Student Resources

Note: ideas expressed in these links do not necessarily reflect the views of Kevin McCluney or his lab, or BGSU. In fact, Dr. McCluney disagrees with some of what is said in some of these links, but has found them to be generally informative and helpful. Note that this page is out of date, but we are keeping these up for now.

Scientific communication

Books on presentation design:
http://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Zen-Design-Principles-Presentations/dp/0321668790
http://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Zen-Simple-Design-Delivery/dp/0321525655 

My summary of how to design and deliver presentations: https://blogs.bgsu.edu/mccluneylab/files/2014/02/Designing-and-delivering-good-presentations-handout.pdf

Good presentations tell a story: http://lifehacker.com/5965703/the-science-of-storytelling-why-telling-a-story-is-the-most-powerful-way-to-activate-our-brains?tag=communication

Why a good poster is mostly images, with little text: http://schimelwritingscience.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/ten-thousand-posters-invade-the-moscone-center-most-miss-their-target/

Bad poster bingo: http://betterposters.blogspot.com/2013/10/bad-poster-bingo.html

Creativity in science

Fisher 1997 on creativity and idea generation in stream ecology: http://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/martindoyle/files/2013/01/Fisher-1997-J-NABS-Session-5.pdf

Why you need to take breaks and naps to be creative and productive:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mental-downtime/

Teaching Philosophy and Resources

Prince, M. 2004. Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education 93:223-231
http://www.rlillo.educsalud.cl/Capac_Docente_BecadosAPS/Metodologias/Aprendizaje%20Activo%20Prince_2004.pdf

Lawson, A. E., S. W. Rissing, and S. H. Faeth. 1990. An inquiry approach to nonmajors biology. Journal of College Science Teaching 19: 340-346.

The easy way to teach using active learning
http://smallpondscience.com/2014/09/04/efficient-teaching-doing-active-learning-an-easy-way/

Maintaining mental health

Problems faced by grad students:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2014_02_04/caredit.a1400031

Imposter syndrome:
https://blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/inphdeep/impostor-syndrome-and-feeling-stupid/

Rampant exaggeration about how much academics work:
https://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/you-do-not-need-to-work-80-hours-a-week-to-succeed-in-academia/

Cognitive distortions:
http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-cognitive-distortions/0002153 

Getting a job

How to get a job in conservation:
http://www.jamesborrell.com/how-to-get-a-job-in-conservation-and-love-your-work/

Why a liberal arts education could help you get/create a job in the economy of the future:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/get-a-liberal-arts-b-a-not-a-business-b-a-for-the-coming-artisan-economy/

Ecolog list serv:
https://listserv.umd.edu/archives/ecolog-l.html

A list of resources around the web:
http://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/useful-links-related-to-tenure-track-job-searches-in-ecology/

The harsh reality of the present academic tenure-track job market:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/the-phd-bust-americas-awful-market-for-young-scientists-in-7-charts/273339/
http://www.ascb.org/ascbpost/index.php/compass-points/item/285-where-will-a-biology-phd-take-you

Common career paths outside academia:
http://www.nature.com/news/there-is-life-after-academia-1.15808
http://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/guest-post-on-having-the-courage-to-build-your-own-non-academic-career-path/
http://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/advice-finding-a-career-in-non-academic-research-guest-post/ 

Mentoring, management, and collaborative relationships

Mentor-mentee agreement from Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences

Work-life balance

Ideas for making academia sustainable and workable:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/07/21/the-awesomest-7-year-postdoc-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-tenure-track-faculty-life/

Rampant exaggeration about how much academics work:
https://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/you-do-not-need-to-work-80-hours-a-week-to-succeed-in-academia/

Diversity and bias

Why/how diversity makes us “smarter,” more creative, and more productive:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/

Gender bias: http://www.the-understory.com/2014/01/23/unsettling-stats-about-women-in-science/

Subtle biases related to expectations: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/01/programmer_privilege_as_an_asian_male_computer_science_major_everyone_gave.html