Archive for February, 2006

Feb 20 2006

On the Verge of Obsession

Published by steve under Life, Physics

Sometimes I get so close to an objective in my research, I become utterly obsessed with it. I spent most of my life in graduate school in that state, chasing the results that eventually became the work of my thesis. This past week, I’ve been pushing hard to try to wrap up my long-running search [...]

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Feb 12 2006

Call it Winter

Published by steve under Life

These entries are going to be more sporadic than they used to, not because my life is super-boring right now, but because my life is super-hectic right now. When I’m not working on my primary or secondary research projects, or my muon veto system simulation, I am working with the SLAC users’ team preparing for [...]

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Feb 05 2006

Balancing Research and DC

Published by steve under Life

The winter conferences are nearly upon the BaBar collaboration, and many deadlines are fast approaching. While my own work is far from ready for presentation at a conference, a lot of the physicists who work in my physics working group are getting fired up for them. As a result, I’m balancing my own research against [...]

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Feb 01 2006

Government Scientists and Academic Freedom

Published by steve under Science

I am a post-doctoral researcher, employed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose research is funded by a grant from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Most of my colleagues who are also university scientists are similarly funded either by the DOE or the National Science Foundation (NSF). I don’t work for the government, [...]

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