BANDIT email list

If you didn't know, I maintain an email list for BANDIT so I can send digests of recent posts and other relevant information. If you would like to be added (or subtracted!) please send me a note at ruther4d at uic dot edu or on Facebook.

2010 Midwest Primate Interest Group meeting in Chicago!

Just wrapped up ASP in Louisville, and it's time to talk about MPIG in Chicago. MPIG is the brainchild of Agustin Fuentes, Bob Sussman, Katie MacKinnon, and Paul Garber who realized that the Midwest is home to an astonishing concentration of primatologists. A regional powerhouse was thus born, and we are now gearing up for our 7th annual meeting on September 24-25. This year it will be held in Chicago, co-sponsored by the Field Museum and my school, the University of Illinois at Chicago. Bob Martin will generously host the opening night reception at the Field Museum, which will include after-hours access to some of the exhibits. Fancy! The next day, UIC will host a full scientific program of both podium and poster presentations. This is a very student-friendly venue. For more info, check out www.mpig.org

You don't have to be a Midwesterner to come to MPIG; you just need to be a PIG! (Thanks to Steve Schapiro for that bit of cleverness.)

Hope to see you in fabulous Chicago this fall!

NIH Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD)

NIH has announced an initiative to foster training for underrepresented students in the biomedical and behavioral sciences:

"Several reports from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as well as from the National Academies reveal the national need for a well-trained workforce in biomedical and behavioral sciences and the continuing importance of developing and maintaining a strong, vital scientific workforce whose diversity reflects that of our nation. It was also reported that as a nation, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, and Natives of US Pacific Islands have been found to be underrepresented (UR) in the biomedical and behavioral sciences...The goals of the IMSD program are to (a) increase the number of UR students that graduate from Ph.D. programs in the biomedical and behavioral sciences at institutions with research intensive environments; and (b) reduce the gap in the completion of Ph.D. degrees between UR and non-UR students in the biomedical and behavioral science departments of those institutions."

These awards are made to the institution to develop a training program. Only one award per institution will be made - check with your office of reseach to see if your institution is eligible.

Michelle Rodrigues is telling tales

Michelle Rodrigues, graduate student at (THE)Ohio State University, is currently in the field at El Zota, Costa Rica collecting dissertation data on spider monkey behavioral ecology. She has a great blog called Spider Monkey Tales that I highly recommend to other BANDITs, and she has blogged recently about her current field season.

An excerpt:
"It´s still raining, but the downpour is lessening. Evelyn and Elsa are still resting in the same spot. Through my binoculars, I can make out just a portion of Elsa´s face, pressed up against her mother´s fur. Both she and her mother have shifted slightly, though they remain tightly huddled. I love the way spider monkeys sleep. They tend to sit upright, hunch their backs and curl their limbs and tails, either around themselves and their resting partners. They then tuck their heads down, completing the transformation to an immobile, huddled mass of fur. When I did observations in the morning at Brookfield Zoo, there would usually be a small cluster of monkeys huddled in a quiet corner. Occasionally, Evita and Elvis would look up and whinny at me, and then tuck their heads back down."

Lovely writing and also a great way to educate others about fieldwork. Nicely done, Michelle!

It's better to burn out than it is to rust...

A new AAUP survey on the burnout phenomenon among academics is familiarly sobering.

The study was conducted using the Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey, which "assesses three aspects of burnout on a multi-point scale. The categories include:
• Emotional Exhaustion: Feelings of being emotionally overextended or just worn out with work. (Average Scores: 14-23).
• Depersonalization: An unfeeling and impersonal response toward recipients of one’s service, care, treatment or instruction. (Average Scores 3-8).
• Personal Accomplishment : Feelings of competence and successful achievement in one’s work. (Average Scores 36-42)."

The higher the score, the greater the burnout. Interestingly, the academics reporting the highest composite "burnout" scores were untenured faculty, compared to non-tenure track faculty and tenured faculty. Also, women had higher scores in Emotional Exaustion. Although these findings might not seem so surprising anymore, it is important that we keep some sense of perspective, and I want to share some comments from a BANDIT member who provides that perspective eloquently:

"I realize all jobs cause some level of stress and that the tenure process is pretty stressful due to it's ambiguity. I have recently taken part in several studies on work/life balance and it is becoming more and more apparent that there is no formula for achieving tenure and/or appropriate work/life balance. Here, the three categories of our commitment to the university are reported to be measured as service (20%), scholarship (40%), and teaching (40%). Yet, it is evident that if you really pursue only 20% service, it will not work so well. So, it's more 40%, 40%,40%, thereby making little sense.... On the other hand, I feel strongly that we are in a pretty amazing position in that we are lucky enough to get a job that allows us to run around after monkeys in beautiful places (or basically in a dream job), have unstructured time during many portions of the year, and get to teach eager wide-eyed (usually) students in the things where we are passionate. So, I tire quickly of campus negative burned out attitudes. I think it is important that as new faculty, we work to avoid stress and attempt to appreciate that we have these amazing opportunities. My observations suggest that the burned out and stressed teach pretty poorly and are bitter about their accomplishments. That is just silly."

How to Get an Academic Job

Dr. Katie Hinde of the University of California at Davis organized a very successful lunchtime workshop for students and new investigators at ASP. The subject was how to get an academic job after finishing the PhD, with emphases on postdocs and tenure-track professorships. Two of the panel members (Paul Garber and Dorothy Cheney)had much experience as members of search committees and one of their key points was that ABD's and newly-minted PhD's have not yet come to a full realization of the significance of their dissertation research, making it difficult for them to sell to search committees where they plan to go in the future. Search committees might be initially seduced by your kickass dissertation research, but ultimately they want to know if will you be a good colleague in the FUTURE. So, what are your plans in the short- AND long-term? How do you plan on building your current project into a research program or how do you see it forming a foundation for your teaching and mentorship? You won't be granted tenure on your dissertation work alone, so it's never too early to at least practice taking a few steps back and framing your dissertation work in a larger context.

Katie put together some great tips and resources for the job search, and with a new season getting ready to gear up in the fall, take this time to start preparing and educating yourself.

Bringing BANDIT to a larger audience

Just returned from the American Society of Primatologists meeting and it was great! One especially exciting development is that I joined the Media and Information Committee chaired by Allyson Bennett, assistant professor at Wake Forest University. The committee is devoted to building an online, social media presence for primatologists and biological anthropologists to foster both outreach in our public communities and "in"reach, i.e. what BANDIT is all about.