Hi! I've just discovered women-in-bio. I'm a postdoc at Macalester
College in St. Paul, Minnesota. I am studying the effects of
colonization by the introduced zebra mussel on the physiology of the
native freshwater mussels. I was trained as a marine biologist but have
switched over to freshwater for the time being. I got my masters degree
at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (University of Oregon), where
I studied the hemoglobin of a sea cucumber. I got my PhD at the
Virginia Institute of Marine Science (College of William and Mary) where
I studied the metamorphosis of oysters and the effects of hypoxia on
that process.
I have a comment on the on-going discussion about paper quantity in grad
school. I had published my masters (1 pub) and most of my dissertation
(3 pubs) in well-respected journals, plus about 5 "gray" literature
articles before graduating. I didn't get my first paper out until about
3 years into my dissertation (it took me 5). Getting that paper
published was the boost to my waning self-esteem that I needed to get my
act together and finish. Having pubs definately helped me land a good
postdoc. Quality is better than quantity, though. One pub in a good
journal is worth several in less well known journals. Publishing while
still in school is an advantage too, in that as time goes by, it gets
more and more difficult to sit down and write those papers. Ive been a
postdoc a year and a half and still have not finished writing the last
paper from my dissertation.
Shirley
