Scientiae

Hi, I'm Rocket Scientista, and I'll be hosting your fabulous June Scientiae Carnival. I'm so excited to be a part of such an awesome carnival about women in STEM!

Last month, we all talked about all those humps and bumps on the way to success, and now it's time to celebrate getting through it! The theme for June's Scientiae Carnival is:

I've been watching a lot of my friends graduate and defend their theses, and I've been seeing others publish their first papers. Some postdocs I know have gotten their first BIG fellowships, or gotten great grants, and I've seen some awesome faculty get some amazing awards. Some of my friends in STEM industry have completed big projects or have even gotten promotions! One thing I've noticed, through all these accomplishments and successes, is that we don't tend to celebrate our awesomeness nearly enough. We end that now.


It's almost summer, it's the end of the academic year, and I'll be hosting a huge Scientiae party. Come, bring a friend, and share with us your most recent successes and we'll give you a big round of applause! Tell us how you're planning on celebrating once you clear that next hurdle. Or maybe how you celebrated just getting something off your plate, no matter the outcome. Tell us about those humps and bumps you have overcome. Share a story about your grandest STEM victory.


You are cordially invited for a celebration of STEM win! Cheering provided, but BYOP (Bring Your Own Post). RSVP by Monday May 31 at 11:59PM.


To submit a post for the Scientiae Carnival, please email the permalink URL of your post to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com by 11:59 pm on Monday, May 31. The carnival will be posted by June 3rd. I can't wait!

Hi, I'm biochem belle, your humble host for April's Scientiae Carnival! Many thanks again to Amanda for hosting the March edition of the Scientiae Carnival. If you haven't already seen it, go check out people's thoughts on continuity in science. I am thrilled to be hosting the carnival in April and look forward to reading all the submissions. Even though the carnival broadly covers the topic of women in STEM, anyone is welcome to contribute. In fact, one of my favorite dude bloggers, Abel Pharmboy, hosted last year. Now on to this month's topic...

The theme for the spring 2010 national meeting of the American Chemical Society is Chemistry for a Sustainable World.There have been a number of reports, op eds, and blog posts about a diverse range of challenges in science. This phrase prompted me to see them as questions of sustainability. Whether discussing an individual career, a lab, funding, the academic research system, publishing, peer-review, or scientific innovation, at the heart of the issue is often the question of whether current practices are sustainable and what changes need to be made to ensure sustainability. This also brings the theme of April's carnival. From an individual to a more global perspective, definitions, successes, diversity, barriers... what makes--or breaks--sustainability in science?

To submit posts to the carnival, please email the permalink URL of your post to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com by 11:59 pm on Monday, March 29. I will try to have the carnival posted here by 11:59 pm on April 1. I'm looking forward to reading some more great posts!

Hi! I'm Amanda at A Lady Scientist and I'm hosting Scientiae for March. First of all, I'm really pleased that Scientiae is continuing. The carnival is what got me into blogging in the first place.

Now the difficult part: trying to figure out a theme for this month. I've never hosted Scientiae before and I didn't realize how tricky this could be! At last I've settled on a very broad topic: Continuity. The word applies not only to Scientiae (we're on year 3!), but Science, too. To start you all thinking about this topic I looked it up in the OED.

Continuity
|ˌkäntnˈ(y)oōətē|
noun ( pl. -ties)
1. the unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over a period of time
• a state of stability and the absence of disruption
• (often continuity between/with) a connection or line of development with no sharp breaks
2. the maintenance of continuous action and self-consistent detail in the various scenes of a movie or broadcast : [as adj. ]

Of course, if you would like to write about something not on this topic, that's perfectly fine, too. Please email a permalink to your post to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com by 11:59pm on February 27th. (Don't worry I'll send an email to the Scientiae Google Group to remind you!) I'll post the carnival by 11:59pm on March 1st. I'm looking forward to everyone's submissions!

It looks like November's carnival was a little on the sparse side, so we're going to try again. Jokerine and myself (Cherish) will instead co-host the December carnival. Because of the holiday weekend, we're going to push off the deadline for the new carnival to December 14th so that we can publish it on the 15th.

