Due to all the talk about commenting lately, I thought I would try something out on my blog (with Matt’s permission, of course).

I want non-NN members, and anonymous posters to be able to comment here. So, from now on, you will see this note at the bottom of every post:

NEW: If you would like to comment, but don’t have a NN account or want to comment anonymously, email me at mrscomethunter ‘at’ rogers ‘dot’ com. Please let me know if you would like me to publish your comment and, if so, what name to use.

Of course, if the comment is completely inappropriate (as deemed by me) it won’t be published.

I hope this makes more people comfortable with commenting on my blog, and will lead to (even more) interesting discussions! I will report back in a few weeks about how this little experiment goes.

Each year in May, there is an event at my university for gifted high school students called Discovery Days in Health Sciences. Every department on campus is asked to participate, since it is a wonderful opportunity to recruit these top students.

However, since the theme is Health Sciences, many departments decide not to participate, believing it is too difficult to relate their research to medicine. To this, I say pffftt!! How hard can it be, right?

Well, I have found out just how difficult it is. I’ve been asked to try to come up with a workshop for the Earth Sciences department, so that they may participate in this event and potentially attract some of these students.

I have a few ideas, but I’d love to get feedback from those of you who, you know, actually know a bit about biology/health science. Some are more of a reach than others (which, I’ve been told, is okay):

Space medicine: how do astronauts practice medicine? What are the physical effects of space on the body? How fast can one adapt being back on Earth after being in space?

Topography: Both earth and health scientists use this technique. Earth scientists use it to map the surface of our planet, as well as others. Health scientists have used it to map the brain, the eye, and superficial anatomy.

Animals & Earthquakes: There have been some recent studies on how animals are able to sense impending earthquakes. This topic is cool (to me), but I’m not really sure if it’s health science-y enough.

Imaging: Closely related to the topography idea above, similar techniques are used in both fields (luckily my husband does MRI research, so it would be easy to learn about this!).

Biological Evidence for Pangaea: Using the fossil record, the students could learn about Pangaea and the theory of plate tectonics.

If you were an upper year, gifted, high school student, which of these would be the most interesting? Feel free to also tell me if I’m full of crap, how these ideas can be extended, or if you have any ideas of your own.

NEW: If you would like to comment, but don’t have a NN account or want to comment anonymously, email me at mrscomethunter ‘at’ rogers ‘dot’ com. Please let me know if you would like me to publish your comment and, if so, what name to use.

Well, today didn’t really go as expected. The office I am supposed to be in was still being worked on this morning (the whole building has been under construction for the past few years and is just in the final stages of being complete). Even if it was ready to be moved into, I wouldn’t know where to go because I don’t know which desk is mine.

Since my PI wasn’t around, I headed back to my office in the physics building and sat at my old desk. And what did I do? I worked on my data analysis from my last post-doc (which we’re hoping to get a paper out of). So, I don’t feel like I really started my new position yet.

However, I did meet the people in the main office (really nice and helpful), got my employment paper work done, got my keys, and I worked a bit on a small outreach project that I was asked to start on last week. I also went by the lab to see if anyone was in there (to introduce myself), but no one was around.

I figure things should be in order in the next couple of days. I went by my new office later in the day, and other people have started to move in. So, I hope to find out which desk is mine so I can start setting up camp. I hope to see my PI as well, so we can chat about what my project will entail.

So, that was my first day, and it sounds like Eva’s went well too!

Today is my first day at my new post-doc. I’m excited (I get to start something new! I get to work with new people! I’ll have a new office!), but also nervous (what if the people are awful? what if I don’t like it? what if they find out I’m an idiot and didn’t deserve my PhD?).

Anna’s post helped put what I want out of a post-doc into perspective. I think I did really well on my wish-list, so hopefully that means this position will be a good fit for me, and I’ll be a good addition to the lab.

The PI won’t be around much this week, so I won’t be doing much work on the project she has in mind for me. However, I should probably do what all us researchers do when we don’t know what to do: read.

What, in your experience, are some DOs and DON’Ts for the first few days on a new job?

I consider myself a fairly avid reader. Last year, I made a goal to read one book per month, and I ended up reading 17. This year, my goal is to read between 20-25 books, and I’ve finished three already.

Back in October, while I was getting my newest tattoo, I was chatting with the artist about books. She said she absolutely loved science fiction.

Being an astronomer, everyone expects me to be familiar with every science fiction book ever written, and to know the dialog of the various Star Trek series’ by heart. Sorry to disappoint, but I’ve never really been in to any of that. Sure, I’d watch The Next Generation from time to time, since it was on at 4pm, right after school. I’ve also read pretty much every book by Carl Sagan, and Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, but that’s the extent of my sci-fi experience.

