[DIALOGnews] DIALOG and DISCCRS News 04/14/2006
Susan Bennett
bennetsk at whitman.edu
Fri Apr 14 15:34:57 CDT 2006
DIALOG and DISCCRS News
04/14/2006
************************************
TABLE OF CONTENTS
RESOURCES
GlobalWarmingArchive.com
http://globalwarmingarchive.com/
Chronicles the discovery and debate of global climate change
through newspapers. This is a free archive of 50,000 historical
newspaper pages sponsored by NewspaperARCHIVE.com, & contains
detailed newspaper accounts on the diverse opinions and scientific
discoveries surrounding global warming.
SCIENCE NEWS
"How We Did It: A department head chronicles how a hiring committee
narrowed its pool from 300 applicants to one" (at a liberal arts
college)
(see below)
Oceans Rising Fast, New Studies Find
(see below)
U.S., Mexico to Collaborate on Capture and Reuse of Methane Gas
(see below)
Blair Demands Green "Revolution"
(see below)
Polar Ice Caps Melting Faster Than Ever
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1176980,00.html
Scientists Discover Interplay Between Genes and Viruses in Tiny Ocean
Plankton
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=pr06048
Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House, Washington Post
http://tinyurl.com/l3zr7
Employees and contractors working for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, along with a U.S. Geological Survey
scientist working at an NOAA lab, said in interviews that over the
past year administration officials have chastised them for speaking
on policy questions; removed references to global warming from their
reports, news releases and conference Web sites; investigated news
leaks; and sometimes urged them to stop speaking to the media
altogether.
Brown University Geologists Create 5-Million-Year Climate Record
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2005-06/05-106.html
The longest continuous record of ocean surface temperatures,
dating back 5 million years. The record shows slow, steady cooling in
the eastern equatorial Pacific, a finding that challenges the notion
that the Ice Ages alone sparked a global cooling trend. Results are
published in Science.
FORUM
Message from Jane Lubchenco, "Fight Global Warming" Campaign
(see below)
JOBS
Associate Research Scientist – Economics of Institutions and Public
Policy
The International Research Institute for Climate and Society is
seeking candidates for the position of Associate Research Scientist
– Economics of Institutions and Public Policy. For details go to:
http://iri.columbia.edu/aboutiri/job/html/67006006.html
Ocean Ecologist at Princeton
(see below)
Teaching/Academic Professional Job At GA Tech
(see below)
Project Scientist, Ecology, University of California at Santa Cruz
(see below)
***************************************************
Science News
"How We Did It: A department head chronicles how a hiring committee
narrowed its pool from 300 applicants to one" (at a liberal arts
college)
By ZELDA RIFKIN
My department just successfully concluded our largest search
ever, with more than 300 applicants for a tenure-track position in
the sciences. As head of the department and a member of the search
committee, I thought it might be helpful to share how we made our
decision — where candidates went wrong and what we learned.
Our goal was to find a dedicated teacher and active researcher
who really wanted to be at a liberal-arts college. That meant weeding
out all those candidates who saw our type of institution as a backup,
in case they couldn't get a job at a research university.
Because most of our students (and faculty members) are female, we
also wanted someone who respected women as scientists. That meant
vetoing candidates who addressed their cover letters "Dear Sir."
Still, we were not concerned with the gender of our hire. Some
students (outside of our department) demanded that we hire a person
of color, a suggestion the committee ignored as illegal and
unethical. We felt our students — of whatever ethnicity — would be
best served by our hiring the strongest candidate.
Our first task was to narrow the applicant pool to 50 people,
whom we planned to briefly interview either locally or at the major
conference in the discipline.
As I pored over the applications, I found the most important
parts to be the cover letter, the teaching statement, and the letters
of recommendation. While I looked at publication lists and research
statements, I knew that many of them were too far from my area of
expertise for me to accurately judge their quality. I was happy to
short list candidates without publications whose advisers attested
that one or more excellent papers would come out of their dissertations.
I tried to discern the applicant's level of interest in liberal-
arts colleges in general and in ours in particular. That was often
evident in the cover letter — if, for example, it mentioned the fine
graduate students at our "university." (We don't have graduate
students in my discipline at the college, just undergraduate majors.)
At the other extreme were letters that showed some positive
interest in our college by making a reference to our mission, our
geographic location, or the applicant's own experience at a liberal-
arts college. That interest never made up for an applicant's
weaknesses in teaching or research. But it did help narrow the pool,
as we saw far too many applicants with teaching awards who were "top
young scientists" in their specialty for us to meet with them all.
