April showers...

...or snow?  Either way, it's "spring time" in Laramie.  And that means a week of lovely chaco weather followed by a big snow storm!

I took these photos yesterday afternoon, about halfway to this morning's total accumulation:

University of Wyoming campus, 23 April 2010

Walking home, 23 April 2010

So now I get to break out the snow boots to walk to campus for Undergraduate Research Day!  

I am looking forward to hearing about the research-to-classroom connections made by our Wyoming Science Teacher Education Program (WySTEP) Fellows this year (I mentor graduate and undergraduate research partners for WySTEP during the summer).

I have also been working with an undergraduate student on a research project monitoring the impacts of an invasive snail on native freshwater invertebrates.  She will be presenting her results today as well as at the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography / North American Benthological Society Conference in June. 

The University of Wyoming offers several fellowships and scholarships to support undergraduate research.  Which, in turn, is a great opportunity for graduate students to mentor undergraduate researchers and expand their own research.  Getting involved with undergraduate research programs and projects has been very exciting and rewarding.

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READING: Taylor & Townsend (2010). Stoichiometric control of organic carbon–nitrate relationships from soils to the sea. Nature.
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Consumed

Spring semester always begins with this great promise of being super-productive, especially when I am on a research assistantship and not teaching.

Then I come back to reality and remember that much of my spring semester is always consumed by:

1. applying for grants or helping undergraduates apply for grants to fund their independent projects,
2. preparing summer research conference abstracts and presentations, and
3. planning summer fieldwork. 

Don't get me wrong, these things are still productive, but it's never what I dream of RE: writing 5 manuscripts and skiing every weekend.  Guess I should be a little more realistic when I make my "to do this semester" lists!

And, in the end, the above list (+ writing articles and teaching) certainly reflects the reality of the rest of my life if I choose to stay in academia.  I am still figuring out the best way to juggle writing, lab work, teaching, mentoring and planning.  I think I am getting better, but there is still LOTS of room for improvement.

For now (based on how I feel this morning) I will leave you with this:

Check out the rest of the PhD comics series!
(It's amazing how well they mirror my life as a graduate student.)

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READING: Smith (2010). Is There an Ecological Unconscious? The New York Times.

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