(for a recent resume and some examples of my work, click here!)
So… I guess it would be helpful for some people (myself included) if I explained a little bit about why I started a blog and what I will probably be writing about. Especially since bloggers are apparently in the running for being the “root of all evil”… this makes me feel like starting a new blog needs some kind of justification.
I am currently in my fifth (and final!) semester in the Penn State geoscience department, pursuing a master’s degree. Some of my extended family members think I am still in college. This frustrates me… a lot. I already spent four years being considered a lazy, entitled drain on society (i.e. college student); I didn’t sign up for two more years of it! I actually do real, independent work now! And am responsible for helping to educate undergrads! Sure, I make very little money and I don’t have to pay my student loans back yet, but I don’t have to take out more loans! And I don’t go out on Thursday nights anymore! But I don’t know if any of this will ever sink in, so the best I can hope for is to finish as soon as possible and get a real job… and oh boy, I hope for this every day, with all my might.
Snow! In California! In June! Totally blew my mind.
Which brings me to the whole point of starting this blog. Inspired by the amazing faculty in my undergrad department, who introduced me to the awesomeness of fieldwork and research in the western U.S., I started grad school with the intent of eventually getting a PhD and entering academia myself. Multiple sources advised me to get a master’s first, to get more experience before settling on a research topic for PhD or even deciding whether or not I still wanted to do one. This was a real blessing because about a year in I realized that I am actually not as passionate about research as I thought, and the academic lifestyle is really not for me.
Thus, I have entered a period of serious soul-searching and career exploration, where I read books like “Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists” and my friends make fun of me. Although I expect the readership of this blog to top out at about five people, including my mom and my little sister, I’m hoping that it will be a good place to organize my thoughts on my career exploration process, and keep me accountable (and on track to graduate in a timely manner despite my advisor having being in a different hemisphere for a year) by allowing me to update my imaginary audience on what’s up with my thesis research and any other projects I’m working on. So that’s the plan!
(And if you’re already not completely addicted to blogs like I am, I totally recommend using Google Reader or some other RSS reader, and then you can subscribe to my blog and you’ll never miss an update! Awesome.)
