(Conditionally) accepted

I am (conditionally) very proud and excited!

My journal paper based on my dissertation has been conditionally accepted, so I probably shouldn't name the journal until all systems are definitely go--as the saying goes, there's many a slip, and anything could happen in the meantime.

But it looks good. I actually suspected this might happen; Mr. thalarctos and I were running errands by bus Thursday, and with plenty of time to talk about things while in transit, this pending paper submission was one of the things that came up. My position, which he basically agreed with, was that, while they technically *could* turn it down, I really didn't think they would, given that the rewrites they requested the first time around were so extensive that I basically did to the first draft what an Ichneumon wasp does to a caterpillar*. I couldn't imagine that, after I did all that work, they'd flat out reject it--but they could object to the part where I didn't incorporate their suggestions, and send it back for more work on that basis--and the next day, that's exactly what they did. (Hey, I must be psychic! </confirmation-bias>)

They want it shortened 20%-30%--that's not surprising; as has been observed more than once, the secret of my and Dorothy's writing partnership is that I over-write, and she under-writes, so we cancel out each other's worst excesses. In my first quarter of my grad program, we were assigned a 5-page paper; I delivered 25 pages on the topic. So yeah, they're right, and I'm a repeat offender on this score--no biggie, I'll fix that. As the first reviewer observes:

To be honest, this is probably more than what a fairly motivated researcher cares to read. A possible consequence is that this paper will not be cited much, which is detrimental to both the authors and the journal.

Oh, I *want* this paper cited, often and extensively, and to that end, I'll find 30% to jettison (heh--reminds me of the Hokulea story, which I'll tell later).

There is another change in response to the reviewers that I'll make, but I'm not giving up on it, just taking another tack:

The summary of the contribution seems a bit grandiose to this reviewer. (CAIS [Comparative Anatomy Information System] has "a wide array of important implications")

I'll change it in the article, but I'll keep it here: yes, I believe whole-heartedly that CAIS has a wide array of important implications. The thing is, it's easy to talk big, and there's no qualitative difference between my saying that here, and mouthing off in a bar about it. It's not science until I actually do it. My upcoming job, therefore, is to substantively deliver on this statement--stay tuned!

* no, I *didn't* literally lay my eggs inside, and paralyze it, so that my larvae could eat it alive.

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Happy Mother Bear's Day!

The first fund-raising campaign to mark the new direction I'm going in to support my research is a small one to raise some immediate funds for the sun bear reproductive biology informatics project.

While the details remain to be nailed down, the concept is already taking shape--a traditional Mother's Day brunch-style celebration with the donors, to toast the prospect of possibly helping the sun bears to become mothers themselves.

Of course, we can't have it on Mother's Day itself (Sunday, May 11, this year), because people already have plans with their own families, mothers, and spouses. So we'll create a new holiday just for this purpose, Mother Bear's Day, and celebrate with a donor appreciation brunch on Saturday, May 10, instead.

The program and details are still taking shape, but I need to finalize them soon, as April's already on the horizon. But I do know we'll be raising a champagne toast to the prospective mother sun bears over a Mother's Day-style brunch, accompanied by a program that shows the donors how their funds go to help our research to promote these efforts.

If you're going to be in Seattle that weekend, and you're interested in more details about this event and the research it supports, I'll have more details up right here in the next couple of days. Of course, I can always be reached in the meantime by email at ravens.research@gmail.com , as well.

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A new direction

What does a newly-fledged young* scientist do to avoid leaking out of the "broken pipeline" and getting lost, in a stagnant funding environment**, where grant money to support research is getting harder to obtain?

She becomes an entrepreneur! (Actually, there is precedent: Benjamin Whorf supported his linguistic work with a day job as an insurance agent, so I'm in good company.)

I'm actually taking a three-pronged approach to building financial and logistic resources to support my research, in order to diversify and minimize risk:

1. Donations. Since I am not a financial or legal specialist myself, I am currently working with grants administrators at a variety of appropriate philanthropic organizations (depending on project) in order to ensure full compliance with all state and IRS regulations regarding philanthropic donations.
   
   
2. Purchases. I am developing an offering a wide variety of products and services whose proceeds go to support my research. I'll post a catalog here when it's ready.
   
