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Text of the page (random words):
gory to write down your impressions once you start looking at multiple options it s nice to be able to refer to one document to remind you of some details 3 you re applying to work with a person not just an institution going to grad school is not like going to college not at all when you apply to undergrad you apply to an institution primarily when you apply to grad school you are applying to a department but you are also applying to work with a particular person yes there are situations where students apply to a department and then after acceptance find an adviser in that department to work with it s not to say it doesn t happen but it s rare the adviser grad student relationship is somewhat like an apprenticeship you will be learning the trade of doing science from a mentor you want to learn about what working with this person is like you are not going to learn everything from a person s website i realize that but it s worth putting the time and effort in i d add that this is especially important for ph d students since you ll be working with this person for 4 6 years 4 writing e mails to and corresponding with potential advisers okay you ve done some research and have a list of professors whose research programs look interesting to you now it s time to reach out to them how does this work this is where things get tricky because everyone is different so i want to reiterate that this is based on my own perspective perhaps any faculty reading this could add their two cents in the comments firstly take this seriously don t send off an email you composed on your phone over lunch treat this as a cover letter create a word document or whatever software you use so you can save and modify the text potential advisers will be consciously or subconsciously evaluating your writing in this email this is what we do why would i take on a new grad student who doesn t even put the effort in to writing a proper email if you think that s absurd and unfair then good luck to you in all your endeavors is there a form letter you can use where you just change the names of course not if that worked you would know about it by now this is going to take some effort you re probably sensing a theme here not only do you need to put thought into this letter it s likely it will be different for each situation that is you will end up with as many word documents for as many advisers departments you plan to contact here s what i like to see when i get these emails not too short not too long two paragraphs max a very long letter regardless of how well its written will probably not be read in full that s just the way it is state your name what degree and institution you have or will have and the date or expected date of said degree do that all in one sentence state what you want for example i want to pursue a master s degree in geoscience and your research program looks like a great fit for me and my interests as an adviser i like to know if a student wants a master s or ph d from the start you might think being flexible is better but we are constantly planning and looking ahead about the make up of our group state your long term goals do you want a master s degree and then pursue a career in industry do you want a ph d and pursue a career in academics i appreciate that you may not yet know what you want to do in that case put some thought into writing a sentence or two that communicates that all the above would be in the first paragraph close that paragraph with a direct question to the person for example will you be accepting new graduate students to start in fall 20xx a direct question prompts the person to do something to act in this case to reply to your email you might even put it in bold the second paragraph can summarize and highlight things you ve done are doing i especially like to hear about any undergrad research projects you ve participated in or are currently participating in don t get too hung up on if the project you did doesn t match exactly with what the person does from my point of view doing any research as an undergrad is valuable because you hopefully see the process of doing science but don t go overboard on this second paragraph keep it succinct you can refer them to the resume cv you will attach to the email at this point bonus tip include your last name in the file name of your resume cv there s not much more annoying than a folder on my hard drive with 15 resumes called resume pdf oh yeah and convert it to a pdf don t send a doc docx file okay you ve sent off this important email that you ve put a lot of thought and work into now what what if you don t get a reply immediately well in all likelihood you won t get an immediate reply professors are busy people some are better than others with this sort of thing don t take it personal if you don t get a reply after 2 3 weeks then i think it s appropriate to send a follow up email simply saying you re emailing again and then include the original text in there so they don t have to go searching this is another reason why it s important to start the process early it may take up to a month to get a response when they do reply hopefully you get some solid information they might say sorry i m not taking on any new grad students right now this is a bummer but obviously important to know or they might say i might be taking on grad students but i m not sure just yet please contact me again in x weeks sometimes we are waiting to hear about grants or other sources of funding and aren t ready to make a decision or they might say something like i will be looking to accept a new graduate student i encourage you to apply this is very good it s exceedingly rare that you ll get omg yes please apply and i will definitely accept you into my program the types of replies you might get are too variable to even categorize here it really just depends on their situation and how they do things expect different things from different people if you get a reply back encouraging you to apply then reply back saying that you re aware of the application deadline and process basically that you re on it if you get a reply saying they aren t taking new students it s good to send a quick message back thanking them for the information 5 get it together finally this is the most important message and is advice that goes way beyond applying to grad school get your stuff together you can substitute another word for stuff if you like get organized stay on top of things get your ducks in a row etc seriously there s nothing more frustrating than a talented and creative student that doesn t have it together i don t care how good your grades are how high your iq is where you went to undergrad etc if you aren t ready to jump on an opportunity when it comes your way you could miss it it s competitive out there get it together okay i ve already written a lot in this post i m sure there are a thousand other things to talk about from both the student and adviser perspective again this is not meant to be comprehensive feel free to chatter away in the comments 15 comments from academic life playground example of gravity driven deformation november 28 2014 i went for a walk yesterday thanksgiving holiday with my brother in law and niece to get a bit of fresh air and as we strolled past a small playground we saw this here s a shot zoomed in a bit more the next image has my interpretation as you can see the layer of snow has been deformed