A few weeks ago I was reading over page proofs for a now-published manuscript, and I must have had my science writer brain on. I started to read what I had written and, for one excruciating moment, was horrified at what I saw. The writing seemed so stiff, so lifeless! Who the heck was I [...]

I used to have a colleague who thought it was funny to yell “back to work!” whenever he saw me. He would regale me, a young, breastfeeding assistant professor with an infant in tow and a 750 student course, with tales of when he was an assistant professor and would work all day, come home [...]

This here blog is many things — ladybusiness explainer, bad science outer, and a place where I reflect on higher education and the academic life. Today is the last day of the semester here at the U of I, there’s a lovely dusting of snow on everything, and it seemed like a nice time to [...]

Join me, Joanne Manaster, Melanie Tannenbaum and Prof. Bill Hammack today from 4-6pm at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Institute for Genomic Biology, room 612 (that’s the room right next to Array Cafe, in the Gatehouse). The University of Illinois has a surprising number of academics who are successful science writers, bloggers, photographers and social media [...]

Want a little lesson in the life of a scientist? On my plate right now: Proposal reviews: OVERDUE Book chapter: OVERDUE Two revise and resubmits: one OVERDUE, one not (yet) Manuscript review: SUBMITTED LATE Proposal revision to mock panel: only a matter of time before OVERDUE New grant proposals: WAY BEHIND SCHEDULE Workouts: NOT HAPPENING [...]

Inside Higher Ed has an interesting interview with Professors Kelly Ward (Washington State University) and Lisa Wolf-Wendel (University of Kansas) the authors of the new book Academic Motherhood: How Faculty Manage Work and Family. The whole thing is worth a read, including important points about how liberal arts colleges tend to be less family-friendly than [...]

Writing down all the factors in our sporting or academic lives in which we have no control is a bit disempowering. You mean I’m up against all that, and there isn’t anything I can do? Except that there is! We are both more and less in control of our lives than we think. In The [...]

Not an impostor I think I started blogging because of impostor syndrome. Impostor syndrome, for those unfamiliar with the term, is when an individual feels she doesn’t belong or deserve her accomplishments. This can come from external or internal factors, and really, the internal factors are by definition largely derived from the external ones. A [...]

Scicurious recently identified exactly where the whole “all scientists need to get off their butts and do outreach” meme sticks in my craw: not only are we overworked, but these behaviors go unrewarded. And in what is so far a very thoughtful comment thread, Katie PhD made the point that this is a chicken and [...]

This is a repost of a piece I wrote after the women in scienceblogging panel at Science Online 2011. Seeing as we’re heading into #scio12 season and there will be another women in scienceblogging session (this time in the brilliant and capable hands of Janet Stemwedel and Christie Wilcox), AND a writing for women’s magazines [...]