In one case, we received an unexpected clue as to the applicant's
level of interest in our college. Attached to one of her letters of
reference was a note stating: "Due to physical limitations, Professor
X is unable to readily sign the very large number of reference
letters requested by Job Candidate Y."
That kind of note is a job candidate's nightmare. Although it
provided us with useful information — clearly she was casting a wide
net in her search and was not singularly interested in liberal-arts
colleges — the note seemed unfairly prejudicial so I removed it from
the application packet. I also e-mailed an administrator I knew at
the candidate's institution, suggesting that the note be removed from
the letter of reference in the future. I know from my own graduate
school days that support staff members (the ones who make all the
copies of reference letters) sometimes hold grudges against graduate
students and sabotage them wherever possible. This seemed as likely
an explanation as any for the note.
We were surprised to find two applicants with suspiciously
similar teaching statements. Both had posted their version of the
statement on their Web sites. I suspected that its original author
was the more experienced teacher, a postdoctoral fellow at a top
university, and that the plagiarist was the less-experienced graduate
student.
I e-mailed the adviser of the less-experienced applicant,
pointing out the two teaching statements and suggesting that, whether
her advisee or the other applicant did the copying, she should be
aware of the situation. The adviser soon replied that she had spoken
with her student, who had admitted "borrowing" from the other
teaching statement the passages that he felt applied to him, too.
Had we not already independently ruled out the applicant, I would
have done so at that point. The odds were against our even detecting
the plagiarism, since each committee member read an alphabetical
subset of applications. By coincidence, the two applicants shared the
same last initial. If I ever write a guide for wrongdoers, I will
advise copying from people far from oneself in the alphabet.
Based on past experience, we decided not to waste any of our
precious on-campus interviews on anyone who had not been first
personally vetted by a committee member. When told that, one strong
applicant who had not planned on attending our discipline's annual
conference drove several hours for a 30-minute interview.
Another candidate flew a long distance to our campus, at his own
expense, to meet with the head of the search committee. Both of those
applicants went on to receive on-campus interviews.
The committee head also interviewed a number of local candidates
and invited them to sit in on a class. One applicant read a newspaper
during the class; he did not get invited for a full interview.
In the end, the provost gave us permission to invite seven
candidates to the campus. Each candidate met with the provost, guest
lectured in a class, gave a research seminar, met with students, was
interviewed by the committee en masse, and had lunch and dinner with
available committee members.
One mistake that several candidates made during the interview was
pretending to be perfect (or perhaps they believed that they were).
For example, one candidate's cover letter praised our department for
its breadth and depth of course offerings. At his interview, I
pointed out that our small program did not match that description and
asked if he really meant what he wrote or if it had been a form
letter, remarking that I myself had applied to more than 100
institutions in my first job search. He insisted that he really
thought that of our department. I would not have minded carelessness
in a form letter, but I did object to his disingenuousness and became
distrustful of other things he said.
Candidates were particularly unwilling to admit mistakes in the
classroom. In my first college interviews, I had been acutely aware
of my weakness as a teacher: When a search committee member praised
my performance at the end of a class where I had guest lectured, I
recall expressing surprise and skepticism. Fortunately, my desire to
be a better teacher apparently trumped my inexperience.
Not so our candidates, many of whom had years of teaching
experience and had won awards. During one guest lecture, a candidate
declined a student's suggestion for simplifying an equation. The
student was right. So I asked the candidate after class whether, in
hindsight, he would have done anything differently, expecting him to
say that he should have taken the student's suggestion or to express
some other regret. Instead, he expressed complete satisfaction. I've
been teaching for longer than he has and still rarely make it through
a lecture without mistakes.
Intrigued, I asked whether he had received any criticisms from
students on his teaching evaluations. (I was trying to tell whether
he was responsive to constructive feedback.) He said that he had
never received any criticism, except from a disgruntled student who
was failing the course, or complaints about the material covered. I
hid my incredulity.
We had dinner at the end of the interview with every candidate.
In general, that meeting was purely social, but some candidates
managed to use it to lower our opinions of them. One was unable to
carry on a conversation and showed little interest in what anyone
else had to say. At first he earned points with me by discussing how
he had encouraged his middle-school daughter in mathematics, but that
turned into concern when he said that nothing in life, including
having friends, was more important to her than earning A+'s in math.
We did use the dinners to try to determine the candidate's level
of interest in our college. Most candidates were coy, but one told us
straight out that he would accept an offer from us.
