The saying goes that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when it comes to identity theft — this could not be further from the truth. I dealt with a mild smattering of identity theft in the spring of 2018 and then, more recently, with a veritable deluge of it. Bank accounts I didn’t Read More…
Category: Biography
When “good enough” is great
My tolerance for imperfection is perhaps most apparent in the kitchen. My friends and family joke about my laxness with recipes and lack of respect for key ingredients — most recently, when I persevered in making a chili without any chili powder. (Surely, paprika with some cayenne would do the trick?) The end product often Read More…
A Room of One’s Own
Virginia Woolf spoke of needing a “room of one’s own” in which to write. Her remarks were partly in response to a culture where intellectual work was not seen as women’s work, where women were given neither the physical nor abstract spaces in which to pursue their own thoughts. Thankfully, today these issues are less Read More…
In support of anticipatory scholarship
Last week, a fellow PhD student and I were remarking how our dissertation topics have been tying into current public and academic discourse. Whether it’s media coverage or peer-reviewed literature, we’re seeing our areas of study get a little deserved time in the limelight. I said that’s why we do what we do: anticipatory scholarship. Read More…
Opening the Tomb
Terra cotta warriors During the last week in August, I attended a special exhibit of the Terra Cotta warriors at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center. The warriors are a touring collection of a tiny subset of the vast clay “army” buried over 2,000 years ago, encircling the tomb of China’s first emperor. While the clay soldiers Read More…
The Sophistication of Simplicity
A mentor once passed on to me some exceedingly sage advice about writing: it’s very hard to write when you don’t know what you’re trying to say. So many of my difficulties in academic writing are explained by this obvious but compelling observation. It’s not that I don’t know things, but it’s hard to figure Read More…
My current dilemma as a research participant
The Background In 2008 I enrolled in a study run by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The study team came to the human genetics research center at Duke University where I was working at the time, so it was easy to sign up (and good strategizing on their part to recruit other Read More…
My CV and a decade of evolving DNA genotyping technologies
Lately I’ve been describing myself as “having over a decade of experience in human genetics research,” which makes me feel rather old (I recognize that older people will scoff at this and younger people will smirk and nod). Nevertheless, it’s true: I started working in human genetics research at Duke University right after finishing my Read More…
Interdisciplinarity: Mixing it up
I introduced myself earlier as a graduate student in Public Health Genetics, an interdisciplinary program. But what exactly is “interdisciplinary?” It’s a nice-sounding word that gets thrown around a lot, but can be tough to define — sort of like “zumba.” (Ethnic dance style fusion? Funky line dancing?) So I’m going to take this post Read More…
Blue-eyed girl
The early days I’m not sure I would be in the field of genetics if I didn’t have blue eyes. I remember my first introduction to genetics, in my 7th grade “life sciences” class, which is just biology for middle schoolers. We were learning about Mendel, his peas, and the laws of genetic inheritance. One way Read More…