into a little fold belt at the base of the slide the slide itself acted as an effective detachment surface sometimes called a décollement i suspect that as the temperature went above freezing and a bit of snow melted a threshold was reached where water between the snow layer and the metal slide acted to detach the snow from the slide the relatively coherent slab of snow then deformed into the fold belt at the down slope termination of the detachment surface the slide this is a very loose analogy to gravity driven deformation observed on sediment rich continental margins as kilometers of sediment piles up and loads the margin shale or salt horizons act as effective detachment surfaces for large scale gravitational tectonics characterized by extensional faults in up slope positions balanced by compressional fold thrust belts in down slope positions the amount of throw on these normal and reverse faults can be significant 100s to 1 000s of meters here s just one of numerous schematic representations of this phenomenon 7 comments from photos images 1960s video explaining longshore sediment transport in southern california october 29 2014 after seeing my post the other day of a turbidity current caught on video a good friend of mine sent me the link to this wonderful little film called beach a river of sand which was produced in 1965 it s 20 minutes long and well worth watching when you have a bit of idle time in your day it focuses on the origin transport and fate of beach sand in southern california from santa barbara to san diego it combines information from observations and scaled down models to tell the story of how sand makes it way southward along the coast and ultimately into submarine canyons there s even footage of sand cascading down into the head of la jolla submarine canyon although this video is almost 50 years old i think it s just as good if not better than documentary material produced today sure we might have fancier graphics animations today but they tell the story in such a simple and clear way i love it 7 comments from video submarine rov captures turbidity current on video october 28 2014 this video posted by mbari monterey bay aquarium research institute is quite amazing this past august a submarine rov remotely operated vehicle was in the head of mendocino submarine canyon 400 m water depth offshore northern california when a sediment density flow turbidity current occurred the rov captured the event on video and made measurements of sediment concentration these observations indicate that this flow had a lower layer that was more concentrated but still very dilute 0 1 sediment by volume and an upper less concentrated layer in total the turbidity current is estimated to have been 100 meters tall approximately 1 25 into the video there s not much to see because the rov is caught in the more concentrated layer experiencing a sediment black out check out the grl paper by sumner and paull that accompanies this footage this is really exciting because basic observations of these important processes are exceedingly rare to my knowledge this is the best video footage of an event like this 2 comments from turbidites video debris basins and signals in sedimentary landscapes october 8 2014 i recently submitted a review paper along with four co authors on the topic of signal propagation in sedimentary systems across timescales the idea that landscapes contain within them information about controls such as tectonics and climate has been a part of our science for a very long time but recent advances in the measurement calculation of rates of processes for example with cosmogenic radionuclides as well as theory and modeling related to how such signals generate sediment and propagate across the earth s surface to be potentially encoded into stratigraphy motivated us to write a review i ll post more about the paper once it s gone through the review and revise process but wanted to write a brief post here on the topic let s start simple consider a sedimentary source to sink system with erosional uplands sediment production connected to depositional lowlands and or marine basin sediment accumulation a tectonic or climatic change can change the rate of sediment production in the uplands that is potentially recorded down system as a change in deposition the morphology and length scales of the system play a huge role in the behavior which in turn affects how or if that up system signal is preserved as analogy consider human made debris basins these structures common in steep and tectonically active mountains such as the west coast of north america are designed to mitigate debris flow hazards on communities built on slopes that are prone to mass failure especially during precipitation events debris basins are positioned on failure prone slopes above concentrated population and or infrastructure and designed to capture newly liberated sediment as it flows down slope preventing that sediment from being transferred further down slope where potential damage and or injury could occur charles creek debris basin british columbia canada photo courtesy of b c ministry of transportation and infrastructure s flickr page essentially these basins are localized sinks that store sediment thus preventing the signal in this case a rain storm from propagating down system as a mass wasting event however if the magnitude of the event exceeds the storage capacity of the sink part of the signal will propagate down system anyway for example if the volume of liberated material exceeds the volume the debris basin can hold the excess mass would bypass the basin after it fills to capacity for debris basins to be effective they must be emptied following an event such that the storage capacity is returned to its maximum so in addition time and the accumulation of multiple events plays a critical role in system behavior for example the sediment volume released from a single rain storm may only be enough to fill a debris basin to 10 its capacity but material from 10 storms of similar magnitude if not removed would effectively erase the signal stopping action of the basin which would allow future events signals to propagate down system what is exciting and quite daunting is applying these concepts to much larger length scales and much longer timescales over longer and longer time periods the only evidence remaining of these mass transfer dynamics is the stratigraphic record see this post from fop about debris basins and if you haven t already read john mcphee s the control of nature which has a section about debris flows in the san gabriel mtns of southern california 4 comments from sediment flux sedimentary basins sedimentation source to sink stratigraphy writing friday field photo 189 maui beach september 5 2014 this isn t from field work just a pretty photo from vacation in maui back in january but it s the field nonetheless happy friday leave a comment from photographs i ve taken how science works video featuring iodp exp 342 june 16 2014 you ve probably seen the fantastic how science works interactive diagram and website developed by the university of california museum of paleontology if not i encourage you to check it out the main message is that the scientific method is not a simple linear process this is an important aspect for both budding scientists and the public to appreciate a new video on the youtube channel for the consortium for ocean leadership discusses the nonlinear iterative collective and highly creative endeavo...