I'm really proud and excited to share the bulk of my work as a postdoc!!
We used flexible, semi-transparent NeuroGrids to record cortical traveling waves while simultaneously mapping cellular and subcellular dynamics with two-photon imaging
Some highlights here in a few tweets:
Me: *laughs at phone*
Wife: what’s funny
Me: just a friend on twitter
W: who is that
Me: this is [X] they’re a [postdoc/grad student/prof] at [Y] university
W: how did you meet?
Me: ᵗʷᶦᵗᵗᵉʳ
W: have you met in person?
Me: ⁿᵒ
W: and you’re friends????
Me: ᶦ ʰᵒᵖᵉ ˢᵒ
Who was the first postdoc. What’s that villain origin story
University: “Hey we wanna hire you. Not to do another PhD. And not as faculty either. But a secret third thing”
I have zero experience in a covid-related field, but I have a PhD, I am pretty goodz with the numberz, I am a man, and I know people really want to hear what I have to say so here is my take on covid-19:
No one:
My dad: Have I told you about my son. He’s a doctor. A PhD kind of doctor. He’s a physicist. Yea like that show but with brains. I call him Dr Gonzalessss. He went to school at Rice University. You know what they call Rice University? The “Ivy League of the south.” He..
Me: yea I’m a scientist..I totally live my life based on scientific facts
Science: sleep more
Science: drink less
Science: eat healthier
Me: *takes a sip of whiskey and a bite of nachos at midnight while I try to think of good tweets*
My 3yo is asking daily for research updates. Awesome at first.
But now he goes into PI-mode when I get home (but isn’t wearing pants).
“How were the worms today”
“Did they sleep more or less”
“Can you have this figure to me by the morning”
“Can I have some goldfish”
Brutal.
Congratulations to all the Nobel winners and Macarthur genius fellows announced today
My personal achievement on this Tuesday was writing code in the morning and being confused by it in the afternoon
Yea I’m a physicist by education and do neuro now....but do I still remember the essential fundamentals of physics?
No.
But can I pick up a thermo or quantum mechanics book and quickly get back up to speed?
Also no.
In a tiny effort to inject more positivity into academia: if I read your paper and I like it....I’m gonna send you an email.
No critique. No suggestions. Literally just an email to say what I liked about your paper.
Getting asked for directions on campus is so awkward when you’re a postdoc
Like...yes...I work here....but I only know 1) where the science is and 2) where the coffee is
“I’m going to read these papers on my flight”
*listens to music*
*stares into void*
*listens to podcasts*
*dozes*
*reads 3yr old airplane magazine*
*reorganizes apps on phone*
*eavesdrops on nearby conversation*
*plane lands*
Ugh if only this flight was longer I would have read
Before I start my postdoc, I am collecting better ways of saying “I am dumb and ignorant.”
I have:
“I am pretty much a clean slate on this topic”
“I need to read more before having a strong opinion/hypothesis on this topic”
Send more please.
Neil deGrasse Tyson on twitter tomorrow:
tO eVeRyOnE wHo tHiNks yEt aNoTheR rOtaTiOn oF OuR mIniScuLe rOcK ArOuNd tHe hOt baLL oF pLasMA iS sIgNifiCanT aNd aLso fInDs bAsE TeN nUmBeRs iMpOrtAnT fOr nO reAsOn: hapPY nEw YeAr aNd NeW deCaDe
tO EverYoNe eLse: haPPy wEdnesDaY
Interviewer: how do you connect with other scientists?
Me: Twitter is surprisingly good for this
Int: what’s a way you keep up with science literature?
Me: ha sounds silly but twitter sometimes
Int: what’s your go-to method for announcing achievements?
Me: ᵗʷⁱᵗᵗᵉʳ
Thinking about the Before Times (2019) when I wanted a virtual component to my PhD defense and the tech guys told me it “could not be done” 😂
And also there were “major security concerns” and what if my research “got into the wrong hands” and I was like bro lol I study worms
Look - I love science. I can’t wait to be a PI and see all these ideas in my brain become reality.
But like....I also can’t wait to be that mentor that relentlessly has your back no matter what. I’m so excited to be that person.
This is from CU's website, and the last part of it is simply false. While there are student-workers in some places who research only 20 hrs/wk (so they can teach the other 20 hrs/wk), many science grad students here (incl all the ones I know) do research 30, 40, or more hrs/week.
Co-authored tweets are now a thing but make no mistake: I will only allow co-authors from those who made significant intellectual contribution to the tweet. Also research techs and undergrads cannot make the author list, but will be included in the Acknowledgments section
“Just stick to the science” doesn’t even make sense to me anymore.
Science is driven by people.
People are messy.
People need to be mentored.
People need support.
People need to be empowered.
When we build up people we build up science.
For the low price of $5 I will crash your zoom group meeting with a screen name that matches your PI’s former advisor.