I didn't realize how quickly October would come and go, and it's almost time for Scientiae!

Hello all!

I, Mad Chemist Chick, will be hosting the October Scientiae Carnival from my Laboratory this month. Fall is in full swing (at least in my little corner of the world) and I find that it usually one of the busiest times for those of us in the STEM disciplines. In academia, mid-terms are approaching with end of the semester activities following soon after. In industry, there seems to be a sprint for the finish as once the holidays hit, it can be impossible to get anything accomplished until the New Year. I hope everyone finds some time to slow down and enjoy this very lovely time of year (after you submit your posts to the carnival of course!)

I found inspiration for this month’s carnival theme after hiking through the woods to see the beautiful fall colors. I am borrowing it from one of New England’s great poets, Robert Frost. The October carnival theme is The Road Not Taken. His poem, The Road Not Taken (1916) is often seen as an expression of individualism though some argue it has a more ironic meaning. For reference, the poem appears below:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Was there a point in your career or research where you were faced with two possible paths? Which one did you chose and why? Do you ever regret that decision? Or perhaps it was the best decision you ever made but you did not realized it until much later. Or have you ever taken a path only to discover it dead-ends or is circular? What did you do next? Have you, like the traveler in the poem, saved a path for another day, in regards to an alternative or second career maybe, and hope to get back to explore it someday? Perhaps some other poem is more apropos to your life and career. Feel free to submit a post on it. As always, other topics that may interest you are also welcome.

Write your posts and submit them by 12AM, Saturday, October 3, 2009. I will get the posts compiled and posted no later than October 5^th. Please email a permalink URL for your post to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com. I look forward to reading your submissions!

Hello hello hello. It's that time for another Scientiae. I'm sorry for showing up a bit late with the call for posts, but with another semester starting I had to get the summer tasks off my plate. Then I had to wait for the muse to strike for a quality theme for this month's Scientiae.

The theme this month: Inspiration or Desperation?

I have been thinking about office decorations as new people move into assorted spaces. Every office seems to be dominated by those people who put up cheesy positive slogans like "Teamwork: Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is a progress, working together is success - Henry Ford" which invariably seem to be balanced against the person posting a message designed to mock these things like "Teamwork: Share Victory, Share Defeat." Invariably, the semester start brings a time to reflect positively or sarcastically. Talk amongst yourselves and submit the posts in the usual fashion by Friday 4 Sept. The carnival will be my Labor Day gift to you.

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder to submit your posts to the July Scientiae Carnival over at My Middle Years. The theme for this month is:

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...

Send in your posts - something old, something new, something funny, something blue. Please e-mail a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [at] gmail [dt] com by midnight on June 30th. The carnival will be posted on the 4th of July.

-Patchi

Hi everyone,

I'll be hosting the July Scientiae Carnival over at My Middle Years. I've been reading many posts in the blog wide world about self-image, so lets find out how we in STEM see ourselves. The theme for this month is:

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...

Think about who you see when you look in the mirror. How do you see yourself? How do you think others see you? Who would you rather see? Some days it might be hard to even face the mirror, other days you might stare at your teenage self looking back at you and wonder what happened since. What do you think that person looking at you is thinking? What would happen if you could step through the looking glass?

The images are infinite, and feel free to submit variations on the theme or anything else you view appropriate. Please e-mail a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [at] gmail [dt] com by midnight on June 30th. The carnival will be posted before the fireworks go off on the 4th of July.

I hope to see you soon!

-Patchi

Just a quick reminder that the June Scientiae theme is "moving forward" and we're looking for posts about the how and why your science, work, and life are moving forward. Of course, other topics are welcome as well.

Write your entries and get them in by midnight UTC on May 30th, and I'll get them compiled and posted the first week of June. It probably won't be the first of June, because there's already something really important in the works for June 1, but I'll try to have carnival up by the 4th or 5th at the latest.

Please email a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com. If you don't have a blog, email your submission to the address above, and I'll happily post your entry on the ScienceWomen blog. More details concerning submission can be found here.

