Friday, March 13, 2009

Research grants, Fellowships, and Scholarships

I've compiled a list of research grants, fellowships, and scholarships for both graduate students and undergraduates in the Department of Earth & Climate Sciences at SF State (with a focus on students in my research group). If you see something you want to apply for, put the deadline on your calendar now so that you can start your application, request letters of recommendation, and order transcripts well in advance of the deadline. Deadlines generally hover around the same time of year if not the same date each year:

Graduate Student Research & Travel Grant Opportunities and Fellowships

Undergraduate Student Research & Travel Grant Opportunities, and Scholarships
Underrepresented Students and/or Womxn Only
Field Camp Scholarships (in addition to above scholarships)
Good luck!
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Saturday, March 7, 2009

How to do research, part 1

This is a hard one. Because research is such an unstructured task, it's difficult to describe how to do to it (and do it well). I'll try to pull a few key points from this web site to get started (you'll have to scale a PhD timeline to an MS timeline for SF State):

On doing research in general:

"For many new graduate students, graduate school is unlike anything else they've done. Sometimes it's hard to know exactly what it is you're supposed to be learning. Yes, you have to complete a dissertation, but how do you start? What should you spend your time doing?

Graduate school is a very unstructured environment in most cases. Graduate students typically take nine hours or less of coursework per semester, especially after the second year. For many, the third year -- after coursework is largely finished and preliminary exams have been completed -- is a very difficult and stressful period. This is when you're supposed to find a thesis topic, if you're not one of the lucky few who has already found one. Once you do find a topic, you can expect two or more years until completion, with very few landmarks or milestones in sight."

On day-to-day activities [my changes are in brackets]:

"You'll have to read a lot of technical papers to become familiar with any field, and to stay current once you've caught up. You may find yourself spending over half of your time reading, especially at the beginning. This is normal. It's also normal to be overwhelmed by the amount of reading you think you "should" do. Try to remember that it's impossible to read everything that might be relevant: instead, read selectively. When you first start reading up on a new field, ask your advisor or a fellow student what the most useful journals.... are in your field, and ask for a list of seminal or "classic" papers that you should definitely read.... Start with these papers and the last few years of journals and proceedings."

I will add that you should subscribe to automatic journal updates (e-alerts) that send you the titles and links to the current month's publications in major journals - start with AGU, GSA, MSA, Elsevier/ScienceDirect, and Springer. If/when you publish your research, you will be expected to be up-to-date with current research in your field. And you may spot a paper that is just what you're looking for...

"Before bothering to read *any* paper, make sure it's worth it. Scan the title, then the abstract, then -- if you haven't completely lost interest already -- [look] at the introduction, [figures], and conclusions. (Of course, if your advisor tells you that this is an important paper, skip this preliminary step and jump right in!) Before you try to get all of the nitty-gritty details of the paper, skim the whole thing, and try to get a feel for the most important points. If it still seems worthwhile and relevant, go back and read the whole thing. Many people find it useful to take notes while they read [directly in the margins of the paper to find relevant points quickly]. Even if you don't go back later and reread them, it helps to focus your attention and forces you to summarize as you read. And if you do need to refresh your memory later, rereading your notes is much easier and faster than reading the whole paper."

Organize papers in folders according to a broad(ish) topic (e.g., microstructures) so that you can go back and find relevant papers easily.

On staying motivated:

"At times, particularly in the "middle years," it can be very hard to maintain a positive attitude and stay motivated. Many graduate students suffer from insecurity, anxiety, and even boredom. First of all, realize that these are normal feelings. Try to find a sympathetic ear -- another graduate student, your advisor, or a friend outside of school. Next, try to identify why you're having trouble and identify concrete steps that you can take to improve the situation. To stay focused and motivated, it often helps to have organized activities to force you to manage your time and to do something every day. Setting up regular meetings with your advisor, attending seminars, or even extracurricular activities such as sports or music can help you to maintain a regular schedule.

Chapman (see [chapman]) enumerates a number of "immobilizing shoulds" that can make you feel so guilty and unworthy that you stop making progress. Telling yourself that you *should* have a great topic, that you *should* finish in N years, that you *should* work 4, or 8, or 12 hours a day isn't helpful for most people. Be realistic about what you can accomplish, and try to concentrate on giving yourself positive feedback for tasks you do complete, instead of negative feedback for those you don't.

Setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals is a good idea, and works even better if you use a "buddy system" where you and another student meet at regular intervals to review your progress. Try to find people to work with: doing research is much easier if you have someone to bounce ideas off of and to give you feedback.

Breaking down any project into smaller pieces is always a good tactic when things seem unmanageable. At the highest level, doing a master's project before diving into a Ph.D. dissertation is generally a good idea (and is mandatory at some schools). A master's gives you a chance to learn more about an area, do a smaller research project, and establish working relationships with your advisor and fellow students.

The divide-and-conquer strategy works on a day-to-day level as well. Instead of writing an entire thesis, focus on the goal of writing a chapter, section, or outline. Instead of implementing a large system, break off pieces and implement one module at a time. Identify tasks that you can do in an hour or less; then you can come up with a realistic daily schedule. If you have doubts, don't let them stop you from accomplishing something -- take it one day at a time. Remember, every task you complete gets you closer to finishing."

It is very important to make regular progress (i.e., each week). Keep track of how you spend your time: if you are a TA, spend no more time on those tasks that you are paid for (normally 10 hours per week). Your classes should take up another ~25% of your time (because coursework is not the focus in graduate school). You should be spending about 50% of your time "doing research". This should all total at least 40 hours per week, particularly if you want to complete your graduate research within a fixed period of time (2-3 years for an MS, 4-6 years for a PhD). So that translates into at least 20 hours per week "doing research" if you're TAing and taking classes, more if not.

"Doing research" could mean:

  • reading papers (a never-ending task...) and following up on potentially-interesting references therein,
  • investigating an analytical technique (what kind of samples do I need to collect to do Ar/Ar dating? are there any considerations I should keep in mind when collecting my samples? who has the facilities nearby to prep my samples and do the analyses? how much will it cost? is this the right technique to solve the problem I'm interested in?),
  • looking at maps to plan field work (where are the roads? where are the relevant rocks? where can I go to find a particular structure? what's the best time of year to go [too hot?, snow-covered?]),
  • working with your data (do I see any trends in the REE data for different sample types? is there a correlation between U concentration and U/Pb age?),
  • drafting a figure to go into your thesis and/or for a publishable paper,
  • writing a grant proposal to pay for thin sections or lab analyses you'd like to do,
  • looking at thin sections, hand samples, field notebooks and writing rock descriptions (a pretty fundamental task for anyone in my group),
  • cutting rock chips to send off to have thin sections made and finding a quality lab to do that work with a relatively quick turn-around time,
  • crushing rocks and doing mineral separation or hand-picking minerals for analysis,
  • learning how to do mineral separation
  • writing your thesis...

Research projects that involve both original field and lab work will take longer because you've got to prepare to go to the field, do the field work, process your samples (mineral separates, thin sections, etc.), prepare for lab analyses, work in the lab, and then interpret everything. Working on samples that have already been collected or a thesis project focusing entirely on a lab-based investigation will take less time. Some people can work more efficiently, others less so. Work when you are most productive (early morning? late at night?), and do something more mindless (like hunting for papers or drafting a figure) when you're not being productive. Be sure to carve out regular, uninterrupted time to do your research each week in a place where you can minimize distractions (cleaning the toilet can wait).

I'm sure there is more I'd like to say about doing research so watch for part 2....

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Sunday, March 1, 2009

Letters of recommendation

Sooner or later, you're going to need a letter of recommendation from professors/employers who know you and are able to write positive things about you. These kinds of letters are necessary for scholarship/grant applications, applications to graduate school, etc. I often get requests at the last minute, with minimal information about the program for which I'm writing the letter, and without copies of any of the other information the student will submit alongside my letter. I suspect the main reason for the lack of information is procrastination...waiting too long to get around to putting the application together.

If the professor agrees to write the letter, all of this means that they won't have enough information about you to write a thoughtful letter that points to your strengths nor time to think about what they might write. The result? A generic letter of recommendation: "John X. took my Petrology class in Spring 2008 and received a final grade of B+, scoring in the top third of students in that class...He is a hard-worker, turned in all assignments, and asks lots of questions in class....I recommend him for XYZ scholarship." Trust me - that's not the kind of letter you want.