Audio only and I’ll type “can’t get the microphone to work but I’m always watching and haven’t forgotten about that last paper you owe me”
Ok so this is resonating and IT FEELS GOOD TO KNOW ALL YALL FEEL THE SAME. Signing off I have important things to do like watch Netflix and analyze data 🤟
Y’all I’m so happy to announce that I’ll be an Assistant Professor in the Vanderbilt Biomedical Engineering Department and the Vanderbilt Brain Institute starting January 2024
I’ve had some whiskey and I need to be honest
I have never done a western blot. I barely know what they are. All I really know is y’all complain about them all the time
In an effort to normalize failure I just want to announce I was passed up for both the MacArthur and multiple Nobels. Been a rough couple of weeks. Will continue to press forward
Merry Christmas to everyone besides the reviewer who once asked me to do ephys recordings on a dead worm.
(but if that reviewer happens to be on twitter thank you for your comments this experiment further validated our initial results and strengthened our original claims)
Science is hard. Grad school is hard. Postdocing is hard. PI life is hard (so I hear).
But y’all what a magical privilege it is to do science everyday. Sometimes I just need sit back and let it sink in.
Postdoctoral students and academic researchers at the University of California said they will return to work on Monday after ratifying a new contract. But workers who help teach undergraduates and assign grades remain on strike.
Sometimes, when experiments are going poorly, I just like to sit back and take a breath.
I look around the lab. Think about how far I’ve come and the science I get to do everyday.
And I remember that I could be getting paid way more in another job.
“For the last time: I’m a postdoc. P o s t d o c t o r a l r e s e a r c h e r. I’m not a student. I don’t take classes. No, i don’t teach. I just show up and do research. No, I don’t get summers off. Yes…it’s a real job.”
I genuinely appreciate the plethora of “diversity” seminars and seminars that have the purpose of highlighting underrepresented scholars. I really do
But a reminder that we can also organize a regular ole seminar series....and invite Black and brown scientists as speakers
My 7yo nephew: “Uncle Gonzo is a scientist....but he doesn’t even know what 45 times 45 is”
First of all little boy....weird flex but ok.
Second of all, please refer to me as Dr throughout the duration of this visit.
Yea I got made fun of a little bit when I was young bec I took academics so seriously but look who’s laughing now I was in school for 10 yr lol, have a PhD but am still considered a trainee LOL, have a temporary research position LOLOL, and might get a real job one day LOLOLOL
Achievement unlocked: Talked to someone at my poster for a while. Great conversation. But no idea who they are were.
Turns out they’re a nobel prize winner
Physicists try really hard to be the “smartest” type of scientist but please never forget that these are the same people who named a really big telescope the Very Large Telescope and a bigger telescope the Extremely Large Telescope
“I got a PhD so I can always do dynamic, exciting research” ☺️😊
I say to myself as I move liquid from one spot to another spot. As I move liquid from one spot to another spot. As I move liquid from one spot to another spot. As I move liquid from one spot to another spot. As I
Me: how do u spell fluoresense
My brain: your childhood home phone number is 3256598655
Me: ok but how do u spell flourescense
My brain: your old WiFi password is nqfxjs725t=+
Me: weird flex, how do u spell fluorecence
My brain: type something close then use autocorrect
In neuroscience, we say “I love you” and someone else says “but how is love ENCODED in the brain” then someone else says “i think you mean to say ‘REPRESENTED’” then someone else says “love is a BEHAVIOR” then someone else says “but what is the CAUSAL driver of love” then...
Me in public: My model organism is clearly THE BEST model organism
Me in the lab: listen here you little punks you better cooperate today or there will be consequences
5yo: dad how do brains talk to each other
Me: GOOD QUESTION. Maybe one day scientists will be able to put something in the brain, like the electrodes i make at work and....
5yo: I know how they talk to each other
Me: how?
5yo: with our mouths
Me: .....you’re going places kid
Every match day I’m reminded how many times I said as a PhD student “I can’t imagine going through all of med school followed by EVEN MORE years to do a RESIDENCY”
And now I’m a postdoc
Academic accomplishments during the shutdown
⚪️ read all those papers
⚪️ develop that model/theory
🔘 eat all the bread
🔘 maintain mental health
🔘 make a YouTube channel
🔘 hate zoom
🔘 day drink
🔘 make sure my parents are staying home
Start undergrad: omg I know nothing
Finish undergrad: I know all the science things
Start grad school: I’m literally the dumbest person here
5th year grad [in a room with only C. elegans]: I am not the smartest species in the room, but I do good work & that’s cool with me
In-person science conference in 2022 but we have to leave laptops at home and the majority of the agenda is napping
In the evenings we sit around a campfire and talk about science
Idk it feels like the trainees are doing a lot of the legwork maybe we should start requiring departments to write diversity statement TO US before we join
I chose the uncertainty of a postdoc and the academic job market to achieve my true future dream: to have a calendar filled with meetings and a lab full of equipment that I barely know how to use
“We are looking for postdocs with kids to give virtual talks offering parenting advice”
Lol I got nothing. Coffee in the morning, whiskey in the evening, and don’t look your kids in the eye they can sense fear
People think we’re trying to advance knowledge and technology but in reality the system we’ve built has us all just trying to get the next paper out
and these are not equivalent
Every time pence says “we are going to follow the science” every scientist dies a little more inside
A resounding “this is a lie” from the scientific community