Building a Research Career

December 11, 20250Comments

Ulcers and your grants

It may seem like I’m just playing on words about how the stress of grant writing causes ulcers. That is true, but this message is much deeper than that. It’s about

Communication

November 4, 20250Comments

The Danger of Piecemeal Thinking in Science

You know what drives me crazy? When we treat complex problems as if they exist in a vacuum.I was recently thinking about a local issue—treating a lake with herbicides to

Academic Life

October 29, 20250Comments

The surprising key to research success: Authenticity

Ah, the research enterprise. It can be a tricky place to navigate, and it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing things the way your mentors or colleagues do

Academic Life

September 4, 20256Comments

The System Is Broken — And You’re Going to Rebuild It

The system is broken Not just from the outside attacks. Yes, the anti-science rhetoric is real. Yes, the coordinated assaults on academic institutions and research funding are dangerous. But those attacks

Leadership

January 17, 20251Comments

Find the Hat That Fits… And Wear It: A New Approach to Leadership in the Lab (Part 2)

RecapIn Part 1 of this post on leadership, I unpacked the preconceptions that I previously carried around the word "leadership," as a way to open the conversation about what I

Leadership

September 1, 20240Comments

Find the Hat That Fits… And Wear It: A New Approach to Leadership in the Lab (Part 1)

What’s your reaction when you hear mention of a “Leadership Seminar?” Do your eyes glaze over as you wonder what you could possibly glean there that’s a better use of

Grantwriting

September 18, 20133Comments

Working hard does NOT mean success (at grants or anything else)

There’s this persistent myth that I need to tear down once and for all. Maybe it won’t all happen in this one blog post, but by God I’m gonna give

October 21, 20101Comments

How to become “stupider”

Say you’re in a science career (or thinking about one). Say that you actually want to be as successful as possible at that endeavor. Given those two prerequisites, then we can