Current Events > It's becoming real: sent out solicitation emails for my dissertation committee

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COVxy
08/10/17 9:15:05 AM
#1:


this morning, with proposal dates around mid Sept.

2/3 agreed alread, which was a delightfully speedy response.

Gotta get to actually writing the proposal now!
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Balrog0
08/10/17 9:17:27 AM
#2:


Nice man
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C7D
08/10/17 9:23:33 AM
#3:


Small committee... masters?
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COVxy
08/10/17 9:24:30 AM
#4:


C7D posted...
Small committee... masters?


3 members + advisor is pretty standard, PhD.
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C7D
08/10/17 9:26:29 AM
#5:


COVxy posted...
C7D posted...
Small committee... masters?


3 members + advisor is pretty standard, PhD.


I assumed your advisor was among the three. I was co-advised, so I had to get three full professors and two department chairs together at the same time. That was tough. What's your major?
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COVxy
08/10/17 9:35:44 AM
#6:


Balrog0 posted...
Nice man


Thanks. You're done with your masters program now, right?

The proposal is kinda a bit intimidating to me, because Idk where to titrate the level of detail to. I guess I'll start writing and just see what seems cohesive and convincing.

C7D posted...
I assumed your advisor was among the three. I was co-advised, so I had to get three full professors and two department chairs together at the same time. That was tough. What's your major?


Ah, naw, don't have to solicit my advisor, she's obligated, ya know? =p

Integrative neuroscience, it's an area within a psych dept. My work is mostly systems neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience.
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COVxy
08/10/17 12:41:41 PM
#7:


3rd member really creating suspense.
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COVxy
08/10/17 3:57:15 PM
#8:


Well, all 3 members in but zero overlapping availability.

This is the first test.
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COVxy
08/10/17 7:51:44 PM
#9:


Perhaps one last bump. Gonna start seriously writing tonight.
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DeroIin
08/10/17 8:07:29 PM
#10:


You smarty
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Oldenform
08/10/17 8:09:24 PM
#11:


congratulations and best of luck
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#12
Post #12 was unavailable or deleted.
Balrog0
08/10/17 8:21:14 PM
#13:


COVxy posted...
Thanks. You're done with your masters program now, right?

The proposal is kinda a bit intimidating to me, because Idk where to titrate the level of detail to. I guess I'll start writing and just see what seems cohesive and convincing.


yeah, I graduated in may

I'm actually looking around at PhD programs now. I think I need to take the GRE again, though :/

are you planning on being a professor when you get your PhD? If so, do you have a strong desire to do research vs teaching?
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gafemaqs
08/10/17 8:22:55 PM
#14:


Wtf is a solicitation email
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COVxy
08/10/17 8:29:59 PM
#15:


Balrog0 posted...
yeah, I graduated in may

I'm actually looking around at PhD programs now. I think I need to take the GRE again, though :/

are you planning on being a professor when you get your PhD? If so, do you have a strong desire to do research vs teaching?


Is that because you don't think your current GRE is good enough? Usually just used by the admissions committee as a general cut off, so I wouldn't stress too much about it if you're over the minimum.

The plan is for a research heavy professorship. I like teaching actually, but the research is really my passion.

gafemaqs posted...
Wtf is a solicitation email


I mean, I just described it that way, but just emails that say "would you like to be on my committee and if so will you be available around these dates?"
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Glass_Phantom
08/10/17 8:32:55 PM
#16:


C7D posted...
Small committee... masters?


Masters does a defense, PhD does a dissertation... Grats COVxy!
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ShinigamiSoul
08/10/17 8:34:10 PM
#17:


What do you do for work, TC?
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COVxy
08/10/17 8:54:55 PM
#18:


Oldenform posted...
shockthemonkey posted...
Glass_Phantom posted...

Thanks!

ShinigamiSoul posted...
What do you do for work, TC?


Mostly fucking around in matlab and writing about it lol.

Seriously though, neuroimaging, primarily MRI analysis. Most of my work looks at a contrast that reflects metabolism, and therefore hopefully neural activity. Mainly examining the relationships between different brain regions and how this affects what people and neural systems can actually do.
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InYourWalls1
08/10/17 8:58:46 PM
#19:


Congrats man, good luck with it!
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Spin4Fun359663
08/10/17 9:06:21 PM
#20:


You doing a postdoc after? It would be incredibly difficult to go straight to a research 1 university as faculty unless you've published a lot. How many pubs you got?
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COVxy
08/10/17 9:13:15 PM
#21:


Spin4Fun359663 posted...
You doing a postdoc after? It would be incredibly difficult to go straight to a research 1 university as faculty unless you've published a lot. How many pubs you got?


Yes, probably several.

No pubs atm. First manuscript got rejected, have to reword and clarify things so that reviewers don't misunderstand my analyses and claims again. Second manuscript being sent out soon, high hopes for this one Tbh.

Several other follow up after this one too, as it is the paper that sets the groundwork for my newer methodology.

Writing is certainly a skill I'm still developing.
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C7D
08/11/17 8:27:30 AM
#22:


Glass_Phantom posted...
C7D posted...
Small committee... masters?


Masters does a defense, PhD does a dissertation... Grats COVxy!


Oh, I see. I never got all that caught up in what they were called. I did a direct PhD program in chemical engineering, so I only had to go through the process once. The university counted some of my presentations and patents I got in undergrad in lieu of a masters degree.
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COVxy
08/11/17 9:49:40 AM
#23:


Did you go into industry?
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C7D
08/11/17 9:56:37 AM
#24:


COVxy posted...
Did you go into industry?


