-23T10:02:50.291-04:00The Muslim community in CanadaThe title there is a bit glib; what I am trying to get at is how Muslims as a whole are perceived in Canada.<br />
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I live in a very Muslim part of town. There is a mosque right next to my building. I am clearly an outsider in this community, yet no one has been anything but polite and cordial, or at the very least neutral, towards me. I have felt slightly self-conscious about doing things like bringing home a case of beer to stock the fridge (and there's no hiding that), but no one has paid it any mind. The women smile at me; we do our laundry alongside each other. The children sled down the nearby hill when it snows and shriek and act like children do. The men hold the door open for me, and I for them. I even shared an elevator ride up with an imam tonight.<br />
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I think of myself as tolerant of other cultures and willing to try new things. I wholeheartedly believe that a smile is universal in any language. But I am clearly still at heart quite American. I remember 9/11 very clearly, and I remember crying that day and in the days after. My country has many, many problems, but it is still my country, and it was attacked. A part of me, so ensconced as I have been in American society for 28 years, slightly flinches when I see overt signs of Muslim culture. I will be the first to admit that this unconscious reaction I have <b>greatly</b> bothers me. No one has ever done anything directly to me. And it is the extreme minimum percentage of the population that desires to hurt my country. Yet I think that there is an extreme anti-Muslim sentiment that is ingrained in America, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/26/bennett.muslim.hearing/index.html">despite efforts of some to downplay it</a>. So pervasive is it that it has even infiltrated the ranks of the most broad-minded and tolerant Americans.<br />
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What encouraged this post was the fact that I finally was able to catch I show that I've been wanting to watch called "<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/littlemosque/">Little Mosque on the Prairie</a>." This is a Canadian sitcom focusing on a Muslim community out in the middle of nowhere in Saskatchewan. There is no laugh track, and the humor is clearly different from an American sitcom, but I was surprised at how delightful the characters were. The main character, a liberal imam, even has a smart-ass Anglican priest as his close friend. His wife (in the episode I saw, they were just married! Aw!) is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_feminism">Islamic feminist</a> and a doctor, and her Canadian mother converted to Islam to marry her Lebanese father, etc. The show is just very sweet, showcasing the camaraderie of the community, but also highlighting the hardships (the conservative pundits who aren't happy about the community being there). When I first saw an ad for it in the subway, all I could think was, "Holy COW..... I am not in Kansas anymore!" Having seen the show, I could only think that there is no way anyone would ever agree to run it on American television. It's kind of sad, too; it's a lighthearted look at the everyday life of Muslim families, and it pokes fun at everyone. Perhaps America is still a bit too sensitive for that yet, though....looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-2780446348855673562011-03-22T20:16:00.000-04:002011-03-22T20:16:05.049-04:00Importing a car to Canada (Ontario) *groan*This post is fueled by frustration. On-the-phone-for-hours-being-kicked-between-3-government-agencies frustration. I now know that I needed to import my car into Canada; however, the people at the border crossing didn't put the proper paperwork in order, so now here I am scrambling around to get it all done.<br />
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Taking a vehicle into Ontario for >30 days (or is it 60? It's one of the two.) requires that you actually import this vehicle into Canada and get it set up with Ontario plates. To get Ontario plates, you need Ontario insurance, an Ontario license, and basically <a href="http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/rgoutcan.shtml">all of the stuff listed here</a>. The notable part here is Vehicle Form 1, which you get upon entering Canada, except in my case, where they told me I didn't need it when I asked. Whoops. Wrong-o, border agents. So I've got to drive out to Pearson airport and get that set up, which is a pain, because I live on the other side of the city from Pearson.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lS0n-nalO5c/TYk6bD0x2pI/AAAAAAAAABY/8yJKUEUB_AY/s1600/tranna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lS0n-nalO5c/TYk6bD0x2pI/AAAAAAAAABY/8yJKUEUB_AY/s400/tranna.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My view of Toronto when I first drove in here last September.... didn't know it'd be so hard to bring Princess here for real!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The rest of the stuff on that checklist is simple and obvious, like a safety inspection, emissions test, etc. Vehicle Form 1, however is a beast, and you can read all about it <a href="http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5048-eng.html">here</a>. Luckily, because I am on a temporary resident work permit, and I will be returning to the U.S., the RIV registration <a href="http://www.riv.ca/PaymentAndFees.aspx">fee </a>is waived, so there's $195 back for me. Nevertheless, there are taxes on EVERYTHING, even air conditioning, as can be seen <a href="http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5048-eng.