I've had lots of people ask me about the job search (fair enough!). I've pretty much been treating it like a full-time job, so I get started in my apartment or the library at 9 and keep going until 5 or so, taking the evenings and weekends to recharge. I have been applying to posted jobs in a variety of areas (mostly some sort of science communication/lab publicity and entry-level technology positions), but my primary priority right now is networking. The field I'm trying to get into (science communication and informal education) is very much a small community and from what I've heard from various people within it, who you know is absolutely critical.
Because of that, I've been gradually growing my network. Where possible, I ask for introductions from people I already know; otherwise I cold-call people I think would be interesting to talk to. So far I've conducted about a dozen informational interviews with people in a wide variety of positions. Most of them have been very helpful in terms of advice and how to make myself into an attractive candidate, and almost all have been willing to introduce me to more people.
Of course, that also makes for some fun experiences.
For example, through one of the science communication groups I follow I found out about a science cafe in Raleigh featuring an entomologist named Eleanor (!) Spicer Rice. [Side note: for anyone who didn't know me as a kid, I was crazy about insects. I memorized all the books at the library, dressed up as an entomologist for Halloween one year and an earwig the next, and even took an online course in entomology from the University of Delaware.] This talk was actually promoting a new book she's co-authored with Christopher M. Buddle called Dr. Eleanor's Book of Common Spiders. Of course I spent my entire discretionary budget for the month on that book. But we had a great little chat afterwards where we bonded over earwigs. And look at the inscription I got!
Thursday, I met with someone who works at the Museum of Life + Science in Durham (a children's museum), and he spent two hours taking me through the facility and catching me up on the world of museums. Truly, this museum is unlike anything I've seen before. To begin with, as Max pointed out, they recognize the fact that museums today have to compete with the internet for providing information. Their response is to focus not on what knowledge they're imparting but the skills and experience associated with science. Because of this, you won't find lengthy descriptions or elaborate displays; instead it's more of a Montessori environment where the kids are given toys and tools to work with and discover fundamental principles.
They cover a huge range of areas, from physics to entomology (two of my favorite subjects!). One of the exhibits I found most interesting teaches math through a variety of folding and tiling puzzles. Others included space travel, "contraptions", health, and weather. They also have a number of indoor exhibits featuring live animals, including a butterfly house, animals of the small and furry variety, and an "Insectarium". The last one features regular insect handling, and Max took me behind the scenes to the staging area. There, he bounced back and forth between tubs of millipedes, giant beetles, and tarantulas, pulling a couple out so we could say hi. It was a dream come true.
He also totally blew my mind regarding butterfly houses. You know all of the gorgeous insects and lush greenery? They're all imported species and by federal regulations can't be bred in the United States. That means that they're shipped over as seedlings and caterpillars (or more often chrysalises) and kept away from other mature creatures of the same species. When you consider the fact that the butterfly house will contain about 80 species of butterfly and hundreds of kinds of plants at any given time, that's no small task. The butterfly house management team is, as Max puts it, "genius".
But that's not all the museum has to offer. It's actually situated on 86 acres, so it has a very extensive outdoors portion as well. Kids can wander through the dinosaur garden, play in the various playground/tree fort spaces, or visit the animals. There's a beautiful lake with countless species of turtles, dragonflies, fish, and birds, and an extremely (extremely) knowledgeable ranger who will be happy to tell you all about them. There's a sloth* of black bears that were rescued after being unable to survive in the wild. Did you know that every sloth has a very strict hierarchy that determines, among other things, who gets to eat first? It's based on weight-- so the heaviest has the best position.
Another fun fact: Durham has the highest concentration of lemurs in the world, outside of Madagascar. No joke. When Matthew told me this I thought he was messing with me, but Duke University has a lemur center and the Museum of Life + Science also has a group of them. They're kept with four specimens of the critically endangered radiated tortoise, which also come from Madagascar. Max told me that there's anecdotal evidence of lemurs riding the tortoises in the wild, but so far there's been none of that here; instead the lemurs are scared of the tortoises and every time one lumbers up to say hello the whole pack starts shrieking and generally freaking out. (The tortoises are a newer addition from about a year ago.)
The museum is also home to four of the 300 or so red wolves in existence. (Most of them are kept in captivity; only 25 are known to live in the wild and those are in a tiny area of North Carolina.) They're part of a nationwide breeding and re-introduction program begun in the '70s. However, this program is quite shaky because of politics between conservation efforts and local hunting organizations, but the museum has been working hard to keep it going. You can find out more about the project here.
In other words, this place is really cool.
At the advice of my former professors, I also reached out to another Rhodes physics alum, Ben Evans '03, and we met up for coffee a couple of weeks ago. Last night Matthew and I went over to his house (he actually lives in the same neighborhood as me), where we met his wife, Beth (also a Rhodes physics alum), and two lovely daughters. They'd also invited a more recent graduate, Evan Nelsen '12, so we had a nice little reunion! It was way too much fun hanging out and chatting about the good old days in Rhodes Tower. I also loved being able to piece together the fragments of physics department history I knew and put some faces to the legends that had been passed down to my cohort. I even found out that Beth is a cantor at the church we've been going to, so once we're ready to make it official she's going to introduce me to the choir director (and hopefully get me time on the organ too).
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| One happy physics family! |
I have so much fun manipulating the database to figure out different details of my collection! For example, say I've just finished reading a book by P.G. Wodehouse and loved it. With a quick command, I can generate a list of all the other P.G. Wodehouse books I own that I haven't read yet! Or if I'm looking for a Victorian-era publication, I can create a list of the books published between 1837 and 1901. It's very cool.
I've also been developing my writing skills. I started off drafting some pieces to publish on my science blog (one that I haven't shared yet because I haven't actually published anything). Luckily, through a connection I managed to get in touch with the editor for Physics Buzz, a physics blog run through the American Physical Society, and he was happy to let me try my hand at a piece.
I spent a good part of last week learning what really goes into science writing, as I identified a topic, interviewed the researchers and outside experts, and put together a draft that is accessible to a lay audience. But it's been published! The editor even liked it enough that he's taking me on as a paid weekly contributor, so be sure to check out Physics Central any time you are curious about what's happening in the physics world.
One quick word on where I'm living: my area is right on the outskirts of town, so it's a 10-minute drive to downtown but I'm surrounded by trees and greenery. The neighborhood is populated with tons of deer and rabbits, and I sometimes come across them when I run down by the creek in the mornings! One of my favorite times of day is when I drive back from Matthew's house through the country highway and fireflies light everything up.
Anyway, I'm really settling down well here. I am of course very much looking forward to getting a full-time job, but in the meantime I'm certainly able to keep myself occupied. I am so happy that we decided to move here--I'm loving it so far.
One quick word on where I'm living: my area is right on the outskirts of town, so it's a 10-minute drive to downtown but I'm surrounded by trees and greenery. The neighborhood is populated with tons of deer and rabbits, and I sometimes come across them when I run down by the creek in the mornings! One of my favorite times of day is when I drive back from Matthew's house through the country highway and fireflies light everything up.
Anyway, I'm really settling down well here. I am of course very much looking forward to getting a full-time job, but in the meantime I'm certainly able to keep myself occupied. I am so happy that we decided to move here--I'm loving it so far.
*I just learned this! A group of bears is a sloth.
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