January 2013 Newsletter
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Transcript of January 2013 Newsletter
P a g e 1
forward to seeing you
soon!
Love,
WÜA WÉÜ|á VÄtÜ~@ftÜÜ
Happy New Year 2013!
I pray that this
newsletter finds you in
good health and
spirit!!! We are busy
preparing for our
upcoming meetings
and workshops for you
as well as summer
2013!!! Hard to
believe…but it is that
time again!
Remember to attend
tutoring online as
needed, attend AIMS
workshops as your
schedule permits,
advise us of any
address or phone
number changes,
register for national
tests on time
(ACT/SAT), and
recommend AIMS to
your friends at school!
Keep up the good work
in school! I look
Aalecia Crittendon
Stephen Keene
Heather Redd
Jackson Siples
D I R E C T O R ’ S C H A I R
S P E C I A L
P O I N T S O F
I N T E R E S T :
• The Myth of the
Well-Rounded
Scientist pg. 3
• Parents are an
“Un-Tapped Re-
source” to Push
STEM, Research
Says pg. 5
• Five Simple Study
Tips pg. 6
• 52 Week Money
Challenge pg. 7
• Schedule At-A-
Glance pg. 8
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Director’s Chair 1
January Birthdays 1
Coordinators’ Corners 2
Career Profile 3
Parents’ Corner 5
Five Simple Study Tips 6
52 Week Money
Challenge 7
Schedule At-A-Glance 8
J A N U A R Y B I R T H D A Y S !
A D V E N T U R E S I N M A T H & S C I E N C E
AIMS TIMES
January 2013 Volume 13, Issue 1
Happy New Year!
So amazing how quickly time
has gone by, but great to
know that we have all made
it to a new year with new
goals, aspirations, and
resolutions to achieve. I
hope you have returned to
school with renewed vigor
and the desire to achieve the
best and be the best.
Evan and I are hard at work
recruiting new participants.
Please remember that our
biggest voice in this process
is you! Share your AIMS
experiences with your friends
and let them know how AIMS
is helping you achieve your
academic goals and
aspirations.
Seniors, your Bridge Program
is quickly approaching. If I do
not have your Murray State
University Admissions
Application, you cannot
participate in the Bridge
Component. You should
have also completed the
2011-2012 Federal
Application For Student Aid.
In February, we will be
completing the 2012-2013
Federal Application For
Student Aid. These forms are
extremely important so if you
have not completed the
information, you must get
assistance from your
guidance counselor. As
always, feel free to contact
me for assistance. It is
extremely important that you
become responsible and
mature because you alone
are the ruler of your destiny.
Please continue to let us
know about your academic
achievements and
accomplishments. AIMS
applauds achievements and
we look forward to hearing
about your good work!
I hope that 2013 is off to a
great start for everyone and I
look forward to seeing many
of you in the near future!
Much Love,
Stephen D. Keene
I’ll keep it short and sweet this month. However, I must encourage you to get started with your classes on the right foot. If you can tell upfront that you might struggle with this class or that, then break out your library card! (A.K.A. your AIMS tutoring access) If you are missing your card then please be sure to contact me so I can get you another. This is free help—use it!!
Greetings! Happy New Year!! I hope you all feel as good about 2013 as the AIMS staff does! The wheels are in motion for another great spring semester – and for the 2013 Summer Program. Yes, it is already that time! Can you believe it? Please don’t forget to look at the calendar! We have a workshop coming up so go ahead and pencil-in that date on your calendar.
Lastly, do something nice for someone today. It’s free and makes you feel good. Let us know what we can do to help with your success. That’s why we’re here!
Sincerely,
Evan O’Neal
C O O R D I N A T O R ’ S C O R N E R — A I M S i
C O O R D I N A T O R ’ S C O R N E R — A I M S I I
P a g e 2
A I M S T I M E S
“Um … 100% focused on molecular
biology, please. The sheer fact that
we’re having this conversation means
that you possess communication
skills, upon which we frown.”
So, for half of the schools, I showed
them everything. For the other half, I
submitted a CV that basically read,
“Biology. I do biology, just biology. I
have no other interests besides biol-
ogy biology biology zebrafish nema-
todes xenopus.”
