You don't get to define your job. Is that a problem for you?

You will probably have noticed by now, DearReader, that the NIH grant game is not exactly a distasteful part of my job. Don’t get me wrong. I’d be much happier if I had landed in some hard-salary situation with exceptional institutional support, local funding sources procured by the philanthropy side of the institution and just generally had fewer concerns about actually funding my laboratory.
That didn’t happen, however. I landed in a job which requires me to be at least minimally competent at acquiring major research funding. I was not particularly prepared for this.

You don’t get to define your job. Is that a problem for you?

You will probably have noticed by now, DearReader, that the NIH grant game is not exactly a distasteful part of my job. Don’t get me wrong. I’d be much happier if I had landed in some hard-salary situation with exceptional institutional support, local funding sources procured by the philanthropy side of the institution and just generally had fewer concerns about actually funding my laboratory.
That didn’t happen, however. I landed in a job which requires me to be at least minimally competent at acquiring major research funding. I was not particularly prepared for this.

Call for: the zomg grad skool carnival!!!1

Samia at the 49 percent blog has issued a call for a new blog carnival focused on the graduate school experience.

I would like to see submissions crafted with n00bs such as myself in mind. ..
Fellow n00bs: I invite you write about your feelings, thoughts, insecurities, challenges you anticipate, etc. How do you feel about moving to a new school, joining a new lab, selecting an advisor/committee, making friends in a new place, hunkering down in one area of the world for the next few years, fitting in? How does it feel to look back on the application process? How have your attitudes and expectations changed between the times of application and acceptance?

Submission/contact info is as follows:

If you’re interested in contributing, please send submissions to 49percentblog[at]gmail[dot]com. I’m setting a tentative deadline for August 15, but that could be pushed back if necessary. Please feel free to e-mail me anything, for any reason, at any time, always and forever. 🙂