It's best if professors are able to talk about improvement of your grades over time and point to the 3.6 GPA in your geology courses (versus the 3.3 overall GPA) - information contained in your transcript. A resume that includes previous relevant work or research experience, published abstracts, scholarships awarded, community service experience, teaching experience, etc. would provide additional details that might significantly improve a letter of recommendation. Finally, having final (or semi-final) copies of the essay(s), budget, and/or statement of purpose can make all the difference; those documents discuss your qualifications for the grant or what you plan do as part of your graduate research, your motivation for pursuing graduate school, whether they feel you're a good fit for the program/advisor to which you're applying....key elements to a letter of recommendation. If you've chosen faculty who know you well academically, they can discuss whether you're a capable researcher and prepared for graduate school, include details of the kind of research you did, discuss how involved intellectually you were with the project, etc. It is also very important to give your letter-writers copies of any details of the grant/scholarship that you're applying for: who is the funder? what sorts of research do they support? what are the eligibility requirements? do they have a preference to support a particular group (women, minorities, petroleum geologists)? what is the typical grant size? For example, here is some of the text describing GSA's Graduate Student Research Grant program:

"The primary role of the GSA research grants program is to provide partial support of master's and doctoral thesis research in the geological sciences for graduate students enrolled in universities in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America. In 2008, 53% of the applicants received funding. GSA strongly encourages women, minorities, and persons with disabilities to participate fully in this grants program."

From this, I can see that they want to partially fund thesis research. That's an important thing to know from the letter-writer's (and the applicant's) standpoint: in a letter, I can emphasize other funding that's available to support a student's research or point to other aspects of the thesis project for which no funding from GSA is requested.

Here is another example from AAPG's Grants-in-Aid program describing how AAPG will choose grant awardees: "Factors weighed in selecting successful applicants include: the qualifications of an applicant as indicated by past performance; originality and imagination of the proposed project; support of the department in which the work is being done; and perceived significance of the project to petroleum, energy minerals and related environmental geology."

Grant proposals often have word/character/page limits that mean you can't necessarily say everything you want in your proposal. Armed with the above information from AAPG's web site, a letter-writer can again better justify funding your proposal by highlighting those specific points about you or your project.

Giving your letter writers all that information with plenty of time (at least 2 weeks before the deadline) gives us good fodder for the letter and puts us in a good frame of mind while we're writing those letters. There is perhaps less need to ask for a letter so formally (see the link above) after the first request, and particularly from your main advisor who has written (multiple) letters for you in the past, but the need for copies of the meat of your application (the essays and budget, the statement of purpose, and program requirements) still stands. Always.

Final tip: academics tend to write more glowing letters than employers/supervisors outside academia (think: the geotechnical firm you worked for right after college) because we know what the competition is like and what stands out (the good and bad) when evaluating a grad school or grant application.
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PowerPoint presentations

Whether it's for a class presentation or a thesis proposal or defense, eventually, you will need to create a PowerPoint presentation and give a talk in front of a large group. Here are some things to consider about your presentation:

A good PowerPoint presentation will convey your message, please your audience, and make you look smart. You can refer to this PowerPoint example for tips on how to make a simple, clear presentation. Then you might want to take an amusing look at common PowerPoint mistakes:


When you boil it down: tell your audience what you are going to say, say it, then remind them what you said. Keep your audience in mind (are you talking to undergraduates? faculty and graduate students? meteorologists?) and try to get the level of the talk correct, even tailor the talk to that group. Never make a statement that you can't back up. Finally, don't forget to answer the questions "Why is this important?" and "How does this relate to the bigger picture?" - once at the beginning of your talk and again at the end.

I print out a copy of my PowerPoint presentation and write what I plan to say for each slide on a sticky note attached to each slide; that way, I can practice any time (on the plane, waiting at the doctor's office, etc.).

It is very important to practice your talk in front of an audience of friends - you'll get good feedback and figure out if you need to add/remove/combine/change the order of slides, how long it will actually take you to give your talk, and discover whether there are gaping holes in your talk's content (more introductory material, more thorough explanations of key points, whether adding a figure would help you explain a point, etc.). Hopefully, you will also feel more confident about your talk after practicing.

