Labbies in New Places

Ah, the passage of time and with it, we have to accept our losses. Not to get too maudlin here, but our lab is in the throes of change. But in a way, good change. Two of our finest, Arian Baquero and Bhavik Shah, have left the nest to other (greener?) pastures. Both have completed their Ph.D.'s at Utah State U and are off to seek new challenges as postdoctoral researchers...

And, of course, we will miss them greatly but as the old Hindu proverb states:

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

So, we'll struggle to carry on without them.

Dr. Arian is off to the University of Colorado-Denver to work for my previous postdoctoral mentor, Dr. Sue Kinnamon, where he will continue to:

(a) enjoy the absolute thrill of working with mammalian taste buds...
(b) enjoy the great environment of Colorado
(c) be close to the Denver Broncos

Personally, item (c) is the one I am most jealous of (at least until they get eliminated from playoff contention).

Dr. Bhavik is off to Harvard University - specifically Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Harvard's Medical School) - where he will change gear's a little and work more on obesity/diabetes/energy metabolism issues from a molecular genetic perspective.

And I am happy to report that another former labbie, Dr. Kris Watson, has just accepted a faculty position at Lake Superior State University. Kris tried hard to find a place with winters that were colder than those found in Logan, UT. We are pleased to report that she succeeded.


Best of luck to all of you - we'll miss you!

I am anxiously awaiting my sweatshirts from CU-Denver, Harvard & LSSU...

Appearance counts...

We've been away awhile for a whole host of reasons, but I am back for a moment to post what has quickly become one of my favorite student comments of all time. By way of a little background, each semester students evaluate the classes they are taking, both for the course in general and for the instructor. Generally, these are useful tools for us professors to see how students feel about the course, things we could improve, things that are done especially well (or poorly), etc.

While useful information, much of this has to be taken with a grain of salt - and some trends always are clear: larger classes tend to be lower rated, the harder the class the lower the rating, the lower the level, the lower the rating, as so on...

Anyway, one of the courses I teach is a large, lower division general biology course, (BIOLOGY II: BIOL 1620), which is co-taught with another professor. When the reviews for this course of ~450 students come back (which they did today), I look over the reviews for the reasons outlined above. The really useful information generally comes not from numerical ratings, but most often from the comments section, where it asks what aspects of the course (1) were especially good and (2) what could be improved...

There are the usual responses that the tests are too difficult or too easy, lectures too fast or too boring, too much material or too little material... Occasionally, there are really useful comments that I take to heart and work hard to change the next time I offer the course. Well, today I received a comment that certainly caught my eye and is one of those I will keep for posterity - it makes my top 5 comment list of all time:


Apparently, appearance counts - fortunately at least I seem to smell OK during lecture...

Follow up to mascot melee...

The accolades and attention keep coming for Utah State U Men's basketball program and, importantly, Big Blue. I can't recall a year in which Utah State has received so much national attention.

Here is the Deadspin NCAA tournament bracket that prominently highlights Big Blue's recent altercation with New Mexico State's Pistol Pete in the upper left corner.

click to enlarge

Deep down, I hope our football team will show this much toughness next year and that they ask themselves WWBBD (What Would Big Blue Do)!

Big Blue will do anything for $100

Utah State U's mascot Big Blue goes after New Mexico State's
Pistol Pete...

See it

link 1

or

link 2

what passes for news these days...

The Art of Advertising

I found a nice example of synergy in our own Utah Statesman. The ad at the right was placed right next to the description of an all day seminar promoting treatment for pornography addiction.

Very nice indeed! Well done, Statesman.

click to enlarge

Best.Prank.Ever.