A good day...
Ah, today was a good day in the grand scheme of things.
First, some background. When I was in Graduate School, my Ph.D. work was funded by a Big Semiconductor Company. They were often a pain to work with, both because of cultural differences, and some of the inherent differences and clashes that arise out of industrial-academic partnerships. Industry is often not interested in the 'how' or the 'why' of a process -- they just want a process or recipe that works at the end of the day and that they can make money on. This is especially true in semiconductors, where the entire industry seems to spasm every 18 months with something new.
Anyway, I finished my degree two years ago, and started my academic job. I was glad to be finished with Big Semiconductor Company. Now, as some of you may know, being junior faculty in the sciences or engineering is 'all about the Benjamins'. When I go up for tenure, very few people will care about how good a teacher I was, or how many mind-numbing committees I sat in on. No, the real metric that will be used is how many research dollars did I bring into the university.
Now, to be honest, I have been here going on two years, and I haven't brought in dollar one yet. I could bitch about extenuating circumstances, and the fact that I didn't have a lab until 3 weeks ago, but the fact is, the administration won't care about excuses, they will want results. So, my apparent lack of progress in the grant-securing arena was starting to become increasingly worrisome to me.
Re-enter Big Semiconductor Company. My former advisor calls me up last week, and tells me BSC is interested in continuing some work that I did my thesis on. Thing is, she isn't all that interested in it anymore, so she calls me up, and asks if I want to take the project. Funding! I cannot tell you how incredibly cool this is. My former advisor is one of the greatest people going. She has given me space when I had none, thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and now funding opportunities. If I screw up and don't make tenure, it certainly won't be for her lack of help.
So I went over and met with her and the rep from BSC this morning, and we are going to set it up, and I will end up getting some initial funding that will hopefully bolster my position here and kick-start the career. All thanks to my generous former advisor.
So, that was this morning. Pretty damn good.
This afternoon was better, in a way. I had a ticket to the Sox-Orioles game at Fenway, so after the meeting I hopped on the T and made my way to park just in time for the opening pitches. This was a perfect baseball day in Boston -- sunny, about 70 degrees. The game was a rainout make-up from about a month ago, when it was pouring and about 40 degrees.
It was a good game, but it looked like we were going to drop it, as the birds led 4-3 in the ninth. BUT, the home town team strung together a couple of hits, and David Ortiz, doing what he always does, hit a 3-2 pitch over the wall in center field (with 2 outs, no less) to give Boston the 6-4 walkoff win.
Not a bad ending to the day...
First, some background. When I was in Graduate School, my Ph.D. work was funded by a Big Semiconductor Company. They were often a pain to work with, both because of cultural differences, and some of the inherent differences and clashes that arise out of industrial-academic partnerships. Industry is often not interested in the 'how' or the 'why' of a process -- they just want a process or recipe that works at the end of the day and that they can make money on. This is especially true in semiconductors, where the entire industry seems to spasm every 18 months with something new.
Anyway, I finished my degree two years ago, and started my academic job. I was glad to be finished with Big Semiconductor Company. Now, as some of you may know, being junior faculty in the sciences or engineering is 'all about the Benjamins'. When I go up for tenure, very few people will care about how good a teacher I was, or how many mind-numbing committees I sat in on. No, the real metric that will be used is how many research dollars did I bring into the university.
Now, to be honest, I have been here going on two years, and I haven't brought in dollar one yet. I could bitch about extenuating circumstances, and the fact that I didn't have a lab until 3 weeks ago, but the fact is, the administration won't care about excuses, they will want results. So, my apparent lack of progress in the grant-securing arena was starting to become increasingly worrisome to me.
Re-enter Big Semiconductor Company. My former advisor calls me up last week, and tells me BSC is interested in continuing some work that I did my thesis on. Thing is, she isn't all that interested in it anymore, so she calls me up, and asks if I want to take the project. Funding! I cannot tell you how incredibly cool this is. My former advisor is one of the greatest people going. She has given me space when I had none, thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and now funding opportunities. If I screw up and don't make tenure, it certainly won't be for her lack of help.
So I went over and met with her and the rep from BSC this morning, and we are going to set it up, and I will end up getting some initial funding that will hopefully bolster my position here and kick-start the career. All thanks to my generous former advisor.
So, that was this morning. Pretty damn good.
This afternoon was better, in a way. I had a ticket to the Sox-Orioles game at Fenway, so after the meeting I hopped on the T and made my way to park just in time for the opening pitches. This was a perfect baseball day in Boston -- sunny, about 70 degrees. The game was a rainout make-up from about a month ago, when it was pouring and about 40 degrees.
It was a good game, but it looked like we were going to drop it, as the birds led 4-3 in the ninth. BUT, the home town team strung together a couple of hits, and David Ortiz, doing what he always does, hit a 3-2 pitch over the wall in center field (with 2 outs, no less) to give Boston the 6-4 walkoff win.
Not a bad ending to the day...
posted by Professor B at 7:04 PM
1 Comments:
Hey, that's great news! Congratulations, B.
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