Now on ScienceBlogs: A Confusing Light OPERA: How Does a Loose Fiber Optic Cable Cause a Signal Delay?
Thoughts on physics, politics, and pop culture, by a physics professor at a small liberal arts college, plus occasional conversations with his dog.
You've read the blog, now try the books! How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is published by Scribner, and available wherever books are sold. How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog is published by Basic Books and will be available 2/28/2012, as foretold by the Maya.
"Uncertain Principles" features the miscellaneous ramblings of a physicist at a small liberal arts college. Physics, politics, pop culture, and occasional conversations with his dog.
"Prof. Orzel gives the impression of an everyday guy who just happens to have a vast but hidden knowledge of physics." (anonymous student evaluation comment)
Emmy is a German Shepherd mix, and the Queen of Niskayuna. She likes treats, walks, chasing bunnies, and quantum physics.
Category: Jobs
Someone from the American Astronomical Society ran across the Project for Non-Academic Science posts here, and is looking for someone to participate in a career panel at their upcoming meeting in Austin, TX: The American Astronomical Society (AAS) Employment Committee...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 2:37 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academia
A currently popular explanation for the increasing price of higher education is that all those tuition dollars are being soaked up by bloated bureaucracy-- that is, that there are too many administrators for the number of faculty and students involved....
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:19 AM • 24 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogs
I don't think my point quite got across the other day, so let me try phrasing this another way. I think a lot of what's being written about pseudonymity on blogs is missing the real point. The really important question...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 2:29 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogs
The whole issue of pseudonymity has come up again, both on Google+ and on ScienceBlogs. While I've been on the Internet for nigh on 20 years, my initial point of entry was through a Usenet group that strongly preferred real...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 11:00 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Jobs
The other big gender-disparity graph making the rounds yesterday was this one showing the gender distribution in the general workforce and comparing that to science-related fields: This comes from an Economics and Statistics Administration report which has one of the...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 10:56 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Society
There are two recent studies of gender disparities in science and technology (referred to by the faintly awful acronym "STEM") getting a lot of play over the last few days. As is often the case with social-science results, the data...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:38 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academia
Out in Minnesota, Melissa expresses some high-level confusion over the preference for people with a small-college background: In the past few months, I have been involved in several conversations where someone mentioned that a particular faculty member or administrator was...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:39 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: PNAS
(This post is part of the new round of interviews of non-academic scientists, giving the responses of S.M., a Canadian government employee who would prefer not to be identified by name. The goal is to provide some additional information for...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:42 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: PNAS
(This post is part of the new round of interviews of non-academic scientists, giving the responses of Carl Knutson, who works for a company making online learning systems. The goal is to provide some additional information for science students thinking...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:34 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: PNAS
p>(This post is part of the new round of interviews of non-academic scientists, giving the responses of Brad Holden, of the University of California Observatories (which, OK, is affiliated with an academic institution, but this is not a traditional faculty-type...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 11:28 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
