For the record, I was going to post my Lady Bird Wildflower Center photos tonight, but for some reason my computer won't download them. Fear not, I will figure this issue out and post them soon...but for now, all you get is words. I know, disappointing.
Yesterday I had my first Professional Development class, a course that all first year chem students are required to take. The topic was "Funding in Science," and I half expected the lecture to consist of one slide that said "there is none." Alas, this was not so, but we did learn that as grad students we cost the school a boatload of money. That was kind of eye opening. After class I went and worked in lab...gotta earn my keep, after all.
Today was a day full of seminars. Two requirements for my Professional Development class are to attend and observe an undergrad lecture and attend a seminar given by a non-UT affiliated speaker, so my lab/class mate Mindy and I decided to just get them both done today. We went to a Gen Chem lecture, which I chose solely for the reason that the instructor has an awesome British accent. If I'm going to sit and listen to a lesson about phase changes at 8:30 in the morning, I need some incentive. A cool accent almost always works. After this we hunted around the science buildings to find a seminar to go to. Lo and behold, there was one being held today by the college of pharmacy! We were excited to get another class assignment out of the way...then we looked at the title of the seminar. "Inflammation, immunology, and homeostasis in the male reproductive tract." Wonderful. The one seminar we find this week, and that's what it's on. We decided we might as well just go and get it over with, and I noticed as an added bonus that the speaker was from Australia (once again - cool accent makes everything more bearable). The seminar wasn't too bad, there were definitely some interesting points. But there was also an overabundance of testicle diagrams and a point where the speaker said "mash the testes" and I almost choked on my water. Take home message = testicular biologist is a profession that actually exists, and I do not wish to pursue it.
After that experience we had one more required seminar to go to about getting a job in the academic field. My favorite question came from a friend of mine - "if I bring some really innovative, well funded research to the table, do you really care about my ability to inspire and teach students?" The answer was basically no, as we all predicted. Academia is a harsh, harsh world. Sorry undergrads.
Then I came home, made an eye appointment, and went out to dinner with Louise. I'm glad one of my surrogate Austin parents is back in town. The night ended with a spectacular lightening show.
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