Citizenship economics

(Magic?) kingdom for sale

I wonder if a scientist-in-training (grad student or post-doc) would be able to borrow for it?

One of ... things

One of the weird things about being a foreign scientist is that people assume you can always go back and teach what you learned in your own country. However, I did my bachelors and subsequent degrees in the United States, so I stumble for the right terminology every time someone asks me for a modicum of detail on my research...

One of the frustrating things about being a foreign scientist is that people are too nice to correct my pronunciation when it is wrong. Now, I do have an accent and there is not much I can do about it. I don't even hear the accent (but others do) so it is very difficult to correct it. This means of course that I must impose on other people to try to understand it. But when I grossly mispronounce words due to wrong stress or other chance such as having the wrong vowel, and it is a casual conversation setting, why won't people do the "by the way it is pronounced this way". The politeness doesn't help -- instead, I think I am pronouncing the word correctly and reinforce the bad habit...

One of the annoying things about being a foreign scientist is the comment "it was in good enough English seeing how you are foreign" followed by no suggestion for improvement on the language. I'd like my papers, talks, etc. to be clear, understandable and good, not just good enough...

Clearing up the air...

In case it didn't come out ... I do like my postdoc adviser so far. I also wish he were less busy.

Here is the thing .. I really don't know these fields I am supposed to be learning about. He is busy with a billion projects and I understand that. He also hasn't pressed me on my productivity so far. Is that because he doesn't know about it or because it is OK since I am still spending time reading random stuffs? Or is it because half of this project is new to him too and naturally it is easier to work on the other problems first?

Now this may come of as major insecurity. But consider this: I had a fairly dysfunctional relationship with my PhD adviser, where we didn't speak for months. In retrospect, the majority of my thesis could have been finished in 2/3 of the time it took. So was the 1/3 left out necessary time to gel ideas? Or just the cost of doing business since I was not about to switch labs (again).

So of course I looked for feedback elsewhere. And here is the thing -- people came to my department talks, and liked my ideas. I always had questions and they were not of the kind "so why should anyone care? so what is your conclusion? or so what did you do in this project?" When it came down to discussing my thesis, which was more of a negotiation between my adviser and I than anything, I turned to one of those people I had talked about. On my concern of whether I have a thesis, he said I had tons of stuff at those department presentations that were new, interesting and significant. But they have yet to turn into papers. So did I leave based on ideas ? Or did I just have too many projects started that I get to finish now?

In short ... I need a mentor.

RANT: Let me do my work please...

... and don't treat me with kiddie gloves.

(1) Yes I switched from subfield A to subfield B. So I have had to learn a whole new subbranch of This Science Field. And I probably don't know it all that well yet, let alone have a proper intuition about it. However, don't congratulate me for compiling a behemoth of a program in under a week. You did all the work when you wrote it including the makefiles which were not makefiles for make but really a line by line executables that compiled the stuff. I just troubleshot the compiler options. And installed a library. And it took me one day. So when you waited a week to give me test files, you didn't do me any favour w.r.t. to the code. Yes, I had more time to read random stuff in subfield B. No, I do not think that is bad, but it is way better if you have reasonable expectation and simply give me more time later on when I ask for it so I can read about stuff with a purpose. Yes, I did get into science and particularly This Science Field, because I like to learn and figure out a whole slew of stuff. But I am a postdoc. And for better or for worse I have to worry about my publication count. So lets work on a project that can get published soon -- or offer me a permanent job.

Consider also that you are not my postdoc supervisor, so decisions about my work flow should at least be discussed with him and I know the have not.

(2) Dear sys admin, why isn't there a do and don'ts for your computer system? Like can I try setting up SVN here? Or should I hope the SVN run by the other post doc on outdated machine (so outdated that SVN cannot be upgraded). To be fair, you have been really kind to me every time I have asked for your help. But I have no idea whether I am annoying you with my many questions and should risk annoying my officemate, who has been here longer, with these questions first? I do wonder what I was supposed to do with the Windows computer presented?There is 0 software on it, which I have rectified with firefox and Open Office. But really would it be sooo expensive for Large Research State University (LRSU) to outfit us with MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint so I can work on papers/trivial calculations/presentations? I am not even holding out for Adobe software. I know all this is available in the media lab but what is the point of an office if I have to be in the media lab for all of that? And if I need to be in the media lab for that, why can't I just install intel solaris or linux on this PC, so I can seamlessly work on the unix/linux machines I need? And why can't I connect my laptop to the network? I understand security is an issue. So make me jump through hoops to prove that I am capable of keeping my laptop virus free. Instead, I can bring my laptop, connect it to the power and exchange files with my external hard drive/flash drive. But any virus can copy itself onto those, and I take my laptop and connect it to the network at home. From where I stand, the system is not any more secure this way. It is just aggravating.

