Moving Forward in Science Policy

On August 13th, Dr. Nina Fedoroff, of Pennsylvania State University, was sworn in as the newest Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State (Ms. Condoleezza Rice). While in this position, Dr. Fedoroff will have a key influence on the future of American science policy and international scientific cooperation–

“The position of Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary (STAS) was created in 2000, to serve as the Department’s chief scientist and principal liaison with the national and international scientific and engineering communities. Dr. Fedoroff is the third person to hold this position. The Adviser is responsible for enhancing the science and technology literacy and capacity at the State Department, increasing the number of scientists and engineers working in Washington and missions abroad, strengthening and building bridges to the scientific and engineering communities, and providing advice on current and emerging science and technology issues as they impact foreign policy.” (excerpted from the U.S. Department of State’s website)

Dr. Fedoroff has been a favorite researcher of mine for quite some time because of her work with genetics and molecular biology and her studies on the societal impacts of genetically modified crops. She brings to the position an impressive body of knowledge and a well-respected plethora of experience, which includes memberships to the National Science Board and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also served as founding Director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State and is a National Medal of Science laureate.

I look forward to hearing the dialogue her office will bring to the public policy round table.

Bringing it all together.

Classes officially begin on Monday and I am ready! Over the summer I made the decision to matriculate a course at the Denver campus this semester, so I spent the afternoon today taking a look around and getting a few things sorted. I really like the Student Union and found most of the people I met and talked to very friendly and helpful when I had questions. And I love riding on the train City life is nice.

On the home front there’s been a lot of change, too. Very unfortunately (and almost unbelievably), my landlord and her husband were BOTH laid off from their jobs last week! So, due to that, they’ve decided to keep this house on the market but are now (understandably) looking to rent the entire house to someone in the meantime, having only rented out my room until now (they own and live in another house). This means that I’ll definitely have to move sooner rather than later, as previous circumstances had caused me to believe I could rent just my room through to the end of the year.

It’s all good, though. I’m feelin’ good and not worried

I need iTunes help

I just learned that iTunes’ podcast functionality is limited. The software only lets me sort the podcasts I’ve downloaded by their release date. This is fine for episodes that have unrelated content (like the daily news), but for books, dramas, and anything that depends on a specific chronological order, it’s a nuisance.

I ran into trouble last night when I tried to load an audiobook I’ve downloaded in podcast form onto my iPod. For some of my chapters, the sorting issue means the chapters are completely out of order because they were all released on one day, or several on one day, a few on the next, etc. These same chapters are also out of order in my library, which tells me the order they have in the library is kept when they are copied onto the iPod.

A cursory internet search didn’t turn up with much help. Has anyone come up with a fix for this problem, or can someone recommend a better library-to-iPod software?

Thanks!

List #4 (is the “new” List #1)

I’ve reached the one year mark on this blog! Yeah

I was looking through my lists and decided it was about time I made another one; but first, remembering List #1 seemed like an appropriate celebration of the blog’s first anniversary.

Now, on to List #4.

Movies coming out this summer that I want to see in the theater:

1. Mr. Bean’s Holiday
2. The Invasion
3. Manda Bala
4. September Dawn
5. The Bourne Ultimatum
6. War
7. The 11th Hour
8. Rush Hour 3

Back to business…sort of.

Ahh. Summertime has done it’s thing again. And, as I dream lazily of hot summer days and long summer nights, a hushed whisper inside reminds me…summer is nearly done.

Regular classes begin in two weeks, and somehow a pile of projects several feet high has landed on my desk at work. The vacation’s almost over; time to get back to the grind.

…Noooo!

Sweet Summer Rain

On my way home from work today, a heavy rain storm began while I was waiting downtown at the bus station. Like most others around me, I rushed under the closest overhang I could find. As I stood beneath the protection of an enormous concrete and metal structure, I looked out onto the street and watched the thick sheets of water fall to the ground. My thoughts drifted to the busy weekend away I’ve just come back from, the pile of work waiting for me on my desk, and the too-small, too-cold, too-gray office I’d left only minutes before.

And just like that, I zipped up my brief case, kicked off my sandals and stepped out into the rain with my face and palms up. It felt warm and smelled fresh, and soaked me to the scalp in about 10 seconds. A few moments later, the sun broke through the clouds and I could see a big rainbow nearby. That felt really good.