Summer Research Plans

[quasihumanist]

I have scheduled two weeklong trips to work with different groups of collaborators, with a third possibly in the works.

Each group includes at least one untenured person.

Being responsible to other people definitely helps get research done.

[azaz_the_unabridged]

I have two articles to finish up and submit by the end of September, as well as a chapter to draft and send to my chair sometime this summer. So it's definitely going to be a "lock yourself in a room and write" summer for me.

[mamselle]

I have three short French pieces,
Two book proposal chapters
One short abstract...

....and a partridge in a pear tree... *

all to be done at home or in local libraries, since my weekly tours have me tethered to home over the summers....

M.

*(actually the creature devouring the pears in the pear tree here is a squirrel....he takes a few bites and leaves the cores on the gate post mantle...all summer long. Perhaps he's researching "Pear sweetness, hardness, and digestibility over time" or somesuch...)

[AvidReader]

I'm finishing a book project and sending it to the first of what I expect will be many publishers. My goal is to have a polished draft by the last day of June. Fingers crossed!

Once that is off, I'm beginning a new project! I've been awarded a short research fellowship for this one, and I'm antsy to begin. I've promised myself that I won't even begin the secondary reading until I have a full, polished manuscript for the old piece--I don't want to get distracted when I'm so close to the finish line!

AR.

[waterboy]

Four paper revisions, a chapter to write, and some field work. And taking on some admin duties.

[adel9216]

I am going to travel this summer, (I went to Vancouver for instance) but am working towards getting a pass grade for my master's thesis. I am starting a PhD in September. I'll also planning my move (moving from my hometown to another city that's two hours away from where I live).

[mamselle]

Good luck!

M.

[drbrt]

I had good intentions for summer. I got a conference proposal out, one article submitted to coauthors, and one article submitted to the top journal in the field. That last one has actually made it past the desk rejection stage. (We were hoping we got at least as far as peer review to refine the manuscript for the next submission.) I also did major reading for my new fall project and redid a class in preparation for the next grant application, and did my tiny part for another grant application. However, that was all in May. June has been terrible. The first week I had a week long grant thing and no writing got done. The next week I was participating in a paid training for a new technology that might lead to a new line of research and no writing got done. Then there was a sudden death in the family during that and no writing got done the next week because I had to travel to the literal middle of nowhere for the funeral. I leave for an international conference/vacation at the end of this week. When I get back I have summer teaching. So this week is the last writing time I have.

However, I am SO STUCK on this project. It's from Five's thesis. I wrote it up and submitted the manuscript to a journal. After four months of review they rejected for fit and suggested that Much Nicer Journal was the appropriate venue. MNJ has an extremely specific format and has like double the maximum word count, and I'm having trouble getting started. Five is a chronic oversharer so I really need to get this done next so I can stop dealing with her drama. At this point I'm hoping to get enough rewritten this week that I can pick it back up so I can do a little writing in the mornings before I teach. I will probably slink over to the work sprint thread this week.

[fast_and_bulbous]

Somewhat shamefully, I am getting a lot done even though I'm currently taking vacation that won't roll over past July 1. Three manuscripts and two proposals in various stages of completion, and eager collaborators who make it usually rewarding and sometimes fun. I am bound and determined to do more vacationey things next week. This is after giving three invited talks earlier this summer (well, late spring, but I'm not faculty anymore so the distinction isn't as meaningful as it used to be). I really do need a real vacation.

[happylittletrees]

I am dividing time between the lab and writing. I will take some time off after July 15, though.

[Nekolove]

I have big goals too that I will likely also laugh at in August.

I selected other, because I am building a new program and received a summer stipend to do so this year. So I will be writing a lot of curriculum, setting up a newly renovated classroom space, working through a recruitment and retention plan, building a website and creating a social media presence, and thinking through an internship program. It's daunting but exciting.

Otherwise, I also have a research project with a collaborator that just got IRB approval at my new place, so we will be conducting interviews to generate some new data, and finalizing a book proposal. And I wanted to write two other articles this summer as well to get them into the pipeline.

I am determined to completely plan all four courses for this upcoming year this summer so I will have less work to do on that over the academic year (and can focus more on research).

But looking at this list here, I am mostly feeling overwhelmed. Time to make some lists and a calendar!

[Puget]

How's everyone doing on their lists? Here's my update for accountability:

1. Getting a new big study off the ground. We thought IRB was going to have issues and instead they approved it expedited in a couple of weeks- go figure. So all engines go on getting it ready to run and starting recruitment. This also will provide some proof-of-feasibilty data for #2, so top priority.

