Year three of my postdoc. This means its time to apply for jobs, and the corresponding reflection upon ones life goals. Elite research 1 institution with lots of paper pressure and minimal teaching responsibility? Liberal arts school with good students but no grad school and lesser research requirement? Urban or rural? International or domestic? I will apply across the board, including schools which may be a stretch research-wise (Purdue for example) and those where research is essentially a non-factor (Florida Gulf Coast University). I hope to be able to split the difference. One goal is to find a job at where there is a local school where b can get a graduate degree in environmental science. Some promising candidates include:
There are about 17 schools that fit both my research goals and have a nearby program for b. In the end it looks like I am applying to around 37 (10 are a little too strong research-wise, 10 are a little weak research wise). Last time I applied for jobs a professor from Courant gave me the following advice:
"Sometimes the race is not won by the fastest, nor the battle by the strongest, but the chance by the luckiest"
I later learned this is from Ecclesiastes (some preacher's son I am). Good advice for job applicants I think. Also, check out this bumper sticker (unrelated)
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So you know, here at Bucknell we now make our applicants pass a physical challenge: http://www.warriordash.com/register2011_pennsylvania.php
I am listening to This American Life's newest episode. The first part, they interview people who are working on Wall Street complaining about Obama's Wall Street regulations that will result in them making less money. None of them, however, acknowledge the fact that Obama led the Wall Street bailout and saved their job in the first place. To them, they don't seem themselves as having benefited from the bailout at all. They see them still working on Wall Street because they're "smarter than 95% of the population."
I think Wall Street needs to read Ecclesiastes.
FWIW, TARP was passed by Bush, not Obama.
Updates: Auburn is actually 2+ hours from Birmingham, but UAB is still a good option for us.
And don't we all know how much B would love if I went to PSU.
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