6.17.2015

PhD Wednesday: You are Enough


Hello! Its time for the next PhD Wednesdays! This post just barely made it, but its here. Its been a big  couple of weeks for me, a committee meeting, having family in town, traveling, getting baptized (yay!), needless to say I have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster. So this post is sufficiently emotional but its something I think all of us can relate to.


The biggest lesson I have learned during grad school is about identity and knowing who you are. Not  designing experiments, writing papers, or teaching students. Its not even about the hard work, perseverance, or creativity you need to carry you through. The PhD is  an odd experience because you are a student, employee, expert, novice, mentor and mentee all at the same time. Most of the time you're just figuring out when to be what, and how. On top of that research is full of failure, experiments don't work, hypotheses are wrong, reagents go missing, collaborators are unavailable, and there is always this nagging feeling that you're doing it all wrong. Many days and I look around and ask myself do I really belong here? I am I good enough? Why can't I be better, faster, smarter, more productive?


6.10.2015

PhD Wednesday: Preparing for a Scientific Conference Part 2


Welcome to the second installment of PhD Wednesdays! Part 2 of "How to Prepare for a Scientific Meeting." Check out my previous post for more tips on preparing for scientific meetings, especially small specialty meetings.

  
Can I just say again how awesome Scientific Meetings are for summer travel? Living on a grad student budget, with the ever present feeling that you should be writing, reading, doing experiments, or otherwise advancing toward your PhD, taking extended time off can feel all but impossible. Conferences let you take time off and check out a new city, at the same time "getting work done", for FREE! I just realized that I didn't talk about this at all in the last post, but its the best part! So here is a bonus tip to get this post started: 


5.13.2015

PhD Wednesday: Preparing for a Scientific Conference

Welcome to PhD Wednesdays! These posts will be dedicated to all things science and PhD life. If you're thinking about joining (or are already in) the world of science, I hope you will find these posts interesting and helpful! 



Scientific meetings are a BIG part of graduate school and a career in research. Conferences are an opportunity to share your work and learn about cutting edge projects in your field. They are also great opportunities for networking. If you are looking to find a post-doctoral fellowship, faculty position, or to start a new collaboration you can meet potential mentors and collaborators who are usually excited to work with you.  Preparing in an advance helps you take advantage of all the opportunities your meeting has to offer!

Scientific meetings come in three main flavors, the small specialty conference, the large general interest conference, and the gigantic general science conference. I have had the opportunity to attend and present at several different types of conferences but I am by no means an expert. This post outlines some of the things I've found helpful in preparing for the "small specialty conference". In Part 2, I'll share my tips for the "large general interest conference".

The small specialty conference will usually cover a relatively narrow area of science such as retroviruses, host-DNA damage responses, stem cell biology, etc. I say 'relatively' because narrow can be very relative especially to us scientists. In general, the subject matter is focused enough that you will likely recognize several of the labs presenting at the conference if you have been working in your area for a while.  The size of these meetings can be in the truly small range, about 300-500 people, all the way to up 3,000 people. These conferences have a lot of advantages due to their small size and will provide the most opportunities for genuine networking and collaborations.  I hope these tips will help you maximize your small conference experience!



5.06.2015

Wedding Wear



I took a much needed break from lab this weekend and drove home to celebrate a dear friend's wedding. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and I loved spending time with my family and old college friends. The true success of the weekend was that I managed to pack just what I needed and neatly fit everything (including toiletries and shoes) in one single duffle bag! Over packers of the world rejoice! I know I can't be the only one who obsesses over what to wear to a wedding and spends countless hours planning outfits for a trip. My solution to this age old problem this time was to pick three outfits and stick to wearing just those. I chose one nice dress to wear to the wedding, a casual shorts and tee shirt look, and a more dressy outfit to wear to dinner or drinks. I styled the looks with bags and accessories and packed everything in one bag (yay!)


4.21.2015

Little Dainty Things

Midi Rings  Mint Candy Apple Polish 
Its spring in Nashville and today is lovely! Is it just me or does anybody else feel more like themselves in spring and summer?! I am so happy to shaking off the long cold winter and I hope you all are enjoying the warmer weather as much as I am.


3.01.2015

*with an i



Hello! 

Welcome to my blog! My name is Mallori, spelled with an i, slightly different from the more common spelling 'Mallory.' I chose the name '*with an i' for my blog because I want it to highlight the little excitements of life. A fresh way of looking at everyday things. I hope this blog will be a place to collect and share the common experiences of a 20-something trying to make her way in the world. I hope you will enjoy reading!


A few fun facts to get started!