Hi, it's ScienceWoman, your host for the next edition of Scientiae. Alice and I are teaming up to host the June edition of Scientiae, the carnival by, for, and about women in science, engineering, technology, and math. As is the norm for the monthly Scientiae carnival, I get to choose a theme to help inspire and unite you all to write posts, though submissions on any topic related to women in STEM are always welcome.

At this time of year, some of us are just emerging from the end of the semester, while others still have another month to slog through before getting a reprieve. Some people are within spitting distance of finishing their research project or degree, while others feel like they have years more to battle cranky equipment or stare at disappointing data. While some of us maybe carefree and happy-go-lucky, others people may be struggling on the personal front.

We're all at different stages of our journeys, but something we have in common is that we are all MOVING FORWARD, so that's the theme of this Scientiae edition.

How are you moving forward in life? Are you close to your degree, tenure, sabbatical, or summer holiday? Is that paper almost ready to go out the door? Is your baby almost potty trained or are you training for a marathon? What keeps you moving forward in your science, work, and life? Is it the drive to cure a disease, make the world a more sustainable piece, or discover something that no one else knows? Is it the promise of exciting data at the end of a long assay? Is it the thought of people calling you Dr.? Is it your daughter's smile when she wakes up in the morning, or the enthusiastic tail wagging of your dog? When things get tough, how do you motivate yourself to move forward?

Here's a couple of sayings and cliches that might help inspire the creative juices:

• "It's always darkest, just before they turn on the light." (Cole Porter, Anything Goes)


• "When life hands you lemons, turn them into lemonade." (an old saying)


• "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." (Alternatively, the sign in my local donut shop proclaimed "When the going gets tough, the tough get donuts.")


• "Life is just a bowl of cherries." (A saying meaning that life is pleasant, but often used sarcastically to convey the opposite sense).

Now that you're all inspired(?), don't forget to write your entries and get them in by midnight UTC on May 30th, and I'll get them compiled and posted the first week of June. Please email a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com. If you don't have a blog, email your submission to the address above, and I'll happily post your entry here. More details concerning submission can be found here. Also, please broadcast this announcement on your blogs and share widely. I'm looking forward to reading a great batch of posts.

Today is pretty much your last chance to get your posts in for May Scientiae! 

Just to remind you to get your posts in for the May Scientiae Carnival. By the end of April 30th please.

I've always been intrigued by timecapsules. Those funny things that people bury under trees, in new buildings, in the ground, whenever something notable is happening. They contain photos, stuff that is soon to be an artifact, letters and other such timely reminders of the present day.

As I'm running a little short of time for a theme for the May Scientiae carnival, I'd like to propose "A Snapshot" as a theme. Create a blog time capsule for yourself that will say Spring 2009 when you look back on it in a couple of years.

You can interpret this in many ways. It could just be a series of pictures that describes your research or life this spring, or it could be an anecdote or moment that is memorable. It could be a snapshot of how your research is going, how your job search is progressing or just how your getting on.

And as I'm running short of time, I'll also accept general submissions on anything related to the themes of this carnival:

This is a blog carnival that compiles posts written about the broad topic of "women in STEM," (STEM=science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and may include posts:

stories about being a woman in STEM

exploring gender and STEM academia

living the scientific academic life as well as the rest of life

discussing how race, sexuality, age, nationality and other social categories intersect with the experience of being a woman in STEM

sharing feminist perspectives on science and technology

exploring feminist science and technology studies

Both men and women (and anyone in-between) are welcome to contribute to the carnival as long as the topics are relevant and respectful.

Submissions from any and all parts of the blogging world welcome. Please email a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com. More details concerning submission can be found here.  I will not be using the technorati tag to find posts so please email!  Deadline: Midnight 30th of April PDT.

There is something to be said for overcoming adversity, whether in a personal or professional setting. Despite the fact that we all moan and groan about the various challenges in our lives (okay, well at least I moan and groan), those very challenges are responsible for shaping us and giving us incredible confidence once we overcome them.

For example, this past year I have struggled like an absolute nutjob to fit into the crazy environment of my postdoc lab. It was an enormous change and a challenge that had me ready to throw in the towel, but eventually I adapted. And I now cannot believe how much better off I am. Successful research in two very different labs has opened my eyes to new and interesting ways to solve problems, collaborate, and go about the greater scientific circle. I am a richer scientist for having gone through such a difficult professional experience.

