Grad Hacker

 
Photo by: flattop341
Let’s get this out in the open once so we don’t have to mention it again and again: We are all busy. We all have too much stuff that we either have to do for ourselves, have to do for someone else or would like to do sometime. The first two categories can [...]

Photo by: josef.stuefer
I’m sick of working during the day. I’m sick of email, I’m sick of dealing with “productive” people that haven’t eaten or slept in a year. I’m sick of running into friends when I should be working and I’m really sick of instruments being booked when I need to use them. I’ve been [...]

Photo by: .Fabio

In the quest for productivity, blogs with the word “hack” in the title and other similar literature often end up discussing in detail ways to increase efficiency. What does that mean, efficiency? Efficiency is most often some metric for gauging output per unit time; how much work you are getting done in a [...]

Photo by: Greg Reser
“I really gotta read up on that sometime.”
“I’ve been meaning to review that subject.”
“I’d really like to have at least a basic understanding of how that works.”
These are things I catch myself and my peers saying all the time. I’m a grad student in the natural sciences and there’s always more that [...]

Photo by: chris.merwe
I’ve noticed a pattern. A large amount of productivity literature, blogs, and “hacks”, in the end tell a single story: Have the confidence to jump right in to your work. Often, they notice that there are certain barriers (self-created, or not) that are blocking your confidence or clouding your judgment so [...]

Photo by: a trying youth
Those of who enter grad school in the natural sciences inevitably encounter frustrations with “reading papers.” They either seem totally incomprehensible or take forever to get through. When the stars are particularly misaligned, both happen. I’ve struggled with this for a long time and through talking with my adviser and others’ [...]

On its website, Zotero is described “is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.” Even though it’s been out for a while, I somehow didn’t run into it until a few months ago. I’ve used it for a while and have switched over from using Endnote because [...]

I’ve heard students (grad and undergrad) say the following more often than I expect: I just have this awkward 30 minute break between classes, which is not really enough time to get anything done.
I beg your pardon?
Here are five ideas for making use of between-class time:

Read. Always bring backup reading. People are late, classes start [...]

Ah grad school. A time for us to transform from immature undergrads to knowledgeable adults. Unfortunately many of us are undergoing another transformation as well. Yes, I’m talking about our bodies. The hours, days, weeks, and years of sitting in chairs and staring at screens, papers, dials and knobs can take a toll when not [...]

A senior grad student asked me the other day about “acquiring” a copy of EndNote. I was shocked. This guy was within a year of graduating and he was just now asking about EndNote! Unbelievable. When it comes to managing citations, bibliographies, and papers on your hard drive EndNote gets the job done. For some [...]