Yes, I do process development.
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COVxy
08/11/17 9:59:36 AM
#25:


How did you find the transition/were you torn about the decision at all when leaving academia?
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C7D
08/11/17 10:02:50 AM
#26:


COVxy posted...
How did you find the transition/were you torn about the decision at all when leaving academia?


Honestly, I was ready for a change. Let's just say my economic background was significantly different than those around me. I felt a not so subtle level of arrogance around some of my colleagues. However, I can say some things were difficult. It was easy studying the same basic area of research for 4 years. Now, I have to do a lot of thinking on my feet and have had to quickly expand my expertise to other subject areas. I like it though.
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COVxy
08/11/17 10:40:38 AM
#27:


Did you like the area of research you were in during your PhD, or did you see it as more a means to an end?
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C7D
08/11/17 10:48:02 AM
#28:


I enjoyed it very much. I chose it and selected a professor who would help me achieve my goals not meet hers.
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COVxy
08/11/17 11:02:02 AM
#29:


I see, I mean, I've considered industry of course, but each time I've thought about it a fall straight back to academia, because then I have some form of control over the questions I ask. Even if I was involved in an engaging job where the problems were tough and therefore on some level interesting, I still would be unhappy that I wasn't able to develop my own research platform.

Like, I get that this is a bit controlled in academia, where current funding trends often shape a lab's projects, but it's at a much different level.
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C7D
08/11/17 11:14:49 AM
#30:


Post doc to professorship it is then. I had considered doing a postdoctoral at a national lab, but the place I wanted to go lost finding. The guy who was going to hire me actually had to let a few people go around the same time due to federal budget reductions. I got another offer at the same national lab a few months later doing neutron science, one of my papers brought forth a new and interesting way to study a specific class of materials using neutron scattering. I had already started another job and was actually out of the country at the time.
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lderivedx
08/11/17 11:35:21 AM
#31:


Good luck, TC! Almost there.
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Darkman124
08/11/17 11:36:24 AM
#32:


ya boi kill it
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Romes187
08/11/17 11:51:35 AM
#33:


what is your opinion on fmri and the impact it has had on neuroscience? I've read some articles that praise it, and others that say it could lead to questionable results

but im not really in the field so I'm not sure...I just remember reading Sam Harris' fMRI study that had to do with political leanings
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COVxy
08/11/17 12:53:31 PM
#34:


C7D posted...
Post doc to professorship it is then. I had considered doing a postdoctoral at a national lab, but the place I wanted to go lost finding. The guy who was going to hire me actually had to let a few people go around the same time due to federal budget reductions. I got another offer at the same national lab a few months later doing neutron science, one of my papers brought forth a new and interesting way to study a specific class of materials using neutron scattering. I had already started another job and was actually out of the country at the time.


Right, yeah, that's tough. Do you think you would have considered that second offer had the timing been right?

lderivedx posted...
Darkman124 posted...

Danke!

Romes187 posted...
what is your opinion on fmri and the impact it has had on neuroscience? I've read some articles that praise it, and others that say it could lead to questionable results

but im not really in the field so I'm not sure...I just remember reading Sam Harris' fMRI study that had to do with political leanings


That's actually an interesting question. It is, without a doubt, the best tool for providing a full view of systems level interactions. However, it is not without its faults, drawbacks, and shifting technological limitations. It's not the future of neuroscience as some people have pretended it is, but a tool to be used in combination with other tools and preparations for the understanding of the brain.

As any tool, it has also been abused in the past, mostly just as a fancy sounding tool without contributing anything to the underlying scientific question.

More-or-less, my viewpoint is typically that a lab that only supports its work with and cites fMRI literature is missing a large part of the story.
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teepan95
08/11/17 1:10:58 PM
#35:


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C7D
08/11/17 4:20:52 PM
#36:


Maybe, I was building the case to bring a product to market. It didn't happen because I had to graduate rather than market. A postdoc might have made it a little easier to continue my collaboration with my university.
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COVxy
08/11/17 6:27:49 PM
#37:


Romes187 posted...

Also, it should be noted that a lot of shitty science is what permeates to popular culture, and then even those studies are misrepresented by the media, so I don't blame people who have a bad opinion of fMRI due to that exposure, since it's clearly the media distorting your view of the lit.
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Soviet_Poland
08/11/17 6:31:01 PM
#38:


Congrats dude!
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COVxy
08/12/17 12:14:53 PM
#39:


Soviet_Poland posted...

Thanks, I appreciate it!
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glitteringfairy
08/12/17 12:21:15 PM
#40:


Smarter boys than me here, that's for sure
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GiftedACIII
08/13/17 10:27:12 PM
#41:


Soviet_Poland posted...
Congrats dude!

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COVxy
08/14/17 9:05:36 AM
#42:


Thanks!

An old lab mate of mine came down to visit on Friday, and we got to discussing time, and how quickly it passes, which makes certain things seem so rushed. He's trying to develop his own unique research platform, trying it leave his postdoc with some grants. This sort of feels the same way for me. Very pressured, seemingly very rushed.
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C7D
08/14/17 11:46:18 AM
#43:


COVxy posted...
Thanks!

An old lab mate of mine came down to visit on Friday, and we got to discussing time, and how quickly it passes, which makes certain things seem so rushed. He's trying to develop his own unique research platform, trying it leave his postdoc with some grants. This sort of feels the same way for me. Very pressured, seemingly very rushed.


Go for a postdoc that's going to do one of two things: gain a new skill or establish yourself as an authority by working with the best.
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