In the social sciences at least, I think "research" should be the biggest word in your SOP word cloud.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
SOP Word Cloud
Tam and I are on a word cloud kick. Here's a word cloud for the statement of purpose I sent to My Masters University.
In the social sciences at least, I think "research" should be the biggest word in your SOP word cloud.
In the social sciences at least, I think "research" should be the biggest word in your SOP word cloud.
Monday, April 12, 2010
And Bunnies!
Today's research that replicates findings from one population in another population, which Robert calls "and monkeys!" because I wrote an essay on a cognitive exam about the various human populations showing dissociations between the ability to identify objects and locate them in space but amended it with "^and monkeys" because I wanted to describe a specific monkey study in detail:
"Newly born rabbits presented with milks of murine, ovine, bovine, equine, or human origins remain behaviorally inert, whereas they are extraordinarily aroused by rabbit milk....The current data indicate that newborn rabbits are endowed with specialized odor-guided responses that may preexist direct sensory exposure."
Source: Marlier, L., & Schaal, B. (2005). Human newborns prefer human milk: conspecific milk odor is attractive without postnatal exposure, Child Development, 76, 155-168.
"Newly born rabbits presented with milks of murine, ovine, bovine, equine, or human origins remain behaviorally inert, whereas they are extraordinarily aroused by rabbit milk....The current data indicate that newborn rabbits are endowed with specialized odor-guided responses that may preexist direct sensory exposure."
Source: Marlier, L., & Schaal, B. (2005). Human newborns prefer human milk: conspecific milk odor is attractive without postnatal exposure, Child Development, 76, 155-168.
Accepted
Friday was a day with several pieces of good news, the most exciting of which was that the fast food / childhood obesity paper I was working on last spring semester has been accepted (after one round of revisions) to the special issue of the journal coming out later this year. One of the profs said that it was the easiest article in terms of revisions she's ever been associated with, so apparently it was in pretty good shape to start. It's been long enough since I worked on that project that I don't remember the details - I look forward to reading the paper and being reminded of what we found out.
The other good news was:
(1) I got funding for the first summer session. It's not very much, but it definitely helps.
(2) I did not have to do the drastic cuts on my dev paper that I was fearing - the prof said the extra length is fine as long as it is well thought out and meaningful (i.e. not a function of lazy writing).
(3) I found on Thursday that I got a 97 on my stats exam.
Robert and I discovered this weekend that the outdoor seating area at the local Jason's Deli is really nice. We can't count on having gorgeous weather and an unbelievably beautiful schnauzer hanging out at the next table every time we go, but I am hopeful that it will prove to be a good place to eat lunch, drink iced tea (or lemonade), and talk about my work. (Come on, isn't that everyone's idea of a good time?)
A while back, both Robert and Tam had expressed surprise that I do not have to write up my first year project as a paper (we have to do either a poster or a presentation later this month for the department colloquium). It took me a bit to figure out why their surprise surprised me, but I think maybe I have an idea of the disconnect now. In school, we are often required to write stuff up as a demonstration that we can produce papers. But in my program, we have ample opportunity to write papers for every seminar we take. The point of the research project is to, you know, do actual research. So basically two things will happen: (1) the research turns out and (along with any additional research that you do over the summer to bolster the project) you write it up for real to submit for publication; or (2) the research doesn't turn out so you move on - professors do not write up every project they attempt but only the ones that they want to submit for publication and we are doing the same. I guess the point that may not be obvious is that the research we do is our real work. But never fear, guys - the program does require us to write a big major area paper and a thesis before we graduate so even outside the coursework assignments, we are not being under-supplied with writing assignments.
The other good news was:
(1) I got funding for the first summer session. It's not very much, but it definitely helps.
(2) I did not have to do the drastic cuts on my dev paper that I was fearing - the prof said the extra length is fine as long as it is well thought out and meaningful (i.e. not a function of lazy writing).
(3) I found on Thursday that I got a 97 on my stats exam.
Robert and I discovered this weekend that the outdoor seating area at the local Jason's Deli is really nice. We can't count on having gorgeous weather and an unbelievably beautiful schnauzer hanging out at the next table every time we go, but I am hopeful that it will prove to be a good place to eat lunch, drink iced tea (or lemonade), and talk about my work. (Come on, isn't that everyone's idea of a good time?)
