Category Archives: howto

Simple rules for organizing data in a spreadsheet

Posted on 30 September, 2020 by Kathleen Grogan

Most scientists collect and organize at least some data in spreadsheets, usually Excel or Google Sheets, despite the potential pitfalls of using such products (there are even archives of spreadsheet horror stories). The most commonly bemoaned problem in Biology, that … Continue reading →

Posted in data archiving, howto, methods | Leave a comment

The Molecular Ecologist Podcast: What do you look for in a journal?

Posted on 14 September, 2020 by Jeremy Yoder

A new episode of The Molecular Ecologist Podcast is now out on Anchor.fm. In this episode, we turn to a question that every academic scientist has to answer at some point: How do you choose a scientific journal to receive your paper? Kelle … Continue reading →

Posted in career, howto, TME Podcast | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Molecular Ecologist Podcast: Rivers and rabbit resistance

Posted on 6 July, 2020 by Jeremy Yoder

A new episode of The Molecular Ecologist Podcast is now out on Anchor.fm. In this episode, Sarah Shainker tells us about how population genetic structure works differently in river drainages; Kelle Freel recaps her reading on the history of rabbits and rabbit-killing viruses … Continue reading →

Posted in Action Item, career, community ecology, conservation, howto, microbiology, TME Podcast | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Molecular Ecologist Podcast: Color me viral edition

Posted on 21 May, 2020 by Jeremy Yoder

A new episode of The Molecular Ecologist Podcast is now out on Anchor.fm. In this episode, Patrícia Chrzanová Pečnerová discusses resources for using color to make scientific figures clear and appealing; Stacy Krueger-Hadfield tells us about the complex considerations surrounding tracking and controlling … Continue reading →

Posted in career, howto, microbiology, TME Podcast | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Simple tools for mastering color in scientific figures

Posted on 23 April, 2020 by Patrícia Chrzanová Pečnerová

Call me a procrastinator but I strongly believe that spending time to select a good color scheme can work miracles with a plot, paper, or presentation. In science, it’s generally not expected that you invest time into a thought process … Continue reading →

Posted in howto, methods, Science Communication, science publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Applying for a faculty job is a full-time job – the financial burden

Posted on 20 April, 2020 by Kathleen Grogan

Last week I talked about the ‘workload’ of applying for a tenure-track faculty job (let’s call them TT jobs). This week, I want to talk about a different load – the financial one. This burden was a surprise to me, … Continue reading →

Posted in career, howto, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Applying for faculty jobs is a full-time job – The ‘workload’

Posted on 16 April, 2020 by Kathleen Grogan

As a postdoc in the last year of her funding, I’ve spent the last year applying for tenure-track faculty jobs. I’m not ready to talk about the outcome yet, but I do want to talk about the process and what … Continue reading →

Posted in career, howto | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

#StudentSciComm

Posted on 13 March, 2020 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

I just submitted my four year review and in so doing listed out the students that had published blogs on The Molecular Ecologist. Seventeen students have not only received course credit, but also have a non-peer reviewed publication on their … Continue reading →

Posted in blogging, career, chat, community, ecology, evolution, howto, methods, Molecular Ecology, the journal, Science Communication, science publishing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Simple Gantt charts in R with ggplot2 … and Microsoft Excel

Posted on 3 January, 2019 by Jeremy Yoder

making Gantt charts is a form of self-care — Colin J. Carlson (@ColinJCarlson) November 26, 2018 If you’ve ever had to explain how all the elements of a big, multi-part project come together, you’ve probably at least considered making something … Continue reading →

Posted in funding, howto | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Not my problem

Posted on 30 August, 2018 by Laetitia Wilkins

Do American scientists know that doing research in America is a necessary step for many scientists from other parts of the world in order to get a permanent job in academia in their home country? Once in the US, these … Continue reading →

Posted in career, community, howto | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment