Howard Ferris responded to my email with great enthusiasm and respect. He's nearing retiring age, though, so can't take on new students. But he forwarded my email to 2 others, 1 of which I have already been in correspondence with. Perhaps the other, Johan Six, will be interested in taking new students ( Read more... )

I journaled this recently:

Reading papers is fascinating, mind-numbing, exciting, convoluted, dense, and hopeful. Such is the life of a scientist. A bag of mixed emotions, generally culminating in an obsessive drive for truth and realism. Often frustrated by unknown barriers, the nature of the work. What drives a mad scientist through the dark ( Read more... )

Things I need to do:

- look into research interests: review nitrogen cycle and q+a, decide priority of most interesting topics to least
- read up on specific faculty

So I've been reading. A lot ( Read more... )

I had my talk with Stu today, he was very nice. Our research interests didn't quite line up, and I doubt he has funding for a new grad student. It was clear that he wasn't prepared to take on a new student. So I learned about his research interests, and got a much better idea of the application process ( Read more... )

I've sort of figured out my research direction, enough to write a one-page statement of research interests I can email to faculty, so they can more easily see what I am interested in.

Organic, sustainable farming systems depend on ecologically-based approaches to farm management. These management practices include the use of organic matter inputs ( Read more... )

So I'm reading papers to find my research direction. I have run into a couple of issues in organizing all this information though ( Read more... )

Hello old me, a new me is here ( Read more... )

My boss has bad people skills. So I never know if I should take initiative, and ask her what I should be doing. Or do I wait for her to come to me? If it's a bad day for her, then that sucks for me.

I wish Obama would do more... But that's the unreasonably selfish idealist inside me. Obama gives us a tease of his vision through some of his speeches, and I would really like to ask him what his vision is. I want to know, and I want to assess it. I want to know that he is truly, deeply committed to a green, sustainable economic and environmental ( Read more... )