ATTENTION CREATIVE PEOPLE
...I know you're out there. I HEAR YOU BREATHING. Ahem.
I need a title for my job talk. By, like, yesterday. Thing is, I haven't yet decided exactly what will and won't be in my talk. I do know generally what will be in there, but I have a list of...lessee, 7 possible projects and almost certainly only have room for 3-4.
Background: A job talk is a seminar you give to the entire department when you go for an interview. Many times, this is the only interaction you will have with people. They will judge what sort of researcher and teacher you are from this one talk. Needless to say, this talk is VERY IMPORTANT.
I'm going to get some feedback from my lab about what exactly should and shouldn't go into the talk, but I still need a title ASAP. Therefore, behind the cut I have pasted a little bit of information about the projects that COULD go into the talk (in order of the likelihood that they will go into the talk) and some potential titles.
ANY help--from comments on suggested titles to new titles (someone gave a seminar not long ago with the genius title of, 'Where have all the flowers gone?' because they did conservation of flowering plants), to suggestions of what on the list is most interesting, will be greatly, greatly appreciated. I've asked my lab here, but none of them really seem to want to help with anything until Thursday...which is too late for getting the title to UCSC.
An ideal title is something that is informative (i.e. says what I'm going to be talking about) but also makes people want to come to the seminar. (I tend to write titles like, 'Wingtip shape and migration: Adaptations for a migratory lifestyle' which are overly long and boring.) I may be able to change the title a little, but the less changing I have to do, the better.
Research topics and results for Vertebrate Physiology job talk
• Heart rate of naturally-migrating SWTH
o SWTH with pointed wings and low wingloading flying in clear, calm conditions used NRG at a lower rate than conspecifics
o Definitely going in talk. Published.
• Calibration between heart rate and oxygen consumption/Doubly-labeled water
o Found linear relationships between HR and VO2/DLW for SWTH, at rest and during flight
o This is my one hard-core bit of physiology research, so should probably be included, even though it is not as interesting as some of the other research. Not published.
• Aerodynamics of molt gap
o Induced molt gaps lead to seemingly inefficient vortex wakes
o Cons: Not fully analyzed yet, so no numbers to show (however, I may be able to get some before the talk in Feb.). Not easily worked into a mostly-migration talk. Pros: Pretty pictures/videos. Demonstrates breadth of work I’ve done. Not published.
• Wingtip shape and fitness
o Male and female WCSP that arrived at a breeding site earlier had more pointed wingtips than those that arrived later.
o Cons: Correlative. Pros: Evidence of an attempt to link what I do to fitness (or at least fitness proxies), evidence of ability to work in California, work done on postdoc instead of dissertation.
• Catharus wings
o Migratory Catharus species have more pointed, less convex wings than non-migrants.
o Cons: Pattern is already well-known. Pros: Shows I can use phylogenetic techniques to address questions or at least think about phylogeny, and am interested in interspecific work! Unpublished.
• Wingtip shape and stopover
o After controlling for age and sex, SWTH with more pointed wings and lower wingloading arrive earlier in the season than conspecifics.
o Cons: Correlative, and could be multiple populations coming through instead of wingtip pointedness helping birds migrate faster. Another part of my dissertation. Pros: Published, single-author paper.
• Who are the early birds?
o SWTH from northerly latitudes come through stopover sites earlier in the season than those from more southerly latitudes.
o Pros: Use of isotopes, collaboration. Potentially nice discussion of hypotheses. Cons: Not interesting to non-migration biologists? Hypotheses depend on SWTH being leapfrog migrants, which my collaborators partly disagree with. Unpublished.
Okay--there are the possibilities. I really want to have #1, #3, and #4 in for various reasons and need to at least mention #2. Note that 'SWTH, HOSP' and such are various species of birds. And...crap, I can't define everything. You get the idea. If you have specific questions, let me know.
Anyhow, here are some potential titles I sent to my colleagues here for comment (I haven't received any yet):
Avian migration: Energetics and adaptation
Migration, Metabolism and Molt
Migration, Metabolism, Aerodynamics and Molt
Adaptations for a migratory lifestyle
Measuring metabolic rate in migrating and molting birds (problem: haven't technically measured it in molting birds yet, though I plan to)
Measuring the metabolism and aerodynamics of migrating and molting birds
Metabolism and aerodynamics of migrating and molting birds
Any comments will be appreciated!
For the record, here are some talk titles from established scientists in UCSC's seminar series, and some from Lund:
"Ecological speciation (or the lack thereof) in stickleback, guppies, and Darwin's finches"
"Niche evolution, coexistence and the assembly of regional biota"
"Using movement data to inform conservation: marine reserves, overfishing, and endangered fish"
"Insights from complex pedigrees into the evolutionary genetics of great tits, guppies and a small Swiss village"
"Allee effects in stochastic populations"
"Dispersal infrastructure in fragmenting landscapes"
"Speciation questions addressed using Chorthippus grasshoppers"
"When Rock and Scissors Beat Paper: The Role of Alternative Mating Strategies in Speciation"
(Note that the last one is by a grad student from UCSC giving a job talk over here! Also note that these are not necessarily *good* titles, but they're just a smattering of the kind of thing that people do.)
Quick note: I'm looking for some kind of thing that I could do a play on words based off of, like the one time I referenced 'Early birds' in the title, or the 'where have all the flowers gone?' or 'When Rock and Paper beats Scissors'--so if you can think of *anything* like that, please let me know. And no, the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow isn't relevant anymore.