When you're actually ready to present your talk, keep these things in mind. I particularly like three of those points: 1) Tell a story with your talk; 2) Use (relevant) photos/images/figures; and 3) Never apologize. Use bullets on your slides to remind yourself of key points: you can glance at your slide to remember what you'd like to say, and then make eye contact with your audience while you're speaking. And remember that when it's time for questions at the end of your talk, it's OK to say "I don't know".
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Friday, February 27, 2009

Scientific writing

As a research group, you are in different stages of your academic careers that require writing specific kinds of documents. I've found a few sets of (mostly) succinct guidelines to help both graduate students and undergraduates: a statement of purpose for admission to graduate school, a thesis proposal, a grant application, and theses. You should also know how to write an abstract.

Scientific writing also requires you to write briefly and to the point. Use an active, not passive, voice. Cite references appropriately and be consistent in how you format the text. I have several books on scientific writing style in my office including the classic Strunk and White. Strunk and White also address words and expressions that are commonly misused (e.g., affect vs. effect; and you can always search Google if you're not sure...).

It is very important to first get the words on paper (or the computer screen), without worrying if it's crap. Then sleep on it. Return to the text with a fresh perspective, improve what you wrote, and move on to write the next section.

Next, read through the text again and assess whether it is organized correctly and try to make the text more succinct: Look for redundancy and remove it, perhaps by combining sentences or deleting sentences outright. Avoid short, choppy sentences in favor of more complex sentences that combine ideas/phrases. Are the sections of the paper or individual paragraphs in the right place in the paper? Move introductory or background information to the front of the paper. Make sure your data/results are separate from your interpretations.

Have you answered the question every reader will ask - why is this work important? Have you related your results to the bigger picture?

You're not done yet. When you have a first draft, proofread it and run spell- and grammar-checkers. Then run it past a set of fresh eyes: both you and your fellow students will benefit by reading each others' work.

Add page numbers, put your name somewhere in the file name of your document (so that I don't have 15 "thesis.doc" files on my computer), then it's ready to send to me.
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Thursday, February 26, 2009

How NOT to impress a future advisor/employer

I often get e-mails that are not well crafted or written with care. The result is that 1) I am annoyed (and I remember which individuals have annoyed me in the past) and 2) I have to waste my time to seek additional information that should have been included in the original e-mail. For example, I just received this e-mail:

Hello Mary,

I am currently applying to enter the MS in Geosciences program (starting in the Fall 2009 semester). Last week I met with [an advisor in your department], and she suggested that I set up a meeting with you to discuss the program as well as potential research opportunities. If you are available to meet sometime in the next week or two, please let me know a day and time. If you are really busy right now, but are able to speak briefly over the phone, you can reach me at 415-xxx-xxxx.

Thank you,

[Potential graduate student]

At least he said "Thank you".

What's wrong with this e-mail? First, he starts by using my first name. I'm perfectly happy with students calling me by my first name but that is perhaps unique to geology (the culture is very different in other fields: for example, all students in the Chemistry Department address their professors with "Dr.", even to their principal advisor). Always (always) default to addressing someone in academia as "Dr." or "Prof." until you are either requested to do otherwise, or you get some other indication that you may comfortably use a person's first name (how do they sign their e-mails?).

Next delightful shortcoming of this e-mail: This potential grad student didn't bother to tell me anything (anything) about their background or research interests, and gave me no indication he'd even bothered to look at my web site to see what my research interests are. For such a wired generation, students fail an impressive number of times to even search Google (or check their syllabus or the course web site) before sending me an e-mail or coming to my office for information.

Then he goes on to request a meeting without telling me when he might be available, and instructs me that "If you are really busy right now" to telephone him.

I am always really busy.

What I wrote back was this:

Hi [Potential graduate student],

Why don't you tell me a bit about your background? Do you have a B.S. in geology? Do you have any research experience in the lab or field? Did you take a traditional 4-6 week field camp? What are your research interests? What is your ultimate career goal once you have an M.S.?

Thanks,
Mary

I'm really not in a hurry to meet with this guy....but you never know....so that's why I even bothered to reply.
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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Welcome!

I created this blog as a central place for resources for graduate and undergraduate students in my group...how to be a successful student, how to do research, how to write absracts/papers/grant proposals, your professor's/advisor's expectations (in general) and more. In particular, I've been following a blog called Female Science Professor that is particularly good - it's not just for science professors. So if you find yourself with some free time and are sitting in front of a computer, check it out...
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