Raghuveer Parthasarathy
I was on a panel a few days ago on “Teaching at a Research University,” part of a teaching workshop here at the University of Oregon. This is a large topic that impacts both students and faculty. On the student side there’s the question, pointed out in introductory remarks by our Associate Vice Provost for … Continue reading Incorporating Research into Courses
Our Provost at the University of Oregon has stepped down, and there’s a call for nominations for a new one. The search will be internal, i.e. the next provost will be a UO faculty member. Bill Harbaugh — economics professor, president of the University Senate, and muckracking journalist — tossed his hat into the ring … Continue reading In which I announce my candidacy for University Provost, and make a serious point about salaries as well
For months I’ve been intending to write about a fascinating and frightening 2018 paper on the “half-life” of scientists — how long scientists remain in the scientific workforce. I was reminded of this recently by an excellent paper comparing the impact of small and large research groups on science. The two papers should perhaps be … Continue reading Science, Small Groups, and Stochasticity
I decided to make a version of the abstract for my upcoming presentation at the March Meeting of the American Physical Society that (i) has a movie, and (ii) is revised slightly from the version I submitted a few months ago. My talk is one of two invited talks at a pair of focus sessions … Continue reading Bacterial behaviors and the physical landscape of the zebrafish gut [APS talk abstract]
I’ll start this year-in-review post with some highlights of the year in fiction, noting the larger than usual amount of science fiction I read — a mistake I will hopefully not make again — and then write about non-fiction, graphic novels, and movies. (Past years’ lists: 2017, 2016, and 2015.) Fiction My two favorites of … Continue reading The Year in Books, 2018 (in which I am reminded that I don’t like science fiction)
A remarkable graph I came across a few weeks ago, copied below, shows the changes in the numbers of students majoring in various topics between 2011 and 2017. Part of an insightful article by Benjamin Schmidt titled “The History BA Since the Great Recession”, it reports a sharp drop in history majors, a steep rise … Continue reading Local trends in college majors (Or: Do Oregon students choose offbeat degrees?)
Are there general laws governing the gut microbiome? This is an important question if we’re to make sense of how the microbial ecosystem inside each of us influences health and disease, without being overwhelmed by its diversity and complexity. It’s also the question that, almost verbatim, starts off a recent paper from my lab, … Continue reading Kepler, Newton, and Gut Microbes
![Bacterial behaviors and the physical landscape of the zebrafish gut [APS talk abstract]](https://eighteenthelephant.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/light_sheet_lens_arrangement_oct2017.png?w=256&h=256&crop=1)
