Christopher X J. Jensen
Associate Professor, Pratt Institute

Pratt Math & Science Department conducts search for new Chairperson

Posted 15 Oct 2017 / 0

A sculpture created by Math & Science Scholar-in-Residence George Hart in 2016 The chairperson of my academic department at Pratt Institute, Carole Sirovich, will be retiring at the end of this academic year after well more than a decade of service as our leader. The Department of Mathematics and Science is currently searching for a new chairperson Read More

A Major Post, Department of Mathematics & Science, Higher Education, Pratt Institute, Science as a career, Sustainability, Teaching

“Mount H-Index”: I never made it to base camp, and I have still had some great adventures

Posted 09 Oct 2017 / 0

The Chronicle of Higher Education “Rethinking the Scientific Career” What a fantastic article, one that feels very validating from the vantage-point of my own non-conventional scientific/academic career! I love the metaphor used here: academic science has been set up to honor those with summit fever, to the exclusion of those who might slow down and Read More

A Minor Post, Interdisciplinarity, Public Outreach, Publication, Science as a career, Web

A Tribute to Dr. David Becker on the Occasion of his Retirement

Posted 24 May 2016 / 0

In my eyes, the best thing that a teacher can do is to broaden the future possibilities of their students. As students, we don’t always understand how — or even that — our best teachers open up our minds to a wider and richer road ahead. And even as teachers, we can’t be at all Read More

A Major Post, Biography, Biology (general), Experiments (General), Higher Education, Science as a career, Teaching

Lev Ginzburg Fest: celebration of a “retirement”

Posted 17 Dec 2015 / 0

“Lev Ginzburg has retired”. For anyone who knows Lev, this combination of words does not make a whole lot of sense. Is it possible that such a lively and active scientist would hang up his yellow pad and pencil in order to put his feet up in some retirement community far away from the world Read More

A Major Post, Allometries, Biography, Carrying Capacity, Conferences, Conservation Biology, Ecological Modeling, Ecology, Evolutionary Modeling, Population Genetics, Population Growth, Science as a career, System Stability, Talks & Seminars

Pivot #1: My popular science book idea may not get picked up by a literary agent

Posted 26 Oct 2015 / 0

I am now about halfway through a one-semester sabbatical. As I have posted about before, the central project of my sabbatical is a popular science book with the working title Breeders, Propagators, & Creators. I have had this idea kicking around in my head for a long time, and being on sabbatical has afforded me Read More

A Major Post, Breeders, Propagators, & Creators, Public Outreach, Publication, Science as a career

What open access evangelists often miss about the task at hand

Posted 12 Oct 2015 / 4

If you look at who I am as an academic, you would think that I should be among the most ardent supporters of Open Access publishing. After all, the proliferation of open access would solve a lot of problems for me. As a scientist who teaches at a school of art, design, and architecture, access Read More

A Major Post, Economic sustainability, Economics, Ethics, Grants & Funding, Higher Education, Periodicals, Public Policy, Publication, Science as a career, Social Media

Evolution 2014: Overall Impressions

Posted 02 Jul 2014 / 0

Great organization of a great conference I had a great Evolution 2014 conference, and that has a lot to do with how it was organized. Raleigh was a nice location for the conference: it has an intimate conference center, with enough food opportunities near that conference center. Although the transportation options getting to Raleigh are somewhat Read More

A Major Post, Conferences, Evolution Education, Professional Societies, Public Outreach, Science as a career, Society for the Study of Evolution

Evolution 2014: Synthesis centers can serve as incubators if they buffer researchers from the risk of failure

Posted 24 Jun 2014 / 0

NESCent director Allen Rodrigo suggested that if synthesis centers want to serve as research incubators, they need to allow researchers to pursue risky research questions without having to pay the risk of failure. In some sense he is arguing for society — rather than scientists themselves — to bear the risk of potentially-innovative research.

A Minor Post, Conferences, Grants & Funding, Public Outreach, Science as a career, Society for the Study of Evolution

Sweet Fern Productions puts Alfred Russel Wallace to paper

Posted 26 Jan 2014 / 0

Sweet Fern Productions “The Animated Life of A.R. Wallace” I loved the Sweet Fern video on whale fall, but this is even more valuable as a historical account of Wallace’s life. I really like the way that this video depicts natural selection! Great way of showing differential survival as Wallace might have seen it!

A Minor Post, Biography, Evolution, Evolution Education, Film, Television, & Video, Geography, History, Natural Selection, Science as a career, Science in Art & Design, Speciation, Teaching Tools, The WmD Project, Tropical Forest

Where to publish in ecology & evolution without funding for page charges

Posted 10 Aug 2013 / 10

WARNING: This article is accurate as of August 2013; publishing policies are rapidly evolving and therefore the page charges described below are subject to change. Every scientist wants to have funding to support his or her research, and part of that funding has to be ear-marked for page charges. Page charges? It sounds like an Read More

A Major Post, Ecology, Evolution, Periodicals, Professional Societies, Publication, Science as a career