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.riv.ca/CostConsiderations.aspx">here</a>. There are even taxes on the taxes! That sample calculation scares me; a $50k vehicle from the U.S. would cost almost $4k to import to Canada if it was fuel inefficient. Princess thankfully isn't worth nearly that much, only a bit more than $4k herself, I'd say. Because she's 12 years old, she'll be duty-free (yay!), and she's relatively fuel efficient. Her city mileage is 10.2 litres/100 km, and her highway is 7.4 litres/100 km. Note there is a HEFTY tax starting at 13 litres/100 km and higher. Canada's trying to be green, yo.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vhlU1jjrKAI/TYk68n5QjyI/AAAAAAAAABc/uXXn1ampgEA/s1600/princess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vhlU1jjrKAI/TYk68n5QjyI/AAAAAAAAABc/uXXn1ampgEA/s400/princess.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's my (somewhat buried in the Pennsylvania snow) girl!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
All in all, with the AC excise tax, the GST (which I can perhaps get waived b/c I won't be leaving Princess in Canada), the safety/emissions inspections, the registration fee, and the cost to get a plate-holder on my front bumper (Ontario requires a front plate, and neither Georgia nor Pennsylvania did), I'm guessing it's going to be around $500 just to get Princess into the country legally. Insurance is a whole 'nother can of worms. Therefore, this will have to wait until I get paid this month. I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness for my postdoc's salary.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-64976633400114700472011-03-17T19:54:00.000-04:002011-03-17T19:54:49.767-04:00Being quietly American (and southern) on the Toronto subwayI take the subway to and from work every day, and from my front door to my office comprises 45 minutes of walking to/from the station, elevator rides, transfers, etc. After a couple of days of boredom with only my ipod to turn to for help, I decided to start reading on the train. My first conquest was the very southern novel by very southern writer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannery_O'Connor">Flannery O'Connor</a> entitled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wise-Blood-Novel-Flannery-OConnor/dp/0374505845">Wise Blood</a>. I first read Wise Blood in high school for class, and my notes are still scrawled in hot pink pen in the margins. I couldn't help but think to myself that it was quite a wonderful thing, bringing something that was so innately southern into the subway system of the largest city in Canada.<br />
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Since then, I've become somewhat of an American rebel. I downloaded Pete Seeger's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S9ANGO/ref=sr_1_album_12_rd?ie=UTF8&child=B000SEZBMA&qid=1300405288&sr=1-12">American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 1</a>, put it on my ipod, and have been bouncing away to favorite childhood songs ever since. Pairing those with Roger Miller songs makes for a merry time, and they make me want to be out in the middle of America in a field, strumming away on a banjo. Or listening to someone else strum. String instruments elude me.<br />
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I eventually come out of my reverie and get off at my designated stop, but those little times with America and songs reminiscent of small-town America are pretty valuable to me. They remind me that America ain't gone.... she's 140 miles away if I really needed to go, and it would only be a few hours until I'd be back amongst either family or friends. I can be all business in Canada, if you'll just let me have my subway ride with "Oh, Susannah."looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-69931759428916724102011-03-12T12:59:00.001-05:002011-03-12T13:00:11.698-05:00Separating people from their scienceOn a daily basis, graduate students and other researchers get figuratively beaten down by experiments that don't work, and they take it personally. This can lead to depression, an unpleasant work environment, and even a poisonous aversion to science that can spread all too easily to others as they fall into the same trap. We all get a little self-deprecating when we run into a spate of bad laboratorical luck, but when do we cross the fine line of failures in the lab extending to our views of our self-worth?<br />
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Back in the day, I heard about a professor who had some dubious dealings, and being a young scientist, this shook me down to the core. I recall the poignant memory of feeling physically ill and shutting myself away for a few hours after hearing the news. I remember calling my parents while taking a walk to clear my head, and my mom telling me, "Krissy, if you're going to be in this business, you've got to learn to separate people from their science. They're people, too, and they make mistakes just like everyone else."<br />
