To continue on the theme of my last post on communication, writing is also a challenge many of us face. Here is a nice blog from Scientific American on the topic. For me, I’ve had to stay home on Thursdays this semester to make writing progress, but I’m still behind. Being behind is inevitable, but …
Reblog: Science Writing – Academically & Creatively Read More »
About a month ago, JP and Cody drove up to Hubbard Brook to spend their spring break running a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey in Watershed 3 to estimate depth to bedrock and glacial till thickness. Both JP and Cody’s projects are part of our Hydropedology project, which is focused on explaining the spatial and temporal variation …
Project update: Spring break ground-penetrating radar & REU Read More »
This tuesday morning at our weekly meeting over coffee at the London Underground Pub, (which now offers some tasty coffee and breakfast) a photographer from the local paper asked if we minded being photographed for a review he was writing. We agreed, and now are featured alongside the review of our morning lab coffee spot! Check …
Our lab group featured in local breakfast spot review! Read More »
On Thursday afternoon our weekend was full of promise as Cody, Kevin, and I approached the airline check-in counter. We were flying to Hubbard Brook to meet with everyone on the hydropedology project for a day of meetings and then a day in the field. It was going to be fantastic. The only thing that …
Scott Bailey sent an update from Hubbard Brook earlier this week. There was no major damage to the forest or to any instrumentation including our experimental sites in WS3. Rainfall amounts were in the 4+ inch range, which puts Hurricane Irene as the 9th largest precipitation event at HB since monitoring began in 1956. The …
We’re in the middle of installing our new Isoprime 100 IRMS with Elementar. In a few weeks we’ll be ready to run CHNO isotopes in liquid or solid material. Woowho!
Charley presented a poster this week on our Coweeta Water Yield project at the 8th North American Forest Ecology Workshop held in Roanoke, VA. She presented results from a modeling study where we investigated how forest management and climate change may interact to cause unexpected changes in water yield. The extensive datasets from the paired watershed studies …
Forest watershed management, water yield, and climate change Read More »
I was contacted by gethydrologyjobs.com for permission to include our blog as a new resource link on their website. I think it’s a fine idea! It will be highlighted next week in their newsletter and I hope more hydrologists find their way to our blog. For those not familiar with gethydrologyjobs.com, it’s one of the most …
There are some excellent resources on this site for graduate students. Check them out!! Here is a document I wrote up for the ecology grad students at my university, with tips on giving a good talk, and on some common statistical mistakes to avoid. As with all the advice I offer, it is far from …
Advice: tips for talks and stats (via Oikos Blog) Read More »
Mountain-top mining seems to be in the news everywhere these days. Josh and Chuck, two of my favorite podcast personalities who host “Stuff You Should Know (SYSK),” had a story on mountain-top mining last week called “What is mountaintop removal mining?” It was informative, probably best for a lay audience, and included a musical performance – …
A few weeks ago, there was an article in EOS, the American Geophysical Union newspaper, about a recent survey conducted of graduate students from two large interdisciplinary research projects. The findings from the survey, I believe, are right on the money. Scientists preparing for interdisciplinary research careers must learn many diverse skills that do not …
Preparing scientists for interdisciplinary research Read More »
Some of the largest rainfall accumulations in the world have observed have been in the central Appalachian region. A new paper that came out this week in Water Resources Research characterizes features that lead to these large orographic/convective storms that occur predominantly during the summer. Complex interactions between topography and storm dynamics are not well …
Orographic thunderstorm systems in the central Appalachians Read More »
I arrived at Hubbard Brook two days ago to host a small international workshop for a bunch of hydrologists. What perfect timing! Our North-Watch group is in for a real treat. We’ve had about an inch of rain and several days of mild temperatures so snowmelt is humming along. Not to mention, we might be …
A couple of weeks ago at our bi-weekly soils group meeting we were reviewing posters for presentation at the FREC graduate research symposium. At some point we got on the general topic of data presentation. Kevin mentioned the work of Dr. Edward Tufte, whose latest book “Beautiful Evidence” is now in my possession and quite …
In a recent editorial, two scientists, Trevors and Saier give a no holds barred account of what they believe is the primary cause of societal environmental problems like climate change or global warming. It’s ignorance or “the lack of reliable information about and knowledge of the natural world we live in,” which challenges solutions for …
Vaccine for ignorance and a path to sustainability. Is there hope? Read More »