A while back, both Robert and Tam had expressed surprise that I do not have to write up my first year project as a paper (we have to do either a poster or a presentation later this month for the department colloquium). It took me a bit to figure out why their surprise surprised me, but I think maybe I have an idea of the disconnect now. In school, we are often required to write stuff up as a demonstration that we can produce papers. But in my program, we have ample opportunity to write papers for every seminar we take. The point of the research project is to, you know, do actual research. So basically two things will happen: (1) the research turns out and (along with any additional research that you do over the summer to bolster the project) you write it up for real to submit for publication; or (2) the research doesn't turn out so you move on - professors do not write up every project they attempt but only the ones that they want to submit for publication and we are doing the same. I guess the point that may not be obvious is that the research we do is our real work. But never fear, guys - the program does require us to write a big major area paper and a thesis before we graduate so even outside the coursework assignments, we are not being under-supplied with writing assignments.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
More Word Clouds
This weekend, I finished my seminar paper for developmental psychology. Here's what it's about. (You can click on the image for a larger version.)
I was surprised that the words "vulnerable" and "susceptible" didn't show up larger, given how I felt that I was typing them all the time.
And here is a word cloud of the presentation from last semester's cognitive class.
I think my favorite thing about this one is how the word "Pepsi" shows up seemingly at random at the top center. "less brain" in the upper-right corner is my second favorite thing.
Using presentation text rather than paper text results in a word cloud with a very different feel.
Starting to a notice a theme here? Just wait until the word cloud for the personality seminar paper I'm working on shows up.
I was surprised that the words "vulnerable" and "susceptible" didn't show up larger, given how I felt that I was typing them all the time.
And here is a word cloud of the presentation from last semester's cognitive class.
I think my favorite thing about this one is how the word "Pepsi" shows up seemingly at random at the top center. "less brain" in the upper-right corner is my second favorite thing.
Using presentation text rather than paper text results in a word cloud with a very different feel.
Starting to a notice a theme here? Just wait until the word cloud for the personality seminar paper I'm working on shows up.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Birds, Bees, Flowering Trees...and Pollen
Birds
Robert and I made a nice trip to a different park last weekend to do some birding that I barely managed to smuggle into my schedule. We didn't take any long hikes (there is a nice hour-long hike out to a marsh, but we weren't wearing mud boots for it), but did see a nice variety of birds. No life birds, but several that were new for North Carolina. The three best species (that I have not seen as often and thus are a nice surprise) were hairy woodpecker, purple finch, and yellow-throated vireo. I believe I have only seen a purple finch one other time, and this one was extremely cooperative, giving us long close views at a set of finch feeders in the children's garden area.
OK, this is my first time to try to put multiple photos into one image (using Corel Paint Shop Pro, which I've never used before), so it could use some work, but here's what the birds looked like (ahem, not to scale):
Bees
I now have both honeybees and bumblebees hanging around my balcony and front door. Last weekend, we started seeing a huge bumblebee hovering at eye level outside the front door (thankfully, a couple feet to the side and not right in front). Even though he's not aggressive, he seems to be watching you, so it's actually pretty creepy. Every time I go in or out, I brace myself mentally and try to move quickly, staying away from him and getting out of his range as soon as possible. This morning, I was up before 5 and out the door really early - early enough the huge bumblebee wasn't at his station yet, but at 3:30 this afternoon, he was hanging out with two somewhat smaller bumblebee friends.
Flowering Trees
It seemed to happen overnight - the branches went from bare to bursting with blooms. I impressed Robert and myself by identifying the white ones instinctively as dogwood trees, which I can't be sure I've ever seen in real life before. I can only guess that I had a vague sense of dogwood trees from some stamp series and got kind of lucky applying that memory to these actual trees. (Yes, it's crazy the things I know from collecting stamps. Ben Franklin would be proud.)
Pollen
Oh my god. When you have a lot of trees around in the spring, everything gets covered in pollen. I washed my car Monday afternoon and by Tuesday morning, it was absolutely covered in yellowish-green pollen again. On Tuesday at school, the number of conversations I got into about pollen exceeded conversations about Duke (our rival school) winning the basketball championship by about 4:1.
In other news, I met a woman who is thinking about coming to our program next year (she's been accepted) in the grad lounge this morning and talked to her for a while (she was waiting on another student to take her around). I liked her right away and hope she will decide to join us. Oddly, she is trying to decide between two programs that I was trying to decide between last year (I was actually deciding between three, but one of them wasn't psychology). Perhaps in some small way, seeing that I chose this program over the other one will influence her decision. Or perhaps my strutting around in a pretend warm wool coat will scare her away - her research interests aren't in clinical.
Breaking news...Pollen update
EQ Weather Reporter RVMan writes:
"Forsyth County counted 7,237 grains per cubic meter for today – that is the third highest total in their 13 years of recordkeeping. The highest total ever was 9,632, set Tuesday. Pollen.com gave Raleigh a 11.7 on a 12 point scale. Really – this week broke the scale. Both cities have had pollen counts about 2-3 times the average annual peak count for the last several days. It is all trees – grass and weeds are minimal, and peak in late May and September respectively."
Wow, I guess the pollen situation is more unusual than Duke winning the basketball championship (which they did in 1991, 1992, 2001, and 2010).
Robert and I made a nice trip to a different park last weekend to do some birding that I barely managed to smuggle into my schedule. We didn't take any long hikes (there is a nice hour-long hike out to a marsh, but we weren't wearing mud boots for it), but did see a nice variety of birds. No life birds, but several that were new for North Carolina. The three best species (that I have not seen as often and thus are a nice surprise) were hairy woodpecker, purple finch, and yellow-throated vireo. I believe I have only seen a purple finch one other time, and this one was extremely cooperative, giving us long close views at a set of finch feeders in the children's garden area.
OK, this is my first time to try to put multiple photos into one image (using Corel Paint Shop Pro, which I've never used before), so it could use some work, but here's what the birds looked like (ahem, not to scale):
Bees
I now have both honeybees and bumblebees hanging around my balcony and front door. Last weekend, we started seeing a huge bumblebee hovering at eye level outside the front door (thankfully, a couple feet to the side and not right in front). Even though he's not aggressive, he seems to be watching you, so it's actually pretty creepy. Every time I go in or out, I brace myself mentally and try to move quickly, staying away from him and getting out of his range as soon as possible. This morning, I was up before 5 and out the door really early - early enough the huge bumblebee wasn't at his station yet, but at 3:30 this afternoon, he was hanging out with two somewhat smaller bumblebee friends.
Flowering Trees
It seemed to happen overnight - the branches went from bare to bursting with blooms. I impressed Robert and myself by identifying the white ones instinctively as dogwood trees, which I can't be sure I've ever seen in real life before. I can only guess that I had a vague sense of dogwood trees from some stamp series and got kind of lucky applying that memory to these actual trees. (Yes, it's crazy the things I know from collecting stamps. Ben Franklin would be proud.)
Pollen
Oh my god. When you have a lot of trees around in the spring, everything gets covered in pollen. I washed my car Monday afternoon and by Tuesday morning, it was absolutely covered in yellowish-green pollen again. On Tuesday at school, the number of conversations I got into about pollen exceeded conversations about Duke (our rival school) winning the basketball championship by about 4:1.
In other news, I met a woman who is thinking about coming to our program next year (she's been accepted) in the grad lounge this morning and talked to her for a while (she was waiting on another student to take her around). I liked her right away and hope she will decide to join us. Oddly, she is trying to decide between two programs that I was trying to decide between last year (I was actually deciding between three, but one of them wasn't psychology). Perhaps in some small way, seeing that I chose this program over the other one will influence her decision. Or perhaps my strutting around in a pretend warm wool coat will scare her away - her research interests aren't in clinical.
Breaking news...Pollen update
EQ Weather Reporter RVMan writes:
"Forsyth County counted 7,237 grains per cubic meter for today – that is the third highest total in their 13 years of recordkeeping. The highest total ever was 9,632, set Tuesday. Pollen.com gave Raleigh a 11.7 on a 12 point scale. Really – this week broke the scale. Both cities have had pollen counts about 2-3 times the average annual peak count for the last several days. It is all trees – grass and weeds are minimal, and peak in late May and September respectively."
