31 December 2008

A personal review of 2008

Despite a fair amount of good news professionally, it's been a long, tiring year.

Two papers finally came out, after way too many months of me not finishing revision. One is a quite substantial review article on the evolution of crustacean tailflipping that I'm quite happy about, from a writer's point of view. I think the explanations are clear, with good turns of phrase. Figure 1 was a bear that went through many revisions, but I'm pleased with how it finally turned out.

The second paper, on larval ascidian settlement, I'm pleased with because it came from work I did with my former high school intern, Amanda. And it's just cool to have a high school student as an author on a peer-reviewed journal article.

I got a small grant for my Marmorkrebs research. I got good feedback on the Marmorkrebs blog, and the Marmorkrebs research is chugging along well.

I had a set of damn fine research students, and my first Master's student, Sandra, successfully defended her thesis. Working with them has probably been the best thing about the year.

I blogged a lot here, on Marmorkrebs, and for my REU program.

I got tenure. In a year of economic meltdown, the prospect of a little security is welcome. But I still have mixed emotions about it.

And I taught non-stop. I taught in spring, I taught both summer sessions, and I taught through a fall semester that forced me into hiding.

So yet again, I can't wait to see the back end of this year. Roll on 2009.

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