One of the great privileges of my job is that I get to participate on graduate student committees. This allows me to get up close and personal with data from a variety of sub-disciplines of biology that sometimes extend far from those of my particular expertise. You know by now that I carry a particular fondness for fossils and the stories they tell. So participation on a committee that allows me to get an up-close look at research on fossils, it is a really good day. Recently* I had one of those days as a participated in a doctoral dissertation defense. These are typically two to four-hour affairs in which we explore every nook and cranny of a research project. Although PhD defenses can be difficult at times, more often than not they are a fun exploration and appreciation of the details and broader implications of several years of a…
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James' Ramblings 