I soon learned, however, that this
aversion to well-roundedness didn’t
stop with grad school admissions com-
mittees. Scientists with outside inter-
ests are often regarded with suspicion
in the lab; we can be seen as undedi-
cated, unfocused, easily distracted,
and so divorced from the scientific
frame of mind that we’ll probably end
up working in—oh, the shame—
industry.
My outside interest during grad
school—my “Batman job,” as a grad
student from Case Western Reserve
University called it last month—was
stand-up comedy. (I quickly learned
that audiences in downtown Baltimore
aren’t fans of math puns. Like this
one: “I was curious about the alcohol
content of my mouthwash, but the
label on the bottle didn’t say anything
about it. I guess the proof was beyond
the text of this Scope!” And that’s why
I’m not famous.)
One day, my adviser called me into his
office. The campus newspaper had
just published a little profile of the
stand-up-comedy-performing grad
student, and my adviser happened to
read it. Over the next 10 minutes, I
learned that my hobby was an embar-
rassment to the department, that
there was no way I could properly fo-
cus on biology, and that every nega-
tive lab result I ever produced was a
direct result of telling jokes at night.
For a moment, I even believed it was
true. I pictured my bacteria saying to
each other, “We cannot undergo bi-
nary fission in the beaker of someone
who makes pithy observations at open
-mic nights! Lyse, my little friends,
lyse!”
After that, I made sure to keep all talk
of comedy quiet in front of my adviser,
and the perception of underperfor-
mance dissipated. I kept my Batman
job secret—which made it all the more
Batman.
I even came up with a few conversa-
tional tips to make myself appear less
well-rounded. Feel free to use these to
disguise your own outside interests:
• If asked “What did you do this
weekend?” answer one of the
following:
o “I dry-heaved with sorrow over
the prospect of not being in the
lab.”
o “Nothing beyond the basic func-
tions required to sustain life.”
o “There was a weekend?”
• If a conversation happens to ap-
proach your area of interest, dis-
miss the subject quickly while
revealing nothing about your own
expertise:
CO-WORKER: You have to see this
funny clip of bears playing cribbage!
YOU (who happens to train bears to
play cribbage in the evening): Bears
playing cribbage! Poppycock! Oh ho,
that’s rich. I’ll bet they don’t even use
the tournament long board sanctioned
by the American Cribbage Congress.
Next I suppose you’ll tell me that the
bears throw defensively to the crib to
avoid breaking up a chance for a 4-6
C A R E E R P R O F I L E : T h e M y t h o f t h e W e l l
- R o u n d e d S c i e n t i s t B y A d a m R u b e n
P a g e 3 V o l u m e 1 3 , I s s u e 1
It was weird. When I applied to col-
lege, every school wanted applicants
with diverse interests. “Show us that
you dabble in everything!” they en-
thused. “We don’t just want good stu-
dents. We want biomedical-engineer-
Civil-War-reenactor-Olympic-gymnasts
who breed turtles and founded a char-
ity while editing the yearbook! Also,
give us money.”
I learned, for example, that I would be
at a disadvantage because I didn’t
play sports. (Consequently, I oversold
my third-place finish in a summer
camp wrestling match, neglecting to
mention that (a) there were only four
competitors, (b) the fourth never
showed up, and (c) I was so under-
weight that I mainly wrestled—and lost
to—kids several years younger than
me. Toddlers, basically.)
But when I applied to grad school, the
game changed. Suddenly, extracur-
ricular activities were a detriment—
what graduate biology department
cares what I did in the marching
band? “Mellophone, you say? Why,
that’s the instrument of a budding
virologist! Give this man a pipette!”
I even worried about diversity of aca-
demic pursuits. I realized that my CV
followed a bimodal distribution: Half of
the listings pertained to science, and
half were other things like writing and
theater. So I called each individual
department and asked: When reading
my application, would the committee
rather see that I’m well-rounded or
that I’m 100% dedicated to molecular
biology?
What happened next shocked
me: Every school gave a different an-
swer. Some said, “We love well-
rounded students! Tell us about your
far-flung interests! Why, we even have
a postdoc now who plays semiprofes-
sional jai alai!” But other schools said,
double run!
• Do not wear a costume
to your lab’s Halloween
party, because this
shows you spend your
free time on crafts. If
asked, “What are you
supposed to be?” look
distracted and answer,
“I’m supposed to be
working.” Then shake
your head in disappoint-
ment at their costumes,
and note your disap-
pointment in your lab
notebook.
• • Nothing drains time
from lab work like fam-
ily; therefore, purge all
references to family
from your workplace.
Only speak your
spouse’s name in a
whisper. On Take Your
Child to Work Day, bring
a pet, but don’t show it
any affection. And re-
place photos of beloved
family members on your
desk with photos of sci-
entific collaborators.
(This may require the
purchase of new picture
frames, as you could
find it difficult to justify
the existence of a photo
of your colleague at the
University of Florida
inside a frame that
reads, “I Love Daddy!”) I knew there was a lot I could
learn from my adviser. He
was a wise man with lots of
grant money. But this time I
knew he was wrong, and I
still believe that. There’s
nothing wrong with scientists
having outside interests, and
your time outside the lab is
your own.
Nor was I the only student
with extracurricular activities.
Nearly everyone, it seemed,
had a Batman job. One stu-
dent worked in a dance stu-
dio. Another was a deejay.
Another ran marathons. Still
another played 8 hours of
video games a day—not a
Batman job exactly, although
it’s possible he sometimes
played games involving Bat-
man. And one grad student
had two kids, which I now
know occupies more time
and attention than any dinky
second career telling math
puns to drunk people.
It’s good that science ac-
cepts those with broad inter-
ests. Despite what half of the
grad schools told me, tunnel
vision is not a virtue. I met a
professor of ecology and
evolutionary biology a few
weeks ago who told me he
Batmanned as the lead
singer of a punk band, a ca-
reer he’s maintained along-
side science for decades. By
day, he lectures at an Ivy
League school. At night, he
rocks out. His musical career
makes him a better profes-
sor, but I’m sure there are
times he’s under pressure to
say, “What punk band? Don’t
ask me about The Offspring
unless you want a lecture on
Mendelian inheritance.”
Even now, I downplay my
nighttime activities at work,
partly out of paranoia that
someone in a position of
power will react the same
way my grad school adviser
did. Yet, when I arrive at work
in the morning remembering
the previous night’s perform-
ance, my secret second ca-
reer helps me dream bigger,
maybe even make connec-
tions in the lab that I would
have missed. On those days,
I feel like Hannah Montana.
I’m not saying that Batman-
ning always works. As with
anything, you need to be sure
that the hobby doesn’t creep
over into your career, lest you
find yourself training bears to
play cribbage during the
workday.
CO-WORKER: Hey, what’s
that bear doing in the lab?
ME: Uh, I wouldn’t know. That
must be someone else’s
bear.
CO-WORKER: Are you sure?
ME: Definitely. Be-
cause my bear would never
get double skunked by throw-
ing consecutive cards into
the opposition
crib. Would he, Mister
Growls?
There is, of course, some-
thing to be said for deep
focus on your subject. Mathe-
matician Paul Erdős famously
spent 19 hours a day doing
math, and he may be the
most prolific mathematician
who ever lived. For him,
scrapbooking or fantasy foot-
ball wouldn’t have been a
C A R E E R P R O F I L E : C o n t i n u e d
P a g e 4 A I M S T I M E S
much-needed mental “reset”;
it would only have wasted
valuable math time.
But for the rest of us, outside
interests keep us sharp.
We’re more productive, more
creative. We’re happier.
And Gotham City is safe once
more.
Adam Ruben, Ph.D., is a prac-
ticing scientist and the au-
thor of Surviving Your Stupid,
Stupid Decision to Go to Grad
School.
that parents' education level was a
strong predictor of their children's
coursetaking patterns, as other
research has found. Simply put, the
children of more highly educated
parents took more math and science
courses.
But here's what's striking. The effect of
the randomized intervention was
nearly as strong as the effect of
parents' education, the study
concludes.
The study, "Helping Parents to
Motivate Adolescents in Mathematics
and Science: An Experimental Test of
a Utility-Value Intervention," was
co-authored by four researchers:
Judith Harackiewicz, Janet Hyde, and
Christopher Rozek of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, and Chris
Hulleman of James Madison
University.
The research was supported by grants
from the National Science Foundation
and the U.S. Department of
Education's Institute for Education
Sciences.
Researchers first mailed a brochure to
parents in October of their children's
10th grade year. It provided
information about the importance of
math and science in daily life and for
pursuing careers, as well as guidance
to help parents talk with their children
about the connections between STEM
education and their lives. The parents
received a similar brochure in January
of their children's 11th grade year, as
well as a link to a website with more
STEM resources. The website featured
resources on STEM fields and careers,
along with interviews with college
students about the importance of
math and science courses they took in
high school.
The interventions led to a significant
difference in the number of elective,
advanced math and science courses
taken, such as calculus, statistics, and
physics, the study found.
Stepping back, the researchers
suggest that the stakes are high for
students based on decisions they
make in high school.
"The pipeline leading students toward
careers in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics [STEM]
begins leaking in high school, when
some students choose not to take
advanced mathematics and science
courses," the study says. "It is
essential to mobilize all potential
resources for motivating adolescents
to take courses that will best prepare
them for their future."
P A R E N T S ’ C O R N E R : P a r e n t s a r e a n
“ U n t a p p e d R e s o u r c e ” t o P u s h S T E M ,
S t u d y S a y s B y E r i k R o b e l e n
P a g e 5 V o l u m e 1 3 , I s s u e 1
Sometimes a little effort can go a long
way. A new study suggests that a fairly
simple intervention with parents can
translate into their teenage children
getting more STEM education.
The field experiment involved sending
parents two glossy brochures and the
link to a website, all highlighting the
value of studying STEM subjects. The
result? Students from those families,
on average, took nearly one semester
more of science and mathematics in
the last two years of high school,
compared with a control group of
families not exposed to this
intervention.
"Parents are an untapped resource for
promoting STEM motivation, and the
results of our study demonstrate that
a modest intervention aimed at
parents can produce significant
changes in their children's academic
choices," researchers write in an
article published this month in the
journal Psychological Science.
The research comes at a time of
growing national concern about the
need to prepare more students for
careers in the STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and
mathematics) fields.
Not surprisingly, the researchers say
Kentucky TRiO Day Celebration On Saturday, February 23, 2013, Morehead State University will host Kentucky’s TRIO Day Celebration, which will include Student Initiatives Competitions. Murray State University AIMS Programs will be taking teams to compete in the Scholars Bowl Competition. If you are interested, contact Dr. Sarr via email at [email protected] or by posting a message to the AIMS Facebook Group. There will be a Team Meeting and Practice Session during the meeting scheduled for Saturday, February 2, 2013. Please make plans to attend. Team members with the highest number of correct answers have an opportunity to attend the SAEOPP Regional Initiatives Competition later in the academic year. This event is a lot of fun and very exciting!
Studying can be difficult.
When you were searching for
a college, you probably never
imagined it would be so hard
and so much. You might read
one sentence and think you
know what the writer’s talk-
ing about, but as soon as you
read the next paragraph,
you’re lost. You can’t remem-
ber what you read and you
don’t really understand the
topic. But you have to; this is
knowledge you need for an
upcoming test, and it’s what
you need to know to get
ahead in your career. Under-
standing the material, re-
membering it for the test and
being able to apply it to a
career is important, and chal-
lenging, no matter if you’re
an online student or if you’re
in the classroom every day.
Here are five simple tips to
help you study.
1. Train your brain: Study at
the same time, in the same
place, every day
Your brain is a muscle, and like any muscle, it responds well to repetition and rou-tine. Choose a study area in your house, at the library, or at your favorite (quiet) cof-fee shop. You want the same area, even the same desk, everyday. You want to choose a quiet spot, and you want to have all of the supplies you’ll need readily available to you, including food and beverage. Don’t forget anything; you want to stay in that spot without any distractions. Visit that area at the same time every day.
After a few days, your brain will be ready to concentrate as soon as you approach that spot.
2. Tick tock: Get a stopwatch
Study every day for the same amount of time. Never cram! Cramming only leaves you exhausted for the test, and you’ll never remember the info two days later. Choose an amount of time that is right for the class you’re taking. You’ll have a good sense of what the class requires by asking your professor and after studying for the first few days. Once you choose an amount of time (an hour or two per class is usually more than sufficient), set your stopwatch, and then hide it so you’re not con-stantly looking at the clock. Don’t leave your study area until the stopwatch goes off. If you run out of things to study before the time is up, great! Review the previous chapters. If you’re writing a paper when the watch goes off, stop even if you’re mid-sentence. That will give you somewhere to pick up the next day. And remember, always reward yourself: Shut the book, put down your highlighter, and take yourself out for a milkshake!
3. Put down the highlighter
Have you ever noticed your-self highlighting almost every single sentence in the book? It’s sometimes diffi-
cult to know what to high-light. Everything seems important. Read the entire page of text before you make any highlighting marks. Then go back and choose the most important sentence in that page. Ask yourself why it’s important. Is it introducing a new idea? A new key word? An impor-tant quote or date? If so, highlight it AND write it down in your notes. Keep your notes, and your high-lighting, to a minimum. Think about it this way: the information has to earn a highlighting line or a place in your notes. Is it worth it? Usually, the first sentences of a section are the most important; they introduce the idea that the rest of the paragraphs will be discuss-ing. Also, usually anything in bold or italics is empha-sized because the textbook writers want you to remem-ber it. Finally, always read the chapter or section re-views. Most likely, your pro-fessor will use these review pages to design a test, and they will give you an idea about what you should be highlighting.
4. Build a community
You don’t have to be sitting directly across from other people in order to have a study group. In fact, your study group doesn’t even have to include other stu-dents from your class. Use the Internet. Look up the
F I V E S I M P L E S T U D Y T I P S : A C E T H E T E S T
& R E M E M B E R W H A T Y O U L E A R N E D B Y
A D A M S O R E N S E N
P a g e 6 A I M S T I M E S
topics you’re studying, and talk to other people on dis-cussion pages about those topics. Become an expert on your topics; don’t just rely on the textbook to build your knowledge. If you can start a study group with other students in your class, chat online at previously scheduled times and intro-duce them to the informa-tion you’ve learned from reading other material and talking with other people. Also, make sure to include your professor in your com-munity; he or she is your most valuable resource, and a person you should communicate with on a daily basis. Professors are always eager to help stu-dents who are eager to learn.
5. Ace that test!
First and foremost, be healthy. Eat well, get a lot of sleep, and keep a positive attitude going into your test. Study by going over your notes and your highlighted marks, and rereading the review sections of each chapter. The best way to learn and retain information is to teach it to someone else. Pull a friend or family member aside and see if you can teach that person something from your class material. Also, have that person help you with flash-cards (which of course only contain the most important ideas from your textbook or study material). While you’re taking the test, start with the easy questions. If you have to skip around a bit in order to get into a
F i v e s i m p l e s t u d y t i p s : c o n t i n u e d
P a g e 7 V o l u m e 1 3 , I s s u e 1
rhythm, that’s fine. Build your confi-dence. If you don’t know an answer and it’s a multiple-choice test, nar-row it down to the two most likely answers and choose between them. If it’s a short answer test or a math or science problem, give it your best try. You might get partial or half-credit. Before the test, take a deep breath and be calm. Trust yourself.
pg.5 of this newsletter) & MANDATORY Bridge Meeting 3 9th ACT Test Date 23rd Kentucky TRiO Day Celebration/ Scholars Bowl Competition Morehead State University
March 9th SAT Test Date 23rd Honor Roll Trip Dinner TBA April TBA College Tour
13th ACT Test Date
27th AIMS Summer Orientation 9:00am—12:00pm 251 Blackburn Science Bldg
January 21st MLK Day Of Service 9:30am Registration Curris Center 10:00am Keynote Address 11:30am Team Meetings and Travel to Sites (Sack lunches Provided) 12:00—4:00pm Projects 4:30pm Wrap-Up & Pizza Party @ Curris Center Projects: Needline, Bike Project, Backpack Project, LBL Homeplace, Angel’s Attic, Project TBA, Road-side Clean-up 26 SAT TEST DATE
February TBA Summer Employment Interviews
2nd Academic Team Meeting (Additional Information
May 4th SAT Test Date 27th Bridge Move-In Day
June 1st SAT Test Date 8th ACT Test Date 10th Undergraduate Move-In Day
29th—July 3rd End of Summer Trip
240 Blackburn Science Building
Murray, KY 42071
Phone: 1-877-424-6777
Fax: 270-809-4351
E-mail: www.murraystate.edu/aims
AIMS STAFF Dr. Doris Sarr – Director [email protected] Stephen D. Keene – Coordinator [email protected] Evan O’Neal – Coordinator [email protected] Gail Wooldrige – Administrative Assistant [email protected]
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