Grad School

Sigh.. since I’m graduating and looking at 10 more years of school (I wish I was kidding) here are a few links for your amusement: On being a graduate student (Simpson Style) Take 2 www.toothpastefordinner.com

Spotted on campus yesterday

So I attended two events on campus yesterday, and rubbed shoulders with a some IMPORTANT PEOPLE as a result. And we all love to hear about important people, and their doings. Moreover, serious journalism inevitably gives way to tabloidy filler, (at least during exams when actually doing research is impossible). S0, event #1 was a [...]

Virginia Tech Shootings

I’m sure you’ve all heard about the campus shootings at Virginia Tech. Tragic, sad, shocking… all barely begin to describe it. It raises thoughts. Like when there’s a shooting at 7am and a murderer known to be at large, why don’t you lock down the campus and cancel classes to avoid exactly what happened two [...]

From xkcd. Good luck with exams everyone.

UBC Student falls off roof top, now in serious condition

This is taken from the RCMP website. Whoever the person in serious condition is, we wish them a speedy recovery.UBC student falls off roof top, now in serious condition at VHG Vancouver, UBC: Charges are pending against another student. On April 12th, 2007 at approximately 02:20 pm, RCMP members of the University of British-Columbia Detachment [...]

University Boulevard

There is an interesting petition circulating around Facebook (the new place for activism, it seems). I’ve skimmed it and it made some excellent points, so here is a link:University Boulevard Petition Rationale (from the website linked): Listen to what students want! The “What’s the plan” campaign produced a really excellent review that reports the following, [...]

Ask Dr. Wieman

Later this week, our own Maayan Kreitzman will have a sit-down interview with Dr. Carl Wieman of his eponymous Science Education Initiative. (See below.) We’ve got some questions, but we thought we’d put it to our readers – what questions would you like to ask Dr. Wieman? What about his initiative, science education, philosophy, or [...]

The Future Direction of this Blog

Here’s where we take your suggestions on how to improve or make changes. Our goal is really to make the blog relevant, inclusive, and informative. Right now we feel like we’re a bit cliquey, and we’re wondering how we would go about opening ourselves up. So we’re wondering, if you could pick anything and everything [...]

"…approach the teaching of science as a science" – Carl Wieman’s schtick.

It sounds like a dream – a high profile and hugely funded project (about 200 k per year, currently) entirely dedicated to improving the academic fortunes of the masses of undergrad science students. Students that currently seem to leave their lower-level physics and chemistry courses more detached, zombie-like, and unready for what real scientific enquiry [...]

The VP Guessing Game

Towards the Old Admin Building, aka the road to power Stephen just sent this notice out to all students and presumably faculty/staff: Dear Colleagues: I am pleased to report that the search for a new Provost andVice-President (Academic) is progressing well. After a final round ofconsultations with representatives of faculty, staff and students, theSearch Committee [...]