Grad student who's diss this is for seems to be making good progress with help of super awesome undergrad RA who got funding to spend the summer in the lab and who's honors thesis project this will be. Should be able to start collecting some pilot data soon.

2. Two R01s for October deadline (one collaborative). This is going to be the majority of my summer/early fall.

So far am pretty much on track with my schedule for revising grant #1, revised aims and working my way through approach. The collaborative grant has a rough draft of aims but my collaborator had other deadlines-- we will turn back to it after next week.

3. At least 2, maybe 3, grad student-lead papers submitted by the end of the summer (we'll see, but we do a weekly writing group and they've really gotten in the spirit of writing productivity, so I'm hopeful). Each of these will require multiple rounds of revisions from me.

All three grad students are making good progress and getting me drafts of sections more or less on schedule, with a few delays for analysis issues. I remain optimistic that all three will get submitted by the end of August. And one of them just got a really easy R&R on a paper we submitted this spring, so that's paper #4 and should be a quick turn around.

4. Big, complex collaborative paper with too many cooks in the kitchen (or sometimes no cooks in the kitchen because everyone thinks someone else is cooking). If we at least have the pre-registration done and data files prepped by the end of the summer I'll be happy.

Yah. . . this has been herding cats to add another metaphor. Just getting folks to respond to a scheduling poll is challenging. We'll see.

5. Last pre-registered paper from completed collaborative study. This is one where we don't believe others' claims and expect null results (but with better methods). If we're right about that it will be hard to publish and not make us any friends. But I don't think I get to talk about good data practices and replicability and then not try to publish things like this.

Zero progress with this-- need to bug collaborator again to look for the missing subjects' data files.

I'll also be spending a couple of weeks visiting family and friends and hiking in my beloved mountains. Oh, and I'm trying to buy a house. I think this summer is going to require a lot of disciplined efficiency with the work and a lot to caffeine, but I'm excited about most of it.

Visiting family in the mountains next week, visiting friends in the mountains combined with visiting collaborators in August.
House buying was successful much faster than anticipated-- closing at the end of July!

[aside]

Congratulations on the house!

Too early for me to update.  Things are progressing.

[darkstarrynight]

I have a lot of research projects to catch up on but must also work on my tenure packet this summer while teaching two classes.  Here are some goals!

• Finish longitudinal study analysis, complete manuscript, submit to targeted journal
• Start collecting data for new study if my co-PI will ever respond to my email
• Submit IRB paperwork (finished it today) once my co-PI for this other study will ever respond to my email
• Collect more data for grant project that got extended through next year, yay!
• Hopefully will have abstract selected for special issue and can crank that manuscript out before September

Otherwise, I have one manuscript under review with a former student, a book coming out in August (finishing up editor queries right now), and an article coming out in August/September.  Who knows what else will happen!

• Finish longitudinal study analysis, complete manuscript, submit to targeted journal

In progress, at least!

• Start collecting data for new study if my co-PI will ever respond to my email

Started yesterday, moving along well!

• Submit IRB paperwork (finished it today) once my co-PI for this other study will ever respond to my email

Got IRB approval, met with colleague today to get this rolling!

• Collect more data for grant project that got extended through next year, yay!

Seems impossible, but this was a two-campus project and my data link at my institution just took a job at the other one, so not all hope is lost.

• Hopefully will have abstract selected for special issue and can crank that manuscript out before September

Almost done with manuscript (after abstract was selected) and it is two more than two months before the deadline for it, yahoo!

[Puget]

Great progress darkstarrynight!

Today was the day for making sure the grad students productively work on their projects while I'm on vacation next week

Grad student #1 resubmitted the R&R paper today, after a day long panic attack yesterday that she'd done the original analyses wrong, which I could have told her right away she had not, but she didn't tell me until today because she was so stressed and re-ran them all just in case. So we had a little talk about how she should just talk to me instead of panicking alone next time, and all is now well in her world again. She leaves for a month in collaborator's lab this week working on new analyses.

Grad student #2 has her marching orders for while I'm gone next week. I dearly hope I will come back to a coherent full draft from her at long last. Poor middle grad-child--She tries hard, it just takes her longer and a lot more scaffolding than the other two.

Grad student #3 sets her own marching orders months in advance and then systematically carries them all out. She is really super easy to mentor, so I have to be careful to remember she's just finished her first year and not to neglect her. Fully expect to come back to a draft from her.