An Open Essay on Wombattiness.

Wombat: 1)(n) A small, furry marsupial, as seen here. 2) (n) A clueless undergrad or incoming grad student. Someone who has very little idea what is going on. Can also be used as an adjective to describe general incompetence.

It can be used in a sentences like these:

"Billy laughed at the new wombat in the lab who couldn't find the beakers."

"As she looked through a cabinet for the third time, BotR cursed the day that she had become a wombat."

"Dude, way to wombat it up by asking where we keep our FeCl3."

Can often be heard asking questions such as these*:
1. Where's the nearest bathroom?
2. Um, is this open?
3. Uh, is this on?
4. Can you say that again?
5. You guys store that in the -80, right?
6. Uh, how do I get into the building on weekends?
7. How does your autoclave work?
8. Any special instructions on the pH meter?
9. Do you guys grow your cultures in tubes like these?
10. Where is ________? (Fill in with any piece of equipment, reagent, location or wombat's mentor.)


Wombat syndrome can happen to competent people when moving into a new lab. However, this does mean that the competent person will be viewed as a wombat and spoken to in a gentle voice (by at least one person) so as to not spook the wombat**.

*These are all questions asked by me within the past two days. In my defense, the bathroom question was legit since I hadn't ever been in that building before.

**There's at least one person who thinks that I'm hopeless in my new lab. She's been very nice, so hopefully when I don't have to ask where everything is anymore she'll stop using a sugar sweet voice so as to not freak me out. In her defense, I'm pretty sure I run around with a crazy look on my face like "Omg, I will burst into tears if I can't find their filter flasks."

Posts to come.

I am tired, therefore I will be lazy with my post tonight and just tell you what exciting bits I have planned for the next few weeks:

1. I want to discuss more about LGBT issues in a scientific workplace. This will require lots of people to give me input. I'm editing some questions right now, and I hope that you all + even more people will help me with more answers.

2. I've been getting lots of questions in my non-blogging life from friends that are about to enter the sphere of grad school apps. Therefore, I have decided to essentially start a short series on the advice that I have given/stuff people are about to ask. PLEASE SEND IN QUESTIONS to help me design this series!!!

3. The book reviews that I have half typed up will be up soon. I promise.

Send in questions/topics by either commenting/emailing me at biochemistontherun@gmail.com !

LGBT scientists, where are you???

Ok, so as you probably all have assumed, I'm a white, straight female. So any comments I make in this area are just from personal experiences.

Is there a particular reason that I haven't met a great deal of LGBT science folks? Out of all the science people I've met over the years, I can safely say that I've only met about 10 sciencey people who are open. And out of those 10 people, I can safely say that they have all been really, really good at the science that they're interested in.

First, let's start off with a big fat "duh" factor: Obviously, every single category of person out there can do science.

But here's my question: Why have I met so few scientists who are out? I've met lots of people who are out over the years, but it's been rare that they've been in science, math, or engineering. I've met tons of gender studies, philosophy, art, theater, history, English, etc. majors.

Therefore, I've come to several different conclusions:
1. LGBT scientists are less likely to be open due to science culture itself.
2. Science culture is not a LGBT friendly environment.
3. All of us as scientists should do something.

But what? I have always respected people's privacy about their own lives, whether they are single and straight or married and gay. How can I voice my support without being accidentally condescending or treating people differently for their orientation? How can I change the system without being so passive of an ally?

I suppose I'll just go on treating everyone with respect and dignity, and hope that over time, everyone will do the same. But that feels a little naive. And hopefully this is just my narrow experience, and that it's a problem that I'm making up in my own head.

Ideas are appreciated.

Falling into a routine.

I am a huge fan of routines. I like having a vague schedule to adhere to, but it takes me a lot of time to create the schedule, so my best bet is to add a few things at a time.

I'm now trying to add exercise back into my routine. I love running (hence the pen name), but I have a heart problem (nothing serious) that makes shifting back into running after a long time of inconsistent exercise difficult. Bah. Roommate and I went for a run yesterday, and we only went two miles due to a big hill + my heart problem.

I hate slowly shifting back into exercise. I want to go back to running 6 miles again now!

I'll be posting more book reviews in a few days. Sorry about being such a slackerface about writing those up!

First week impressions.

Well, my first week of grad school has been completed and I'm still alive.

The roommates have moved in, the cat is adjusting well, and I am not in the lab on a Saturday (a first and last occurrence). Life is good.

It was a crazy week---tons of new information to process, new people to meet, and I've already learned three techniques that are new to me. It looks like how my rotation will work in this group will be the style of me assisting the grad students in the group that work on my metalloprotein of interest so I can get exposed to lots of different techniques.

But the most important thing: I really, really like these people. My potential groupmates are really nice and funny and have been really welcoming. They're all really good buddies with each other, and a large portion of the group hangs out outside of lab on a regular basis. I'm hoping to break into this group soon. My current mentor is a fourth year grad student who has been a great teacher and very patient with me and all my questions. He informed me that "[I] seem to pick up things quickly" so I'm going to take that as a "you're not totally useless" sort of compliment! :)

My PI seems pretty awesome. Smart, funny, and passionate about her work. She's definitely a little scattered, but she's really blunt, which is new for me in a PI. I think I'll work best with a blunt PI: I tend to get irritated if you hint to me that you think I should come in more, you don't think my way is the most efficient, you think I'm not doing a technique right, etc. but you don't come right out and say it so I have to guess what's wrong. (Not to bash on either of my former PIs, there were many awesome qualities in both of them, but when you're trying so hard to be nice it can be difficult to be both kind and clear about what you want fixed.)

Anyways, I suggested something that I read to my grad student mentor for trying to fix one of the techniques, so he ordered the chemical and I get to try it this week. Most of the lab will be out for a conference next week, so I get to finally do a bunch of the stuff I've learned by myself. I also get to set up crystal trays soon!!!1!111 I'm super excited about that, since I miss doing crystallography and this will be the first time I get to do it since last summer.

Thank goodness my panicked state has finally subsided. Now I'm only flipping out about stretching the money I have until Sept 1st (payday seems so very far away) and my upcoming exams.

Email tag stopped!

My email tag with my new PI has finally stopped! I'm officially starting tomorrow morning. Excited, but let me say a few words about this:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I don't know why I'm flipping out. Everyone knows that the first day is mostly paperwork and irritating stuff like that. She even said that there's a lab safety training thing tomorrow.

A quick note: I'm sorry that I keep on having panicky posts. I don't mean to be a downer, this is just how I feel about this entire process. I'm sure there are other people out there who deal with BIG changes much better, but I want to honestly reveal my thoughts about moving to grad school for anyone who might be reading this who might be feeling the same levels of panic. You are not alone!

Adjusting.

Now don't get me wrong---I don't mind being alone. In fact, I have often preferred to be alone.

But I like having things to do. Currently, my things to do list is running out. I've now unpacked completely, I've made a budget, and I've shopped for all of the things I'll need. I'm no longer panicking about moving related stuff, so now I'm just worrying about starting up in a new lab stuff. And the chem tests. I'll probably start studying again tonight.

The new PI hasn't gotten back to me yet about starting tomorrow, and I doubt she will tonight. I sent her another email with my cell, just in case she still does want me to start tomorrow. I'm guessing that either she's out of town or my emails keep on getting lost in the masses of email she gets. I figure I'll call her office tomorrow morning if I don't get an email by then.