Wow, I guess the pollen situation is more unusual than Duke winning the basketball championship (which they did in 1991, 1992, 2001, and 2010).
Sunday, April 4, 2010
A Kitchen Retrospective
From the notepad in my kitchen, the last 6 weeks worth of cooking at Chez Sally:
Southwest pork
Beef stew
Chicken paprikash
Chicken & rice soup
Black bean chilaquiles
Ham & rice
Chicken jambalaya
Tuna casserole
Oven fried chicken
Beef & lentils
Pasta with ground turkey
Chicken & broccoli
Mom's meatloaf
Pasta jambalaya
This tells me that I really need to eat more fish.
Southwest pork
Beef stew
Chicken paprikash
Chicken & rice soup
Black bean chilaquiles
Ham & rice
Chicken jambalaya
Tuna casserole
Oven fried chicken
Beef & lentils
Pasta with ground turkey
Chicken & broccoli
Mom's meatloaf
Pasta jambalaya
This tells me that I really need to eat more fish.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Survived the Week
Today's stats test took 2 hours, 45 minutes. I believe this is a record short completion time in stats for me so far in grad school. The material really did feel easier than what we've done before, but I think that's because (1) I've used regression a fair bit in the past, and though I wasn't always familiar with the underlying nuances, I am quite accustomed to setting up models and interpreting the output and (2) I am now on my second semester of teaching some of this same material in the undergrad stats course (at a more basic level, but still).
The multilevel modeling material was challenging to study, but I kept going over it (including writing things down over and over, a technique I find crazily helpful, particularly with anything mathematical) and eventually, it clicked. I think drawing pictures was key to my understanding, as was making up examples of increasing complexity and forcing myself to work through them. The questions on the exam were very straightforward and friendly compared to the nasty ones I made up last night.
My next major deadline is getting a presentation together to share my research with the social lab group. I need to spend time on that and a seminar paper this weekend, which is a blissful 3 days long!
I also want to report that today is the first truly "warm" day we've had in W-S this year (in the low 80's). I came home from school at about 5 and took a cold shower. It's time to find my other wardrobe.
I offer these two perspectives on my dinner (these are photos from last week, but I had the same dinner again tonight).
A vomiting Pacman:
But that kind of grossed me out, so I played with it again for a more appealing image.
The protagonist from The Missing Piece chillin' on a sea of grass:
The Missing Piece came up during personality class a couple weeks ago when the professor made reference to somebody finding their missing piece and being fulfilled. I said, "But I think in the actual The Missing Piece, he lets the piece go again." The professor didn't believe me because it is only logical that a story like that would have a upbeat ending of the two pieces living happily together forever. "Yeah, that makes sense, but I think the book doesn't take things that direction. I could be wrong, but I really think he lets the piece go." Of course, as you can see from the youtube video, I'm right. The 1992 state American literature champion still knows (some of) her shit.
The multilevel modeling material was challenging to study, but I kept going over it (including writing things down over and over, a technique I find crazily helpful, particularly with anything mathematical) and eventually, it clicked. I think drawing pictures was key to my understanding, as was making up examples of increasing complexity and forcing myself to work through them. The questions on the exam were very straightforward and friendly compared to the nasty ones I made up last night.
My next major deadline is getting a presentation together to share my research with the social lab group. I need to spend time on that and a seminar paper this weekend, which is a blissful 3 days long!
I also want to report that today is the first truly "warm" day we've had in W-S this year (in the low 80's). I came home from school at about 5 and took a cold shower. It's time to find my other wardrobe.
I offer these two perspectives on my dinner (these are photos from last week, but I had the same dinner again tonight).
A vomiting Pacman:
But that kind of grossed me out, so I played with it again for a more appealing image.
The protagonist from The Missing Piece chillin' on a sea of grass:
The Missing Piece came up during personality class a couple weeks ago when the professor made reference to somebody finding their missing piece and being fulfilled. I said, "But I think in the actual The Missing Piece, he lets the piece go again." The professor didn't believe me because it is only logical that a story like that would have a upbeat ending of the two pieces living happily together forever. "Yeah, that makes sense, but I think the book doesn't take things that direction. I could be wrong, but I really think he lets the piece go." Of course, as you can see from the youtube video, I'm right. The 1992 state American literature champion still knows (some of) her shit.
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