Blogs

We have recently learned that many women choose to leave academia after getting their doctoral degree, and women are not the only ones deciding against a career in higher education. Especially in the hard sciences, many researchers prefer to work in their respective industries or in special research institutes. More money, a shorter path between the project stage and the practical implementation, and more effective administration are some of the reasons why this is the case.

Jon B. Gould, professor of law and social scientist has written a practical and no-nonsense guide for students. He answered some of my questions about it and some other things.

A quick description of the world that appears before local sixteen year olds now: Paths to jobs that pay enough to actually want are less legible than they’ve been in generations, but to the extent that they are legible and you aren’t a standout athlete, they tend to go through college.

Like the One Ring in Tolkien's fantasy novels, the iPad has fascinated me since it was first released in 2010. Now, I wouldn't say that I've been engaged in some sort of Gollum-esque quest for the "precious," but I have been tempted to purchase an iPad every single time I pass by an Apple store. My initial hesitation was brought forth by my experiences with Apple's iPod.

I am in California on an academic “vacation,” which means, as any college professor knows, that I am taking a few extra days to enjoy the area where I am attending a conference. Next week I will attend a workshop in San Diego sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for “Sustainability Across the Curriculum.”

Microsoft jumping into the tablet market with the Surface is a good thing for education. Competition will push Apple to improve the iPad, push Google to prioritize the ChromePad (or whatever they will call it), and focus the mind of Jeff Bezos on his Amazon Kindle Fire.

I almost began an entry yesterday on the University of Virginia situation.

Right now, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development's Rio+20 meeting is in full swing, with the concentration of its collective mind that typically comes from knowing you're to be hanged in the morning. Meanwhile, the ACUPCC is celebrating it's fifth anniversary with pretty much the opposite set of emotions (at least in public).