But my observations are nothing new. Years and years ago, Winston Churchill laid out this gem: "If you're going through hell, keep going." I think that we can all agree that good ol' Winston Churchill knew what he was talking about.

So with that, dear readers, I give you April's scientiae theme:

Tell us about that most firey fire through which you have had to walk in your scientific career. How did you overcome the challenge? Did you have help along the way, or was it a solo effort? And what did you learn? Why are you a better scientist given the difficulties that you have encountered?

And people, I need not remind you that your contributions will be posted at the home of candor itself, so please don't feel as if you need to pull any punches. Lay it all out there for us.

Instructions for submitting a post for the carnival can be found here. I will attempt to have the carnival up on April 1st, so email your posts no later than March 29th.

Who inspires you or motivates you? Who would you call your role models, at any stage of your career? Email a permalink of your posts to scientiaecarnival (at) gmail (dot) com by midnight on Saturday, February 28th...and thanks to those who have already submitted!

I will be hosting the March Scientiae Carnival here on March 1st. In honor of the Anniversary Edition of Scientiae and Women's History Month, the theme for March is

Role Models of Women Making History.

During Women's History Month we tend to look backward and acknowledge the hard work and suffering that got us where we are today. For a change, let's acknowledge history in the making and the motivations that make it possible. Who are your role models? Who first got you interested in your field, or opened new doors for you? Who inspires you on a daily basis and makes you believe in the future of science, technology, or the world? I suspect that for many of us our role models are our mentors, our peers, our fellow bloggers, or maybe even our students. I want to know who inspires Women in STEM in the modern age.

Feel free to be as general or specific as you desire, or write about something completely different. Send your submissions by midnight on February 28th. Complete instructions can be found here, and I'll be posting the Carnival on March 1st.

Don't close out this year without submitting something for the Scientiae Carnival! I'm so excited that I will be hosting this carnival for January, and I'd love to give you all something wonderful to read as you ring in the New Year (or recover from your wild night of revelry, whichever the case may be).

So be sure to send your posts in by midnight on December 28. The theme is:

As one door closes, another one opens. Likewise, as one door opens, another one closes.

Email the permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com. Complete instructions can be found here.

Thanks to those of you who have already sent in your submissions!

December is the time that we prepare to close out one calendar year (or semester) and begin another. We stand on the threshold between the new and the old. As a way of honoring the transitional nature of this time of year, I’d like to challenge you to think about all the doors that you have opened and closed this year.

As one door closes, another one opens. Likewise, as one door opens, another one closes.

Sometimes you close a door by choice, knowing that the path it leads to is not the one you want to take. Some doors were closed before you got to them. What open doors did you find while searching for a new path to take? Perhaps you closed a door without intending to. Were you able to re-open that door? Or did you decide to leave what was done as done? Have you had to close one door in order to allow another one to open?

Feel free to write about a specific episode, or use this as an opportunity to look back on the entire year. Or write about something else entirely. Just send in your submissions by midnight on December 28. Complete instructions can be found here. I'll be hosting over at my place on New Year's Day.

As dear blog friend skookie-pants recently announced, Dr. Isis is going to be hosting the December posting of Scientiae. This is one of Dr. Isis's favorite carnivals and it is usually absolutely full of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) hotness. Some of the women (and men) in the blogosphere Dr. Isis admires most participate in Scientiae and I feel like a total rockstar to get to host this month. Without further ado, here is this month's theme:

This month I want to hear about all the amazing science you're throwing down or reading about. Or, perhaps you have a lesson to share with more junior scientists to help increase the hotness of their science. Do you have a secret to share with those of us trying to make everything happen and still be fabulous? This month's Scientiae is prime time for male and female science bloggers to boast about their hotness to the rest of the science blogosphere. Submit your posts by midnight December 1st to scientiaecarnival@gmail.com.

Figure 1: As a reference point to help you gauge your own hotness, Dr. Isis's Naughty Monkeys. Sugar Daddy Pump by Naughty Monkey in Chocolate. $74.99 at Amazon.