We did not know how to interpret another candidate's remark that
he aimed to be at a "world-class, liberal-arts college." We were
unsure whether he was flattering our institution (which is
prestigious but not world class) or expressing a desire to use us as
a steppingstone.
At the end of our interviews, two candidates stood out above the
rest. One was a more skilled teacher, the other a stronger
researcher, although both were well qualified in all areas.
While we hoped to get the best possible candidate, our biggest
fear was not that we would wind up with our second or third choice,
but that we would not hire anyone. Not only did we dread the idea of
repeating all of our effort, but also we were unsure whether the
administration would approve another search. (Our previous attempt to
fill this position failed after we let our favored candidate string
us along for weeks while she waited to hear from her first-choice
department, and we had struggled for years to get our current search
approved.)
The stronger researcher was the candidate who had told us we were
his top choice; the other candidate had hemmed and hawed before
admitting we were not at the top of his list. Furthermore, the
researcher already had another offer. A few days before it expired,
we asked the provost to make him an offer, which he has accepted, to
our delight.
We will do everything we can to make him successful not just for
his benefit and that of our students but because we do not want to
perform another search.
Zelda Rifkin is the pseudonym of the head of a science department
at a liberal-arts college in the West. For an archive of previous
Heads Up columns, see http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/archives/columns/
heads_up
http://chronicle.com
Section: Chronicle Careers
Volume 52, Issue 31, Page C1
********************
Oceans Rising Fast, New Studies Find
from the San Francisco Chronicle
Glaciers and ice sheets on opposite ends of the Earth are melting
faster than previously thought and could cause sea levels around the
world to rise as much as 13 to 20 feet by the end of the century,
scientists are reporting today.
If the researchers' estimates are correct, a rise in ocean waters
projected by the new studies not only would drown many of the low-
lying inhabited atolls and islands that are already endangered by
rising ocean waters, it also would threaten coastal cities and
harbors on every continent.
Scientists have been warning for decades that greenhouse gases
from autos and industry are warming the planet and raising the seas,
but the studies appearing today in the journal Science are the first
to suggest that sea levels could climb as high as 20 feet as a result
of global warming. http://tinyurl.com/opg3w
********************
U.S., Mexico to Collaborate on Capture and Reuse of Methane Gas
Release date: 03/24/2006
Contact Information:
EPA: Roxanne Smith, (202) 564-4355 / smith.roxanne at epa.gov
USAID: Jessica Garcia, (202) 712-5606 / jegarcia at usaid.gov
(Washington, D.C. – March 24, 2006) To improve the environment
at local and global levels, the United States and Mexican governments
have committed to developing clean energy projects in Mexico that
will lead to economic benefits and enhance energy security and public
health.
Today, U.S. EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock and U.S.
Agency International Development Acting Administrator Frederick
Schieck joined Mexico's Undersecretary of Environment José Ramón
Ardavín in signing a letter of cooperation to advance the capture and
beneficial use of methane, a greenhouse gas.
"EPA is looking forward to working closely with our colleagues in
Mexico and USAID to reduce methane emissions and bring clean energy
to markets," said U.S. EPA Deputy Administrator Peacock. "This work
will help us realize our joint commitments under Methane to Markets
and meet our shared goals of reducing global methane emissions while
enhancing economic growth, promoting energy security, and improving
the environment."
USAID Acting Administrator Schieck announced that the agency will
be providing more than $800,000 for initiative programs in Mexico.
"USAID is committed to working with EPA and the Government of Mexico
to promote and find productive uses for renewable energy." He
continued, "USAID is providing this aid in continued support for
environmental protection and economic growth in Mexico to assure
Methane to Markets Partnership success."
Today's letter of cooperation represents a concrete step toward
developing methane reuse projects in Mexico. Under the terms of this
agreement, EPA, USAID, and the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and
Natural Resources will work with local governments and the private
sector to share and expand the use of technologies to recover and use
methane gas that is currently released from natural gas and oil
systems, landfills, underground coal mines, and agricultural operations.
The projects will be developed under EPA's Methane to Markets
Partnership, a U.S. led Presidential initiative. The United States
and Mexico are two of the 17 countries currently participating in the
partnership, an international initiative launched in November 2004 to
advance cost-effective, near-term methane recovery and use as a
source of clean energy.
Methane is a clean-burning fuel that is the main component of
natural gas. The U.S. Government is committing up to $53 million over
the next five years to support the Methane to Markets Partnership.