Finally, can my next password be: passwords_I_cannot_change_fails?

(3) Dear well-meaning admins at college part of LRSU. When I showed up, you had kindly provided me with a checklist of things I should be trained on. And everyone duly signed it. You didn't collect it though. So you failed to realize that everyone who signed it said, just come back to us if you have any questions. So while I can always go and ask for help with stuff I think is reasonable, who knows what I am missing?

(4) Dear Dean of the college part of LRSU, why did you forbid me from writing proposals? LRSU allows it, but you do not. I get it that post-docs are supposed to be fully paid for with existing grants. So don't make it a requirement. But just think how much easier it would be for me if I get funded to find a future job, further increasing the prestige of your programme. And imagine that if say I didn't summarily leave my postdoc, due to say a spouse having a good job in the area, you get me as fairly cheap self supporting labour. And regardless of prestige, the freed up moneys can be spent on more grad students and/or postdocs, growing your program.

(5) Dear blogger -- please make autosave and spell check work. And explain to me what Error: your request cannot be processed means. I can only presume it was the autosave thing because I didn't make any request when that message showed up. I was just writing the above rant.

Accidental Friendships of Proximity

How does one make friends? It seems that so far most of my friends have started as accidental friendship of proximity. And while a few of them have flourished, the majority have dwindled.

In grad school, you have those introductory classes that at least brings the first year class together. You have large seminars, homework, shared offices and labs, etc. All of these leads to people being encouraged to talk to each other.

New faculty seem to get invited by other faculty. They also get new homes and can foster some friendship with neighbors.

So where do post-docs figure in all this. A friend of mine who graduated a year or two before me mentioned that post-doc years are the loneliest years. Why? Are we all supposed to have no life and work (or pretend to do so) 24/7?

So far I have made friends with my officemates. And I am on very friendly terms with the college admin. But I feel that these are going to start and end as accidental friendships of proximity, since we really don't have much in common...

Feel free to interrupt me ...

FSP has a cute discussion on how/when to interrupt your adviser/supervisor/colleague and lunchtime.

I find myself at odds. On one hand, I think that ever since I came to the US, I have gained quite a bit of weight. And while some of it is purely due to not walking, but driving, to places, some of it I think is due to eating at my desk, and some of it is due to eating cheap food, which in the US tends to be rather crappy. So as a new post doc -- with salary almost twice my grad stipend, and living outside of Large Metropolitan Area, i.e., in a place where I can afford to eat a bit better -- I thought I'd enjoy a leisurely 30 min lunch with colleagues. Alas, that has not been the case.

First off, this building has no lunch place. The next door (admin) building has one, but there are always large groups of people I do not know and I am a bit self conscious. It doesn't help that my undergrad degree is in math, not in This Science Field, and my Ph.D. is in specialty A which is only loosely in the same umbrella of my post doc, which is in specialty B, which is in group M, which in turn is rather loosely related to the college focus. The college itself has it's own (admittedly incredibly nice and helpful) administration, and hence feels rather isolating even though it is part of Big State University.

My lab on the other hand, is populated with people from close-enough countries that we share common culture, and a love for ... tea. So it is rather more enjoyable to bring my lunch from home, make a cup of tea, and sit at my desk. Alas, that doesn't translate into conversations unfortunately.

Secondly, noone seems to sit and socialize. Even in the neighboring lunch places, you can see only the occasional group sitting and talking. For a few weeks, I would make a giant pot of tea and offer it to my labmates. But that only rarely spurred conversations. And even if it had worked, how would it grow beyond the lab?

Now I realize that people are busy, have set routines, have families and what not. Yet, I wonder how many opportunities are lost to exchange ideas about This Science Field. After all, This Science Field is very interdisciplinary and it would be good to know what other people know/can do/ or are doing. If 30 min of lunchtime of free conversation is considered wasteful, a 30 min of lunchtime with This Science Field conversations could be fostered. After all, as one reviewer said -- it is impossible nowadays to publish new, revolutionizing ideas; instead, they must be presented in small steps as to keep up the idea that one has seen a little bit further only by standing on the shoulders of giants.

So I wonder ... do I need a post it note that says "please interrupt me"?