I need a title for my job talk. By, like, yesterday. Thing is, I haven't yet decided exactly what will and won't be in my talk. I do know generally what will be in there, but I have a list of...lessee, 7 possible projects and almost certainly only have room for 3-4.
Background: A job talk is a seminar you give to the entire department when you go for an interview. Many times, this is the only interaction you will have with people. They will judge what sort of researcher and teacher you are from this one talk. Needless to say, this talk is VERY IMPORTANT.
I'm going to get some feedback from my lab about what exactly should and shouldn't go into the talk, but I still need a title ASAP. Therefore, behind the cut I have pasted a little bit of information about the projects that COULD go into the talk (in order of the likelihood that they will go into the talk) and some potential titles.
ANY help--from comments on suggested titles to new titles (someone gave a seminar not long ago with the genius title of, 'Where have all the flowers gone?' because they did conservation of flowering plants), to suggestions of what on the list is most interesting, will be greatly, greatly appreciated. I've asked my lab here, but none of them really seem to want to help with anything until Thursday...which is too late for getting the title to UCSC.
An ideal title is something that is informative (i.e. says what I'm going to be talking about) but also makes people want to come to the seminar. (I tend to write titles like, 'Wingtip shape and migration: Adaptations for a migratory lifestyle' which are overly long and boring.) I may be able to change the title a little, but the less changing I have to do, the better.
Research topics and results for Vertebrate Physiology job talk
• Heart rate of naturally-migrating SWTH
o SWTH with pointed wings and low wingloading flying in clear, calm conditions used NRG at a lower rate than conspecifics
o Definitely going in talk. Published.
• Calibration between heart rate and oxygen consumption/Doubly-labeled water
o Found linear relationships between HR and VO2/DLW for SWTH, at rest and during flight
o This is my one hard-core bit of physiology research, so should probably be included, even though it is not as interesting as some of the other research. Not published.
• Aerodynamics of molt gap
o Induced molt gaps lead to seemingly inefficient vortex wakes
o Cons: Not fully analyzed yet, so no numbers to show (however, I may be able to get some before the talk in Feb.). Not easily worked into a mostly-migration talk. Pros: Pretty pictures/videos. Demonstrates breadth of work I’ve done. Not published.
• Wingtip shape and fitness
o Male and female WCSP that arrived at a breeding site earlier had more pointed wingtips than those that arrived later.
o Cons: Correlative. Pros: Evidence of an attempt to link what I do to fitness (or at least fitness proxies), evidence of ability to work in California, work done on postdoc instead of dissertation.
• Catharus wings
o Migratory Catharus species have more pointed, less convex wings than non-migrants.
o Cons: Pattern is already well-known. Pros: Shows I can use phylogenetic techniques to address questions or at least think about phylogeny, and am interested in interspecific work! Unpublished.
• Wingtip shape and stopover
o After controlling for age and sex, SWTH with more pointed wings and lower wingloading arrive earlier in the season than conspecifics.
o Cons: Correlative, and could be multiple populations coming through instead of wingtip pointedness helping birds migrate faster. Another part of my dissertation. Pros: Published, single-author paper.
• Who are the early birds?
o SWTH from northerly latitudes come through stopover sites earlier in the season than those from more southerly latitudes.
o Pros: Use of isotopes, collaboration. Potentially nice discussion of hypotheses. Cons: Not interesting to non-migration biologists? Hypotheses depend on SWTH being leapfrog migrants, which my collaborators partly disagree with. Unpublished.
Okay--there are the possibilities. I really want to have #1, #3, and #4 in for various reasons and need to at least mention #2. Note that 'SWTH, HOSP' and such are various species of birds. And...crap, I can't define everything. You get the idea. If you have specific questions, let me know.
Anyhow, here are some potential titles I sent to my colleagues here for comment (I haven't received any yet):
Avian migration: Energetics and adaptation
Migration, Metabolism and Molt
Migration, Metabolism, Aerodynamics and Molt
Adaptations for a migratory lifestyle
Measuring metabolic rate in migrating and molting birds (problem: haven't technically measured it in molting birds yet, though I plan to)
Measuring the metabolism and aerodynamics of migrating and molting birds
Metabolism and aerodynamics of migrating and molting birds
Any comments will be appreciated!
For the record, here are some talk titles from established scientists in UCSC's seminar series, and some from Lund:
"Ecological speciation (or the lack thereof) in stickleback, guppies, and Darwin's finches"
"Niche evolution, coexistence and the assembly of regional biota"
"Using movement data to inform conservation: marine reserves, overfishing, and endangered fish"
"Insights from complex pedigrees into the evolutionary genetics of great tits, guppies and a small Swiss village"
"Allee effects in stochastic populations"
"Dispersal infrastructure in fragmenting landscapes"
"Speciation questions addressed using Chorthippus grasshoppers"
"When Rock and Scissors Beat Paper: The Role of Alternative Mating Strategies in Speciation"
(Note that the last one is by a grad student from UCSC giving a job talk over here! Also note that these are not necessarily *good* titles, but they're just a smattering of the kind of thing that people do.)
Quick note: I'm looking for some kind of thing that I could do a play on words based off of, like the one time I referenced 'Early birds' in the title, or the 'where have all the flowers gone?' or 'When Rock and Paper beats Scissors'--so if you can think of *anything* like that, please let me know. And no, the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow isn't relevant anymore.