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This advice from my mom, who is <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/73/10/3633.abstract">quite </a><a href="http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/7/1244">the </a><a href="http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:q_YhsxWjj8gJ:www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1129218/pdf/jcinvest00768-0193.pdf+r+m+baine&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShLfBK7z6d1MjDe07VlN6XHcGg20es8zGNNwQIfrc3WlkNcwdGk63TJJrUL2s0zI_jWYNJWh064KMi3xbZf0iG_aUWWYhch24Lrjst-ZqKrJrNomHTKdez6z3PH6mM6m_ICUFDz&sig=AHIEtbShbW-39JyX07N5GjC0rzOU_2z5Fw">scientist </a><a href="http://www.annals.org/content/98/6/933.abstract">herself</a>, was some of the best I have ever received, and it came at the perfect time (i.e., early). Since then, I have encountered professors, researchers, and colleagues that might choose different paths than I would in life, but I don't associate our disagreements with their science. Their science and work is independent of and not influenced by their personal decisions (hopefully). More, I don't tie in failed experiments with my self-worth. If it didn't work, I 1) still try to salvage some knowledge out of it (a subject for another post, for sure), and 2) dust myself off and start another day. It's amazing the insight a good night's sleep can provide.<br />
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This advice might be why I only had very minimal inklings of imposter syndrome just at the beginning of my graduate career (i.e., feeling like you don't belong or are not good enough for a certain professional setting), or why I have no problems talking to famous professors on a casual level. I also have no qualms calling professors by their first name if they ask me to; I know a surprising number of people who struggle with this. They are just people, and they are just as fallible as I am.<br />
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On the flip side, I am relatively disinclined to throw my proverbial professional weight around. "Doctor" is reserved for formal introductions and solicitations of my money from my previous academic institutions. I believe making myself approachable facilitates discussion and promotes teamwork. Looking around at my environments past and present, this seems to be the direction that this new generation of science is taking, and I have to say, I'm liking it.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-8063979687403969642011-02-26T08:43:00.000-05:002011-02-26T08:43:23.880-05:00How SHOULD a postdoc act?Greetings, dear readers. When we last saw me on this blog, I was excited for my first day of work and still playing Starcraft in a camp chair. Well, no more (at least, regarding the camp chair)! My things are finally here, and I am mostly unpacked and set up, minus a few little odds and ends that I still have to take out of boxes. The American postdoc has officially settled in Canada!<br />
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As for the lab, it's been fun to just take in all the differences. The group dynamic is a lot different here, and this may be due to the differences in gender, age, and personality. As I've <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.com/2011/02/interdisciplinary-science.html">mentioned before</a>, my current group is VERY young and largely bottom-heavy, what with the 6 first-year M.Sc. students and all. Also, of the entire group academic group of 15 and soon to be 16, there are 2 females. Our group is split into 2 buildings, so in my subgroup of 10 and soon to be 11, I am the only female. This isn't bad per se, just different, and I'm trying to find my place. <br />
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And while we're on the subject of that, how SHOULD a postdoc act? My experience with postdocs in my previous labs has been one where they were much older than me, married, and very professional and, in large part, reserved. I've never run into the hotshot young postdoc for longer than a few weeks at a time, though I know they exist. I came into this telling myself that I was going to be more professional and reserved.... but there are two problems with trying to be these preconceived notions of a postdoc, and they are very important. So important that they warrant their own paragraphs:<br />
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<b>1) It doesn't fit in with the group</b>. The group is the group, and I'm a new little piece of it. Everyone who joins a group of anything, be it a multimillion dollar laboratory or a knitting circle, changes it somehow; however, they largely don't overhaul it single-handedly. My group is a very relaxed, but ridiculously bright environment where ideas are shared freely, and me being a bit more subdued just wouldn't fit with this open concept. Additionally, the young age of many of the group members has put me in the position of a kind of adviser, and being proactive about heading them off at the pass when they make a wrong turn is definitely helpful in this line of work.<br />
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<b>2) It's not me</b>. I've started dressing nicer and watching what I say a bit more, but largely, I'm still my light-hearted and good-humored self in lab. I'm not going to refrain from participating in the joking just because I have a Ph.D. It doesn't change my personality, and I don't have to shift my paradigm to fit what I've seen before. Trying to be something you're not throws a wrench into the works. Being myself helps the group run more smoothly and lets me do my job better.<br />
