So you battled through your postdoc position and landed a junior faculty spot in the university of your choice. The department chair shows you to your empty lab, which has been stripped bare and is empty except for the trolley filled with broken glassware, bits of metal, and old catalogs. It's time to hang up your Ph.D. and postdoc qualifications, roll up your sleeves, put on your designer's hat,...
In this feature we take a look at how distance education is changing the way teachers teach and students learn, and bring to light the experiences of instructors, students, and distance education technologists. We profile universities with online programs, offer practical advice on setting up a distance education course, and provide resources and opportunities on how you can get involved. OVERVIE...
laptop In this feature we take a look at how distance education is changing the way teachers teach and students learn, and bring to light the experiences of instructors, students, and distance education technologists. We profile universities with online programs, offer practical advice on setting up a distance education course, and provide resources and opportunities on how you can get involved. ...
OTHER GRANT WRITING ARTICLES Criterion 1: What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity? How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields? How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will comment on the quality of prior work.) To what extent do...
BACK TO "WHAT IS FENG SHUI?1?" The Ba-Gua is traditionally, an octagonal map that partitions a room, or an area into certain "Life Stations". Below is a rendition of the Ba-Gua, often represented as a 3 x 3 grid. Use it to work out which areas of your lab are powerful and which areas can stimulate ideas. Colors and shapes within each section represent icons and characteristics of the Feng Shui Fi...
To commemorate their 50th anniversary, the National Science Board (NSB) and National Science Foundation released a "special" edition of their Science and Engineering Indicators report this week. Designed to provide a "broad base" of scientific and technological information to the President, Congress, and policy-makers, the biennially produced Indicators are also an invaluable resource for upcomin...
From the National Science Foundation: Proposal Preparation Page From the Chronicle of Higher Education: NSF Report Warns of Declining Graduate Enrollments in Science How Not To Kill A Grant Application: Part One: Murder Most Foul Part Two: Abstract Killers Part Three: So What? Part Four: Lost at Sea Part Five: Review the Facts Grant Reviews: Part One: Introduction to the Review Process Part Two: ...
Distance education is essentially a way to deliver education without the need for students to be physically present in the same room as the instructor. When courses and programs are posted to computers electronically or through the Internet, students are not constrained by time either, because lessons and classwork can be accessed night or day. Follow the links below to find out more about distan...
What better to way to start a new academic year and its new research goals, new positions, and new homes than with a few useful resources at your fingertips? Whatever your hopes and plans, the links below should provide a few shortcuts to help you on your way! Free Funding Database GrantsNet : Search the new and improved database for graduate and undergraduate funding opportunities. Follow the li...
READ PART ONE:YOUR SCIENTIFIC CASTLE Welcome to your new lab. Your very own research haven, where students and postdocs will flock to you and colleagues will bless you with offers of many exciting collaborative projects. You'll advance your field and become an established and well-respected scientist, juggling innovative experiments with prolific publications while simultaneously nurturing the ne...
"Coming from a purely research background, I had a lot to learn about informational technology," admits postdoctoral scientist Jory Weintraub, regarding the undergraduate immunology course he is developing. The course will be taught simultaneously at Fayetteville State University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, using the latest in distance education technology. After working as...
Armando Rodriguez, a Presidential Awardee of mentoring excellence, gives a few of his insights to the requirements and responsibilities of mentoring: WHAT QUALITIES DOES A GOOD MENTOR NEED? diamond.gifPatience diamond.gifUnassuming objectivity diamond.gifObservant diamond.gifSensitivity and empathy (e.g., toward cultural, gender, disability, or minority issues) diamond.gifApproachable and availab...
OTHER GRANT WRITING ARTICLES Book Review: The Grantseeker's Toolkit By Cheryl Carter New and James Aaron Quick Getting ready, preparing, and writing a grant proposal is no different than preparing for a marathon or any other athletic event --if you don't train for it, submitting an application can be a grueling event! The husband-and-wife team who wrote Grantseeker's Toolkit: A Comprehensive Guid...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX Finally! After weeks of toil and frustration, your hard work at the bench has paid off--the mutation-screening device really works! It's time to write that groundbreaking paper, make a few presentations, even conjure up some ideas for another grant application. It's time to unwrap that baby and show it to the world! Things are looking up--at least for the time being. But...
OTHER GRANT WRITING ARTICLES The congressionally mandated report--11th in a series that began in the mid-70s--is geared primarily toward the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. And this time around, the NIH specifically asked the committee to consider the overall production of research personnel...
Researchers planning to set up clinical trials, test new drugs, or develop gene therapy protocols will now have to abide by new federal guidelines concerning human subjects research or face the possibility of stiff financial penalties, according to an announcement made 23 May. The HHS announcement addresses the following issues with respect to human subjects research: Education and training Infor...
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is placing new emphasis on mentoring. Researchers are now evaluated specifically on their mentoring skills when they come up for review. And the NIH's Ethics and Conduct Committee recently released a guide on mentoring--and the entire first run was snapped up, so they're printing more and distributing them widely. A Guide to Training and Mentoring in the In...
Last week, graduate students at New York University (NYU)--poised to make legal history--became the first graduates enrolled at a private academic institution to vote to determine whether or not to create a graduate union. The hotly contested election took place 25 to 27 April, drawing approximately 1400 eligible ballots from graduate assistants defined in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ...
OTHER GRANT WRITING ARTICLES Finding research funds can prove to be a daunting task for young investigators trying to win financial support. But the quest for research dollars just got a little easier: A newly retooled Web site, the Research Assistant, aims to help new and minority drug abuse researchers launch their independent careers. The site, supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse...
"I'm really excited by teaching and I didn't want to be in a job that totally focused on research," says Susanne Bockholt, research associate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. For Bockholt, who received her Ph.D. in cell biology and anatomy at UNC Chapel Hill and then undertook a postdoc position at the University of Utah, the bench was not for her. "In the traditional science tra...
