Terry McGlynn

05
Aug

Model systems don’t work at teaching universities

Many research strategies, developed inside large research institutions, don’t work well in small teaching-centered institutions. One of these strategies,
4 min read
01
Aug

On the speciousness of “work-life balance”

Too often, people are apt to advise one another on how to live their lives. I’m not intentionally adding
4 min read
31
Jul

What is the filter in NSF preproposal review?

A while ago, I had a conversation with a colleague that really bugged me. This scientist submitted a biology proposal
2 min read
29
Jul

It’s okay to not fund all faculty researchers equally

One of the things that I love about liberal arts colleges and other small universities is the opportunity to spend
3 min read
24
Jul

Changing families are behind the decline of field station culture

The title of this post is more of a working hypothesis than an assertion. I put together a few observations
5 min read
22
Jul

Supervising students from afar

Note: Heads up, the site is going to stay a little quiet for the next few weeks, during some vacation.
2 min read
17
Jul

Broader impacts ≠ reaching underrepresented groups

When the National Science Foundation introduced the required “Broader Impacts” criterion, it took more than a little bit of explaining
2 min read
15
Jul

Applying for a faculty position at a teaching institution: the research statement

Pretty much every faculty job application requires a Research Statement. It could be called something slightly different (research plan, statement
3 min read
11
Jul

On specialization: don’t research your way into obscurity

A current conversation about model systems and the benefits of being a scientific specialist or generalist has been interesting, and
5 min read
09
Jul

The Education-Industrial Complex

If I wanted to stop being a scientist and become wealthy, there’s one obvious path in front of me:
4 min read