I recently learned that there is a name for the thing I do nearly every week: super-commuting. Most Friday afternoons, I catch the bus in downtown Montréal and go home to Trois-Rivières for the weekend to see my cats, my home, and my boyfriend. Admittedly, the distance is only about 150km, so I don’t know… Read More Super commuter: Grad student edition
I’ve recently been bitten by the twitter bug. I’ve had an account for years (Twitter says since 2011), but I’ve only started using the social media platform in the last couple of months. A recent conference here in Montreal had a big social media push, and several of my friends and colleagues are tweeters, so… Read More To tweet or not to tweet: why use social media?
Last week I attended the Genomes to Biomes meeting, held right here in beautiful downtown Montréal. This was the first ever joint meeting of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution-Société canadienne d’écologie et d’écolution (CSEE/SCEE), the Canadian Society of Zoologists-Société candadienne de zoologie (CSZ/SCZ) and the Society of Canadian Limnologists-Société canadienne de limnologie (SCL). A lot of… Read More Small World: Conference Season Begins
Concept mapping is a way to link ideas and concepts in a visual and easy to follow way. Yesterday, I participated in a workshop held at the McGill Library that was all about using this method to organize and visualize ideas. So why would a graduate student want to spend part of their day learning… Read More Concept Mapping with the McGill Library
In case you’ve been living under a rock the last few weeks (or under a thesis), you should know that today, Monday April 7, 2014 is election day in Québec. Across the province, people are making their voices heard in what has been an interesting (to say the least) election campaign. This year, it was easier than… Read More Indecision Québec 2014
Picture this: Reading week. Tropics. Panama. You’re probably imagining sandy beaches, palm trees, dense forest, a canal. And if this were a regular trip, you would probably be right. But this is a field trip. And while a field trip for me does in fact mean a trip to the beach, it is one that involves… Read More Working Holiday (hold the holiday)
In the last several weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of talking with prospective students who are interested in joining our lab here at McGill. When considering starting graduate studies, particularly when starting a doctorate, it is important not just to check out the website of your potential supervisor and future lab to see that your… Read More Future McGill Graduate Student?
I started teaching again last week, and one of the ice-breaker questions I ask my students is what they want to be when they grow up. It’s a good way to gauge your student’s maturity and interests, and to get to know them a bit better. I also ask them about their preferences in superpowers,… Read More What do you want to be when you grow up?
Yesterday, I participated in an R workshop hosted by the Québec Centre for Biodiversity Science (better known to members as QCBS, CSBQ pour les membres francophones). For those who aren’t familiar, R is a free, open-source computer language that allows you to manipulate data, perform statistical analyses, and make pretty plots and graphs for publications,… Read More All I really need to know, I learned from other graduate students
Everyone knows that graduate students are overworked, underpaid, and busy, busy, busy. But what exactly do they do all day? Myself and another graduate student that I live with were recently posed the question by a houseguest, who was amazed by our laid-back morning style: breakfast and coffee over the morning paper, eventually deciding that… Read More So, what is it you do all day?
The graduate student experience at McGill
The graduate student experience at McGill
The graduate student experience at McGill
Sharing PhD experiences across the University of Warwick and beyond
Welcoming you in to the secrets, techniques and taboos around succeeding in a Research Higher Degree
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