So, seeing as this is an area I haven’t delved too much into, I asked my tattoo artist for some suggestions. She gave me a huge list, but told me to start with Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I started it this week, and am about 50 pages in and loving it so far.

I was quite surprised, when I posted on Facebook that I was reading this book, about whom of my friends have already read this book and loved it. People that I never thought would be in to sci-fi. I guess one never really knows about the (private) likes and dislikes of our friends and colleagues.

What books would you recommend to a sci-fi novice?

I have two papers that are sitting on my plate – one is fresh and steamy, but the portion size is small, and the other has been cooling off for years.

The first paper is from my short post-doc, which was basically a continuation of some of my PhD work. I have already published a paper on this project, but want to update the results in a short paper (a note, perhaps).

I have two issues with this project. First, more work still needs to be done (I have examined about 7,500 additional objects, but we want to get that number up to at least 10,000 before submitting another paper).

The second problem is where to publish. The initial paper was published in Icaraus. While this journal does accept notes, they are supposed to be on “…especially topical subjects…”, which this certainly is not. Would it be strange to publish an update to a study in a different journal from the original paper?

The second paper…I’m sad to say…is from my master’s work. I had the first draft of this paper done in 2005, and have worked intermittently on subsequent drafts since then. My master’s thesis was in a completely different topic from my PhD (X-ray astronomy for the former, comets & asteroids for the latter). So, not only has it been a while since I last worked on this paper, but I am completely unfamiliar with the topic and the literature.

Is it wrong to want to finally throw in the towel on this one? Part of me wants to get it out there, get another paper under my belt, etc…but most of me just wants to forget about it. It will be a lot of work to get it into a publishable state – will the “pay off” really be worth it?

To add fuel to the fire, I heard yesterday that the funding application for the outreach position I was hoping to get was turned down. Given this situation, I have decided to work four days a week for my upcoming post-doc (instead of two).¹ This means I’ll be working pretty much full-time in yet another research area, making it all the more difficult to focus on the two papers.

At what point does one decide when to give up on a paper, especially at this stage in the game (post-doc level)? What factors does/should one consider in making these decisions?

¹ I figure this will allow me to focus on my new research area, while still giving me time to work on possible outreach options.

As many of you have probably heard by now, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on Tuesday, January 12th. Tens of thousands are presumed dead, with potentially millions injured…or at least needing food, water, and shelter.

The quake hit near the capital, Port-au-Prince, a city of about 3 million people. Aftershocks continue to hit the region. Haiti was still trying to recover from multiple tropical storms and hurricanes that hit in 2008.

Knowing that I will start research on earthquakes come February, this news brought on many feelings. Will the research I will be involved in help in these disaster situations? Or will it be too focused on the science and not enough on humanity? Will we ever be able to predict an earthquake? If so, how far in advance? Far enough to save people, or just far enough to warn them before their lives literally get turned upside down?

In any case, this is research that matters. Research that can actually help human beings, which has been something missing from my research life thus far.

Please consider donating to one of many relief organizations providing aid in Haiti, such as the Red Cross, World Vision, or the Haitian Relief Fund.

A few weeks ago, I asked the NN to share their opinions of manned space missions. What should the goal be? The Moon? Mars? Asteroids? None of the above? Many chimed in with excellent ideas and opinions, and it made for a very interesting conversation.

I was prompted to write that initial post after hearing a talk by a professor in meteor physics. The discussion afterward was much the same as the comments the NN bloggers made – some had strong opinions to get rid of manned missions, some couldn’t imagine not having them as part of the future goals of NASA/ESA/etc, while others sat on the fence (myself included).

Here is a summary of what came from that discussion.

The Moon

Pros:
It is close by: travel time can be much less than exploration time. It also means the astronauts are relatively close to home in case of an emergency.
Science: contrary to popular belief, there is a heck of a lot about the Moon that we don’t know about. It can also serve as a great testing ground for missions to further objects, such as Mars.

Cons:
Been there, done that: public interest isn’t so high for this one. Let’s face it, we did this already, 40 years ago.
Delta V: one of the most important factors when planning a mission. This is basically the amount of energy (and therefore fuel/money) needed to fly the mission to and from the Earth’s surface. The Delta V for the Moon is higher than for asteroids, even though they are farther away (because of the Moon’s larger gravitational well).

Mars

Pros:
It’s frickin’ Mars, people!!: humans would visit another planet! In general, there is the most interest in this type of mission because of what it symbolizes (going above and beyond what we were able to do in the 1960s).
Science: there’s a heck of a lot of new science that can be done…on another planet (did I mention that already?)!

