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Spotlight on People

Do scientists get bad grades?

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[A cartoon drawing of a stick figure in the fetal position ruminating about a failed chemistry exam.]

I wasn’t accepted into grad school when I first applied during my final year of college. The emails beginning with “We’re sorry to inform you” trickled one by one into my inbox, and I spent time frantically trying to figure out my post-graduation plans, since they were previously just ‘grad school.’ Fortunately, most of these emails had good suggestions about actions to take over the next couple of years, but one piece of feedback stung a little more than the rest. One program noted that while I had spent time doing research, my science grades were ‘quite poor.’ Honestly, they weren’t wrong…

Finding the Right Question

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[Portrait of Dr. Songhu Wang.]

Imagining life on other planets is usually the work of science-fiction authors, but increasingly it is becoming the work of current astronomers. Although it had been theorized that there existed other planets outside of our solar system, exoplanets were only confirmed in the late 1980s. The field exploded when the Kepler space telescope started finding hundreds of exoplanets. A rich field of study was born…

My journey in graduate school

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[Image showing graduate student's journey as full of adventure, obstacles, test, enemies and rewards.]

Ask any graduate student, and they will tell you that graduate school is not a place for the faint-hearted. Just like any jaw-opening, thrill-seeking action movie, there are mysterious, shady characters wanting to put you down, as well as a kindhearted stranger that makes the journey bearable. As I reflect about my journey as a cancer biologist, I feel that my story here at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) can be described in a few words: confidence, structure, purpose, and knowledge. Let me tell you what I mean…

Building Wakanda: a graduate student’s journey into sports psychology

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[DJ Purnell is captured from the side, smiling. He is sitting at a panel on advice for applying to graduate school]

This week on the blog, we tackle sports and performance from the perspective of mental health, talking with IU’s DeJon Purnell. Purnell is a Ph.D. student in the Counseling Psychology program in IU’s School of Education, and his specific focus is Sport and Performance Psychology. While much of sports psychology translates directly into counseling the athletes themselves, DJ focuses on bigger-picture issues in sports and performance mental health, such as coaching behaviors and pathways to licensure for practicing sports counselors…

Welcome to the Weaver Lab: An interview with Dr. Lesley Weaver

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[Dr. Lesley Weaver poses for a head shot wearing a bright, cobalt blue top, smiling facing the camera, and wearing her black, curly hair down and parted on the side.]

Dr. Lesley Weaver, an alum of IU’s Department of Biology, has returned to campus as an Assistant Professor after her finishing her postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University. This past September, I had the opportunity to interview her about her experience as an early career researcher, setting up her lab, navigating IU in her new role as an Assistant Professor, and how the COVID-19 pandemic shift to online has simultaneously highlighted issues with and solutions to accessibility and diversity in academia.

“They have seaweed in the library?”: Algological books by Victorian women

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[A picture of an open book with two specimens of seaweed pasted onto the right-hand page and a description of the seaweed on the left.]

Of all the wonderful things a great library can be, “a vessel for preserving the natural world,” may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But the library can be a preservational space as significant as a national park or a wildlife preserve. Not just in words and images, but in actual specimens. Take, for example, the copy of a rare and unusual book by Elizabeth Allom, The Sea-Weed Collector, found at IU’s Lilly Library. 

Expanding ‘The Matrix’ of science: The Newman lab inside and out

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[Eight people standing around a table full of science experiments]

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) assistant professor Dr. Ehren Newman studies circuitry in the brain, particularly the circuitry that is associated with the making of stories and the retrieval of memories. Newman’s background as a computational neuroscientist enables him to bring a plethora of new insight into his current field of systems cognitive psychology. Memory is a complex process with multiple facets. “We don’t remember everything that happens to us with equal probability,” he observes. “Instead, we have fragmented memories of things of varying lengths.” So, how do we choose which memories to store and later recall?

IU’s take on the cannabis trend

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[The image shows Cannabis Sativa plant]

On March 20, 2019, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Professor Emeritus Dr. Brian O’Donnell and Research Scientist Dr. Alex Straiker met with the student community for a Q&A session entitled “Cannabis: Science and Policy.” “IU has been the world center for research regarding cannabinoid signaling,” said Dr. Straiker during his address at the Science Café talk. Having studied cannabinoid signaling for more than 20 years, Dr. Straiker mentions the growing enthusiasm for cannabis use in a variety of forms, like essential oils; not only recreationally, but also for the treatment of anxiety, autoimmune disease, inflammation, and pain management…

What’s it like to work with primates? Interviews from the Ape Initiative

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[Bonobos in an outdoor enclosure, with several platforms, ropes, and other objects to simulate a more natural environment. ]

In this post, ScIU blogger Chloe Holden interviews staff members at the Ape Initiative in Iowa. She covers topics like: What is it like working with nonhuman primates on a regular basis? What surprised you the most when you were getting to know the bonobos? What’s your favorite part about working with the bonobos? and others…

You’re not too important to pick up poop: The quirks and perks of working with primates

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Pictured are the seven bonobo residents of the Ape Initiative. Starting in the top left to right is Kanzi, Maisha, Elikya and Nyota. The bottom row from left to right is Mali, Clara, and Teco.

[Pictured are the seven bonobo residents of the Ape Initiative. Starting in the top left to right is Kanzi, Maisha, Elikya and Nyota. The bottom row from left to right is Mali, Clara, and Teco.]

For the past three and a half years, I have been volunteering at the Ape Initiative as part of my research interests in primatology and cognition research. The Ape Initiative is a non-profit research and conservation facility that is home to 7 bonobos (Pan paniscus) and counting! Bonobos are one of the closest living relatives to humans, sharing about 98-99% of their DNA…

College of Arts + Sciences

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