I've been back on campus pretty much every day since the end of August, when I found a neighbour YorkU professor who was willing to give me a lift. If you read my blog, you'll know that I developed a back injury at the end of April that slowed me, and my field season down, […]
People
How to talk to a professor about your career
I've long been interested in the mentorship aspect of higher education, not least because I have had many excellent mentors over my career in biology, as I described to Dr. Marie McNeely in a People Behind the Science Podcast.  Plus, I've had lots of opportunities to be a mentor, and I take this part of my prof's job […]
The different species of academic references
How does a professor spend her day? Sometimes, it feels as if it's mostly writing academic references and giving telephone job references. Nino-Umaka's "banging head on desk" gif perfectly expresses how I feel some days. So much so, that I wasn't surprised that Stephen Mumford suggested that this particular academic activity may be in need of some reform. As […]
Why academics should regularly attend conferences where we don't present our work. Pt 2
Update: in response to Twitter peer review by @JWoodgett, I added a short section for people like him & me (STEM types) at the end, with clear, concise explanations of the concepts I discuss. If I had a penny for every colleague and student at York University who mentions the topics of colonialism, post-colonialism and our need to decolonize, […]
Getting back to field work at #BioBlitz2015 in the Don River Watershed
I took up field work for the 2nd time this season at the Ontario Bioblitz flagship event on the Don Watershed. The Ontario Science Centre was the HQ. I was joined by Vithuja Vijayakanthan, one of my remaining 2 graduate students from my IRIS director days. Her research, looks at the inherent tensions between the Bioblitz as a research vehicle, and […]
When injury slows down fieldwork & life (updated 25 July)
UPDATED 25 July 2015. It's been 7 weeks since I originally posted this blog. In the interim, it's been a case of 2 steps forward, one step back. I've acquired a file with the York University Human Resources Health, Safety and a personal trainer. I've also been back to my family doctor (the umbrella/gatekeeper for institutional reporting on […]
We celebrated one of my many great mentors at #Nomifest
I'm still recovering from an SI joint injury that slowed me down in the last 3 weeks. I couldn't move for 2 days. Luckily, acupuncture gave me enough mobility to fly to Boston for a celebration of the science and mentorship of Professor Naomi Pierce of Harvard University. I met Nomi when I was a grad student […]
The sky high Opportunity Cost of dealing with #HigherEd administration
The reason I am late by a week with this post, is that I spent a ton of time last week: 1. With inspiring high school students and great colleagues (at right). For the 2nd year, I judged the Toronto Envirothon at the Ontario Science Centre. 2. With inspiring university students: I edited the publishable research of my […]
Higher Education politics: from sustainability to strikes
One of my top undergrads: MT @flori_nicoleta: I hate the position York put their students & faculty in. What were they thinking? #CUPE3903 â Dawn Bazely (@dawnbazely) March 17, 2015 I had planned to blog about  the March 7 Women In STEM event celebrating the Faculty of Science's 50th anniversary. I'll do that next time. Instead, […]
Jim Woodgett discusses the Challenges of Science Communication
Yesterday, Monday 2 March, Dr. Jim Woodgett, research director of Mount Sinai's Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, spoke about the issues and challenges faced by scientists, when it comes to doing effective communication of science in the public understanding of science realm. If youâre a Canadian scientist on Twitter you will know him as @JWoodgett, and may […]