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It's amazing that I can even take this stance of observation so early in my career with this lab. I think this is because my mind is less occupied with the science. It's truly a beautiful and welcoming thing. I'm learning new techniques, but I already understand why I am doing them, whereas as a new graduate student, I did my fair share of floundering with the influx of new information, as everyone does. This crystallized experience is something that only comes with immersion in a subject for a good period of time (i.e., the length of a Ph.D.)... now I see why postdocs are such valuable researchers.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-23811486436759978562011-02-14T20:18:00.000-05:002011-02-14T20:18:09.583-05:00My postdoc, day one.I am buying more and more into the camp of "your attitude is everything." I have been looking forward to starting this postdoc pretty much ever since October when I made my decision, so I guess it should come as no surprise that my first day was great. I feel like I really fit and that my knowledge will be put to great use. <br />
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Group meeting in particular put me in wonderful spirits. It was right up my alley, and even the background information given was on papers with which I was intimately familiar. I am not shy when it comes to piping up and asking questions, and I felt like they were welcome and encouraged.<br />
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I would write more, but I feel like exhaustion has hit me like a ton of bricks. Suffice it to say, I am so glad to be back in the saddle. I am almost as glad that my stuff FINALLY arrives tomorrow, so no more blogging from a camp chair!looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864137403667670719.post-58776339783993359692011-02-12T09:09:00.005-05:002011-02-12T09:19:37.918-05:00Interdisciplinary scienceOne of the reasons I chose to attend Penn State for grad school was its initiative for promoting interdisciplinary research. The <a href="http://www.chem.psu.edu/">chemistry department</a> had knocked down all the traditional division barriers (analytical, organic, inorganic, physical, biological) except for categorizing seminars, and most groups fostered relationships and collaborations with labs outside of the department in areas such as engineering, biology, and physics. I was very drawn to this, and I am glad I was, because I think this is the way research is going.<br />
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(P.S. If you want to see something funny and are still on PSU chem's site, go <a href="http://www.chem.psu.edu/research">here </a>and wait until the 6th picture shuffles around to get a great and obviously posed glamour shot of my adviser and I "using" a microscope in the middle of a lit room. BONUS: The biological division button <a href="http://www.chem.psu.edu/research/research-areas">here</a>.)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AN1YnQarayk/TVaVIuRfnFI/AAAAAAAAABM/kBKBe9Mvv-o/s1600/research6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AN1YnQarayk/TVaVIuRfnFI/AAAAAAAAABM/kBKBe9Mvv-o/s400/research6.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photobleaching the "sample"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
No longer can one be a socially-inept scientist who hides away in his lab doing research and emerges only to eat or go home. Funding is tight, and your work must be marketable. Thus, you must be the one to pitch it. This is a skill I have sought to attain and perfect, and I have looked upon it with almost as much regard as I gave my technical knowledge when I was getting my Ph.D. One thing I have learned is that if you love your work, it's conveyed through your presentation and discussion, and people want to talk with you about it, thereby furthering you knowledge and feeding your curiosity. I don't think this was evident more than in my final year of grad school, when I was presenting at conferences and applying for postdoc jobs.<br />
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Though my Ph.D. is in chemistry, I don't do any "traditional" chemistry. I am a bioanalytical surface chemist, which means my work incorporates elements from 4 out of 5 of those aforementioned divisions, save organic. My Penn State group of chemists worked with biologists, medical doctors, electrical/chemical engineers, materials scientists, and physicists. It is so useful, almost like a shortcut, to have someone to explain to you about gate dielectrics and ribozymes. On the flip side, you've got to be a good communicator in order to teach an "outsider" your language and convey your angle of approach to a certain problem. <br />
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My group here at the U of T is in a similar boat, except we now incorporate all of those different departments in a single group. I am one of three chemists, the other two being another postdoc and a third-year Ph.D. student. The rest are biochemists, electrical/mechanical engineers, and even a psychologist (!). I should also mention that the group is very bottom-heavy; a mass graduation exodus occurred recently, leaving behind one fourth-year Ph.D. student, the third-year Ph.D. student, 6 first-year M.S. students, and 1 first-year Ph.D. student. And of course, there are us postdocs to round everyone up! The younger students astutely show their knowledge in their areas of study, and it's obvious that they're already well on their way towards assimilation of different concepts into their core knowledge. It's a marvelous sight to see, and I don't know if I would recognize it were I not in my position. So far, I'm really impressed with the U of T and its initiatives towards promotion of interdisciplinary work.looniechemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10770492662026828256noreply@blogger.com0