Official End of Sabbatical

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Luna Lovegood joined our family on Star Wars Day!
My sabbatical (or Assigned Research Leave as Miami likes to call them) officially ended when the semester did (graduation was Mother's Day weekend), but faculty are on 9-month appointments and I am not teaching this summer. So I have the summer off, right?

Well, things have quieted down considerably since most of the grad students are out doing field work and have finished up with qualifying & comprehensive exams for the year. I was also asked to fill in on a PhD oral exam since a committee member is leaving the country* (need to go read the written exam ASAP!), but otherwise I don't have any formal grad student work going on right now, either.

Since we're not doing a family trip to Kenya this year (too expensive!) I did volunteer to mentor a student in Miami's Ecology Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. I also have a grad student doing local field work this year. My plan is to have my REU student and grad student work together in the field and it looks like that will work out well. I really like our REU program and have worked with some excellent students over the years- this year marks 10 years since I first mentored a REU student (I've been at Miami for 11 years now). The program also helps keep me focused in the summer, since we have weekly meetings, visiting scientists, etc. Staying focused in the summer is something I have always struggled with. Once I lose the structure of the semester and my daughter is home every day, it's hard to stay in work mode.

So, this year will be a summer in Oxford. My only trip will be to California to attend this workshop at Google Headquarters in Mountain View! I'm really excited about it. Otherwise, I want to learn ENVI 5.0 so I can use it for teaching in the fall. I started working through their tutorials and want to continue with that. I am also taking over as Geography undergraduate advisor (Miami calls it Chief Departmental Advisor, or CDA, but I can't hear CDA without thinking of this!) I need to learn some things before I can do that effectively, too. What plans do you have this summer?

Thoughts for future posts:

  • Landsat 8! USGS took over control of the newest Landsat satellite and they've already been archiving FREE data. I downloaded a scene but realized that ENVI isn't yet set up for importing OLI data. I may have fire up Windows (I use an iMac with VMWare Fusion to run Windows) to import it with Imagine, or just import to ENVI without the calibration in the mean time.
  • Undergraduate advising. I have advised students on research, but not for their major/minor planning, so this will be a new experience for me. What makes a good academic advisor? What mistakes should I be trying to avoid? 
  • Upcoming and proposed research projects. I am feeling rather in limbo in terms of research right now and need to get some focus. More later!

*My husband! 
Location: Oxford, OH 45056, USA

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