   
3. Investment. This is the part about which I will probably blog the least, simply because the state guy I am working with cannot provide guidelines for what is appropriate and what is not. There are a number of rules which a Small Corporate Offering Registration (SCOR), such as I am preparing for continuing education classes I am developing, fall under. I am preparing a microcapital offering with all relevant documentation under relevant state and SEC regulations.
   
   One of those regulations is that all advertising for the offering has to be approved in advance. I asked about blogging about my SCOR, and the guy I spoke to didn't know what a blog was. Needless to say, the policy has not been set, and since the last thing I want is the SEC coming after me, I'll only blog about my experiences putting together a SCOR if I can get assurance that it won't be an issue. If not, then not a peep--I'll talk about it only in meatspace, in Washington state, as per the residency requirements. So you may hear about it here, or not, depending on what they decide their rules are (or are not) about SCOR blogging.
   
   

All of these income streams converge to support my commitment to Research Projects, Education, Service, and Outreach in three areas:

• Basic Science Informatics: Sun Bear Endangered Species Reproduction Knowledge Representation (KR) Project (culminating in 40% Full-Time Equivalent [FTE])
  
  
  
  
  
  1. Knowledge representation and computerized reference ontology of bear anatomy. Develop and publish natural history of organ development in hibernating vs. non-hibernating species. Research questions: do these differences provide any information re: development of hormone-resistant cancerous tumors in those organs (breast and prostate) in humans? What are the medical implications of the different kinds of cells in bears and in humans?
     
     
  2. Anatomical atlas-—publish second edition of reference atlas for sun bear cytology, and make it freely available to wildlife conservationists in limited-resource areas.
     
     
  
  
  
• Clinical Informatics: Evidence-Based Massage (40% FTE)
  
  
  
  
  
  1. Best Practices in Massage: What are the information needs of the stakeholders in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and what information-gathering, information visualization, and information-presentation methods fit those needs best under what circumstances?
     
     
  2. Research Literacy for Massage Therapists textbook—finish contract (almost halfway through now!)
     
     
  
  
  
• Public Health Informatics: Information Access (20% FTE)
  
  
  
  
  
  1. What are the information needs of practitioners, patients, and software developers in the development of an open-source electronic medical record (EMR) in Haiti and other low-resource locations, and what information-presentation methods best meet those needs?
     
     
  2. What are the information needs regarding neonatal skin barrier development and biochemistry of traditional remedies of mothers and caregivers of newborn infants in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan? What information would they require in order to synthesize the beneficial aspects of traditional infant oil massage with what we know about best practices for which oils build up the skin barrier against infections and hypothermia, and which oils hinder that barrier development?
     
     
  3. What information about massage and other self-care could improve the quality of life of Haitians living with the effects of gross lymphatic swelling caused by worms, as well as giving their caregivers and families effective ways to support them? What are the best ways to provide that information in such a resource-limited area?
     
     
  
  
  

As this is my job now (though I may take other day jobs as appropriate to support this initiative), I'll be blogging about it more regularly here. That means kibitzing at other blogs less, but for now, that's ok.





* 49 years old, actually; 50 on May 1. But the term "young researcher" doesn't refer to chronological age, but rather to how long it's been since the scientist finished her degree. Since I graduated in August 2006 with my PhD, I'm a "young scientist", academically speaking.

** Actually, I agree with Orac that the problem isn't just as simple as blaming the NIH and the Bush administration. No matter--I'm not talking about why there is a problem, only about what I'm going to do to solve its impact on my end.

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Hooding ceremony

Our department held its first ever hooding ceremony, and Jill, Nick, and I were the three doctoral graduates to receive our hood from our professors--a very symbolic gesture of being welcomed into the academy as a peer.



I'll try to get some pictures of the ceremony itself from people who were in the audience. In the meantime, this is Mr. Raven and me before the ceremony, so I have the cap and gown, but am not yet wearing the hood.

Mr. Raven is wearing a stole of gratitude--it's something the academic garment people offer that represents a tangible token of appreciation from the graduate to someone who has provided special help to the graduate.

Since I wouldn't have been able to do this without his support, I wanted to acknowledge that publicly; hence, the stole of gratitude.

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