Cons:
Distance: Mars is really far away. Depending on the route, it could take up to two years to reach the planet. How long would the astronauts have to stay in order to make that worthwhile?
Health & Safety: what would be the physical, emotional, and psychological affects on the astronauts? Also, there is a good chance that they would not return, given the large distance from home. Is it worth the risk?
Delta V: Mars has the largest gravitational well of the three options. That, combined with the large distance, makes it for an expensive mission. One way to save on this is to “dock” with one of the satellites of Mars (Phobos or Deimos), and take a smaller vehicle on and off the surface of Mars.

Asteroids

Pros:
Delta V: the lowest of the three choices, and therefore the least expensive.
Science: like Mars, this would be new science. We can find out if we could indeed mine asteroids for fuel resources, or use them as shields from the Sun (important because of radiation). Because of the low Delta V, it would be easy to do sample returns. Also, small bodies (asteroids and comets) are the key to understanding the formation and evolution of the Solar System.
Targets: there would be many targets to choose from, which means launch windows would be larger and more frequent.
Excitement: since it’s something new, the public would be more excited about it. It also shows us moving in steps toward going to Mars, instead of just going back to the Moon, or heading straight to Mars.

Cons:
Science: is there enough science to do to make missions useful and relevant?
Distance: though closer than Mars, it could still take months to reach an asteroid. Is it worthwhile to travel for 3-6 months to spend 2 weeks exploring an asteroid? What would be the risks for the astronauts?

Really, there are large lists of pros and cons for each of these options. The big question that remains, though, is if it is worth it to man these missions in the first place? Is it necessary to risk human lives in order to fulfill what is basically a fantasy (as I’m sure we all realize we do not need humans going out in space)?

I, for one, keep flip-flopping on this one. On one hand, there really is no reason for humans to be up in space when machines can do the job more efficiently and can last for much longer. On the other hand, when I think about how big the universe is, and how little we have seen with our own eyes, I feel like we need to start reaching out, star exploring. It’s in our nature, and it’s something that has been lost in recent times.

…and I’m loving it.

Okay, it’s only been two days since I’ve officially become unemployed, but it’s been the best two days ever. I can sleep in, I can read books, I can knit, I can clean and re-organize, I can read blogs…and not have that guilty feeling in my stomach that I should be doing more.

I know, I know – many will say “You’re enjoying it now, but you’ll get bored in a few days/weeks/months.” Honestly though, I really don’t think that’s the case.

When someone asks you what you would do if you won the lottery, your answer is supposed to indicate what your dream job would be. So, if I answer “nothing”, then what does that mean? I honestly do think I would be happy being a house wife – cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry and shopping on a Tuesday afternoon when no one else is around.

However, I’ve decided I should at least wait until (fingers crossed) kids are in the picture before staying at home, so this bliss won’t last for long. I received another offer from the PI of the post-doc I turned down: this time to work for her on a part-time basis, doing analysis and other small projects for her (yay for no original research, which is exactly what I was dreading if I had to do it full-time!)

I’m actually pretty excited about it, because it will let me keep a finger in the science-research-pot, allow me to work in a different field (earthquake analysis), all while giving me time to further my interests and career in education and outreach.

2009 is coming to a close. There is hardly anyone around these days, with most already taken off for vacation. It’s nice in a way: the quiet, the empty halls, the very small lines at the coffee shop.

Not only is the year (and decade) coming to a close, but so is my post-doc. Officially, I am done on December 31st. Of course, with the holidays, it is really more like December 23rd (or noon on the 24th to be more specific). Although my supervisor says that I can keep my stuff at my desk (since no one new is starting next semester), I have started to go through all my binders, files, and shelves.

It’s amazing what we hang on too. Do I really need those notes from the electrodynamics course I took in my first year of graduate school? Surely not, since I barely understood them even then. Same goes for most of my courses. Yet, it’s still hard to put them in the recycling bin. I keep thinking “what if I need them?” Of course, I won’t – I didn’t even look at them when I was actually doing astronomy and physics – what makes me think I will need them now?

The scariest thing of all though, is having nothing to come back too. I have declined the post-doc offer I was considering. Even though the research sounds interesting, it’s just not for me. I want my career to go in the direction of teaching and outreach, and doing another year of research will not help me reach my goal.

So, here I am, jobless, heading into 2010. Hopefully the new year will bring new opportunities.

This will probably be my last post before the new year, so I wish all the NN bloggers and readers a wonderful holiday season, and all the best for 2010! I promise I will follow-up on my post about manned space missions. After all, I really won’t have an excuse not to, will I?