For more information, visit: http://www.methanetomarkets.org or
http://www.epa.gov/methanetomarkets or http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/
global_partnerships/gda/methanetomarkets.htm
********************
Blair Demands Green "Revolution"
from BBC News Online
Tony Blair has called for a "technological revolution comparable
to the internet" to slow global warming.
Speaking in New Zealand, he said it was important to develop
machines which produced fewer emissions, while maintaining economic
growth.
Mr Blair promised to push for an international framework to
supersede the Kyoto Protocol when it expires.
The speech came after the government admitted it was unlikely to
meet its target for cutting greenhouse gases. http://tinyurl.com/l7kfl
***************************************************
Forum
Message from Jane Lubchenco, "Fight Global Warming" Campaign
Dear Colleagues from the Governor’s first Advisory Group on
Global Warming,
I thought you would want to know about a new 3-year national
consumer awareness campaign called ‘Fight Global Warming’ that was
launched today by the Ad Council, Environmental Defense and the
Robertson Foundation. (I’m one of the scientists on the Board of
Trustees of Environmental Defense who made sure that the information
is scientifically accurate.) The Ad Council is a private, non-
profit organization that delivers critical public service messages to
the American public. You’ll undoubtedly remember some of the Ad
Council’s ad campaigns: ‘A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste’,
‘Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk”, etc.
The information and messages in this new Fight Global Warming
campaign are completely consistent with our global warming report to
the Governor and his responses. We all agreed that education would
be essential to real progress on this issue. The campaign is
intended to do just that: educate the public about the urgency of
addressing climate change and the existence of solutions. The
campaign consists of TV, radio, print and web ads. You can view the
TV ads on the website http://www.fightglobalwarming.com
The ads are powerful. They are intended to create a visceral
sense of urgency, educate people about the issue, and create engaging
and easy ways for citizens to get personally involved in solutions.
The ads have been sent to every TV and radio station in the country,
plus thousands of newspapers and magazines. These ads are not paid
ads, but because they are from the Ad Council they are run by
stations or papers as public service announcements. If you don’t
see or hear them, let your stations or papers know that you think
they should be aired/printed.
Complementary media efforts for the launch week include: a
congressional briefing in D.C. this morning, a National Press
Conference today, a satellite media tour tomorrow (Friday).
The website includes summaries of the science, the dangers, tips
about how to reduce your own emissions, a special section for the
press, and more. I particularly like the downloadable “The Low
Carbon Diet: A Consumer’s Guide to Fight Global Warming.” There
is also a kit that you can order from the website.
I think the fact that the Ad Council has taken this topic on is a
powerful statement. This campaign is the most compelling effort to
date to engage the public in this critically important issue. The
campaign does not have lots of hype and scare tactics, but real
facts, real consequences and real solutions. “Our” solutions (in
our report to the Governor) are a perfect complement.
I believe that this campaign provides each of us with an
opportunity to help Oregonians learn more about the topic. I send
this information to you so you can share information about the
campaign and the website with whomever you think appropriate, along
with your suggestions about actions specific to our recommendations
here in Oregon.
As a scientist who studies the causes and consequences of climate
change, I’m hopeful that the campaign will communicate effectively
the urgency of the issue and the existence of solutions. Our GAGGW
effort was a good start, and the subsequent current efforts are
needed. This campaign provides an opportunity to engage a much
broader array of citizens.
http://www.fightglobalwarming.com
Sincerely, Jane Lubchenco
***************************************************
Jobs
Planktonnet: Great listserv for aquatic-science jobs
To subscribe to the list, send an empty email to:
planktonnet-subscribe at yahoogroups.com
Or, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/planktonnet/ and click on
'Join this group'
Ocean Ecologist at Princeton
Applications are invited for a new postdoctoral or more
experienced Ph.D. level ocean ecologist in the Atmospheric and
Oceanic Sciences Program at Princeton University. The successful
candidate will join a diverse research group working to understand
natural and anthropogenic global climate change. The specific
research is part of an ongoing project in Jorge Sarmiento’s ocean
biogeochemistry group, which is employing in situ data and space-
based marine phytoplankton and organic carbon observations to develop
ecosystem models capable of predicting the biological response to and
impact on climate change. We seek an individual with a strong
background in ecological theory and observations and with the
mathematical, statistical and/or computational skills to participate
in the development and deployment of quasi-empirical ecological
models. In collaboration with colleagues at NOAA’s Geophysical and
Fluid Dynamics Lab, these ecosystem models will be deployed in
coupled atmosphere-ocean global circulation climate simulations.
Inquires and applications including CV and the names of three
references should be sent to: Laura Rossi (lrossi at princeton.edu),
Princeton University, AOS, PO Box CN710, Princeton, NJ 08544. Review
of applications will begin on May 1, 2006 and will continue until the
position is filled. Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/
Affirmative Action employer. For general information about applying
to Princeton University and how to self-identify, please see http://
web.princeton.edu/sites/dof/ApplicantsInfo.htm.
********************
Teaching/Academic Professional Job At GA Tech
We will soon be searching for a Ph.D. that can teach ecology,
ecology lab, and introductory biology. This will be a TEACHING
position, not a teaching/research position. If you know of someone
that may be good and interested, please have them contact me. There
is no official job announcement out yet, but it should come out
soon. This is just to get the word out. Below, I outline what I
know of the position.
One of our "academic professionals" has just taken a job
elsewhere meaning that we will soon be recruiting for someone to
teach ecology lecture, ecology lab, and part of intro. Biology
(around 12-15 total contact hrs/week). This person will also be
advising approximately 130 students each year. The salary range, I
THINK, is approximately $55-$60 K for 12 months and we will want a
start data of early August 2006. The job is not tenure track, but
those that perform well can depend on being here long-term.
This job will require a Ph.D. with training in ecology.
Candidates need to be devoted to teaching, rather than research, as
they will not have a lab, not be expected to bring in grants, etc.
Thus, this is a teaching job, but the students here are exceptional
(among the highest SAT/ACT scores of any public institution in the
nation), and teaching can be fun for someone that really wants to
make a difference in that arena.
Mark Hay
Teasley Professor of Environmental Biology
School of Biology
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0230
Voice - 404-894-8429
Fax - 404-385-4440
Internet mark.hay at biology.gatech.edu
http://www.biology.gatech.edu/faculty/mark-hay/
********************
Project Scientist, Ecology, University of California at Santa Cruz
The National Marine Fishery Services' Landscape Ecology team,
located in Santa Cruz, CA, through a cooperative agreement with UCSC,
seeks individuals to assist with studies of river, ocean and
terrestrial habitats as part of a team conducting basic and applied
research on the ecology of anadromous fish that spawn in California.
We conduct field and modeling studies to investigate how the
structure and dynamics of the physical environment (including
climate) act to control the distribution and abundance of anadromous
fish and the communities to which they belong. See http://
santacruz.nmfs.noaa.gov/fisheries_branch/landscape_ecology for more
information on our projects.
Ideal candidates for this position would possess some of the
following: a desire to work as part of a highly motivated team driven
by societal needs and intellectual curiosity; knowledge of physical
and biological processes in watersheds, rivers and the coastal ocean;
experience with field and remote sensing techniques to measure
habitat attributes and the response of animals to their environment.
Candidates should have knowledge of quantitative methods and
techniques, especially spatial data analysis using Matlab, R/S-Plus,
and ArcGIS or equivalent. The candidate will be expected to formulate
and carry out original research, work with minimal supervision,
disseminate scientific results through publications and other venues,
and supervise a small staff of GIS analysts. For application
instructions and more information, please see http://www2.ucsc.edu/
ahr/employment/bulletin/05-06/T06-33.pdf.
Application period closes April 28, 3006. UCSC is an affirmative
action/equal opportunity employer.
**************************************************
This newsletter has been developed by C. Susan Weiler to distribute
information of potential interest to recent PhDs engaged in
interdisciplinary aquatic science or climate-change research, and to
build an international sense of community among recent grads. It
provides an international forum for the exchange of information and
opinions regarding research, professional and social issues. The
views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the
funding agencies or sponsoring societies. Dr. Weiler reserves the
right to edit or reject material submitted to the list.
Please submit announcements of interest to recent PhDs to
phd at whitman.edu. Send a short message in the body of an e-mail
message, and link to any appropriate websites. Do not send attachments.
Moving? Send address changes to dialog at whitman.edu or
disccrs at whitman.edu
**********
C. Susan Weiler, Ph.D.
Office for Earth System Studies Tel: 509-527-5948
Whitman College Fax: 509-527-5961
Walla Walla, WA 99362
weiler at whitman.edu
Programs for Recent PhDs http://aslo.org/phd.html
DIALOG poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/dialogposter.pdf
DISCCRS poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/disccrsposter.pdf
Workshop Report, Meeting the Needs of
Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Graduates in a
Changing Global Environment
http://marcus.whitman.edu/~weilercs/biocomplexity/
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