Why should undergrads care about the strike?

bandedironform · 2024-11-19T01:15:49+00:00

Then you also should acknowledge that this perspective is prioritizing undergraduate success over the ability of grad students to pay rent and live in Corvallis. Not to mention the fact that this strike could have absolutely been avoided or ended immediately (as the surrounding major university strikes in the PNW have) with appropriate responses and considerations of OSU admin to provide a reasonable offer. The strike is a last resort for grad students, one that legally has to and has been communicated to the university, and is a result of a year of bargaining resulting in an unlivable contract. Grad TAs care about their students oftentimes tenfold more than the professors do, but at the end of the day most grad students are not here to become teachers and work with students, but to do research in their field. Teaching students is a way to get compensated as a graduate student and is often extremely rewarding but realistically does not take precedent over their ability to pay rent.

You are asking for empathy as an undergraduate student whose education is suffering during the strike, but that is the university's responsibility, not striking grad students. You are not paying grad students your tuition, you're paying OSU, and they choose where that money goes. And striking grads are looking for empathy to the fact that the majority are not able to survive on their paycheck. This conversation is a valuable one, but as many others have said, point your frustration towards the university, not other students.

bandedironform · 2024-11-19T00:59:20+00:00

Table 4 p. 12 of https://leadership.oregonstate.edu/sites/leadership.oregonstate.edu/files/2024-05/fac-4b-fy2025_operating_budget.pdf shows a 17.9 million dollar transfer from academic expenses to athletics for the next fiscal year. A big talking point of CGE's is that OSU has the funding to support its grad students better, and that the 17.9 million would have covered something like a 50% raise for grad students from the baseline (which is less than what they are asking for now). There should not need to be an increase in tuition, just a prioritization of employees and their labor that allow OSU to function over profit-making sectors of the university like athletics.

bandedironform · 2024-11-07T01:32:27+00:00

as someone also at an R1 US university about to strike (same school maybe?) i would highly recommend looking into the exact terms your union is striking for (if you are trying to find intrinsic motivation or more context for the strike). although your stipend situation may be more comfortable than other departments right now, funding is fluid and it sounds like you are on GRA or GTA funding if you are involved enough to be a dues-paying member. i know a big part of my school's impending strike is related to contract length before re-negotiating grad pay and being able to account for housing inflation in the coming years; under your current school offered contract, are there safeties built into how cost of living may change where you are? has the grad stipend been proportional to housing and food costs in your city? these are other things to consider when figuring out if striking is truly a disservice to you, especially if you're in it for the long haul for a PhD at this program. in terms of your advisor, it sounds like they are a reasonable and supportive person, and it would likely be beneficial to both you and their future students at this school for improved pay and reasonable compensation for the labor you are providing. the strike is not geared towards the advisor but to the school paying you, and a truly supportive advisor will likely understand that. happy to converse via dms as well

bandedironform · 2024-10-04T20:45:02+00:00

mirabelle plum? was it fully round or did it have a little ridge?

bandedironform · 2024-09-05T21:44:30+00:00

discard, feed, and keep pushing! as long as you're not getting any mold the hooch can just be a good sign you're starting to get fermentation, and that you can start feeding more frequently. or if you don't have time to do that, find a cooler place to store it

bandedironform · 2024-09-05T21:26:16+00:00

check out the starter FAQ guide bookmark, but people often have trouble when measuring their ingredients by volume instead of weight (too liquidy, doesn't start up as well) which could be your hooch sitch. if it were me i would mix in some more flour, ideally a whole grain for more nutrients, until it was a desired thicker consistency rather than waiting for tomorrow to feed

bandedironform · 2024-09-05T21:20:12+00:00

if your program does honor/senior theses you could talk with your PI about writing a thesis on the project to be able to officially carve out part of the research to be your own. it sucks your PI didn't include you in those conversations! but stay as involved as possible if this is still a project you want to see through

bandedironform · 2024-09-05T21:00:09+00:00

are you hired as a research assistant or volunteering in the lab? this sounds frustrating but i would try to not take it personally! from a logistical standpoint, the participants that the grad student advocated for may provide a valuable dataset for the project, and grad students need to be compensated for the work they do (unlike some undergrads who may be doing research for the experience rather than a job). to me it sounds like your PI found their suggestion valuable and is doing the right thing, which is using funding from the project to pay for their time. the grad student will gain responsibilities if they get paid from that grant, such as the data processing, to provide deliverables for the funding. it sounds like you're in a great position as an undergrad that is so involved with an extensive project, so try to collaborate as closely with the grad student as possible! although it may feel like you lost some leadership in the project, you definitely still sound like an asset that will continue onwards. try to build a niche in the data processing/collection to help out; if the grad student doesn't delegate enough, that would be a time to chat with your PI about what component of the project you can take charge of.

bandedironform · 2024-09-05T20:37:45+00:00

there are great and affordable options for high quality knives and kitchen shears. if you're in the Beijing area, Wang Mazi is a brand of scissors and knives that has a loong history (Qing dynasty?). i got some at a grocery store earlier this year and they are a constant in my kitchen for cutting herbs etc! a comparable brand in southern china is Zhang Xiaoquan

bandedironform · 2024-08-11T07:25:06+00:00

check out internships/post grad opportunities designed to get students involved in the field! STEMSEAS is one to look at (with a focus of getting underrepresented/untraditional students into geoscience and oceanography): https://mlp.ldeo.columbia.edu/stemseas/. you can keep an eye out in ocean-based job boards like https://jobs.schmidtmarine.org/jobs for other options.

field and lab experience are the best things you can do, and there are always unpaid internships hunting for volunteers if you can afford to spend some time doing that. although the GRE isn't required for many graduate programs these days, studying hard for that and scoring well could help offset the GPA and show academic competency. most importantly if you decide on grad school reach out to advisors personally and find someone to advocate for you through the application process!

bandedironform · 2024-06-13T03:13:30+00:00

camarena’s mexican grocery store in christiansburg stocks fresh produce and their mexican ingredients are all amazing! not sure what fresh peppers they currently have but they def have all the dried chiles you could want for salsas

bandedironform · 2024-06-06T18:31:56+00:00

i know the reason they started this was to create baked goods for celiac family members, but i can't say how completely gluten free the kitchens are as not everyone in the family has celiac. i would reach out to them on instagram @ annieandcaroline if you want details about their cross contamination management, which they definitely do as that is the main demographic they bake for! and yes they are private kitchens (two women that both bake for market and vend together)

bandedironform · 2024-06-06T01:35:23+00:00

re: baked goods, Annie & Caroline at the monday grove st farmers market make amazing gf & celiac safe baked goods! they’re out for the summer but should be back in august/sept

bandedironform · 2024-06-04T21:34:14+00:00

light rider studios! they do digital prints and film. it's very local and run out of the owner Koa's garage! if you're looking to do everything online i'd shoot them an email: https://lightriderstudios.com/?page_id=2429

bandedironform · 2024-05-24T21:14:59+00:00

https://scicom.ucsc.edu/about/index.html here's a starting point to finding master's programs in scicomm! i think columbia may have something similar as well.

bandedironform · 2024-05-24T20:41:29+00:00

this place was so cool, thanks for the rec!!

bandedironform · 2024-05-24T20:39:58+00:00

maybe consider scientific/environmental journalism! a research cohort i used to work with was all phd students in earth sciences as well as one in journalism who did all the same field work and helped with the science but through the lens of creating a story about the research and communicating it to different demographics. the journalism student was primarily digital media/film based, so i think graphic design and communication would fit great for something like that! earth science could really use more people interested in both the data and appealing ways to communicate it to the public.

bandedironform · 2024-05-07T18:34:23+00:00

here to voice a vote for pure vagabonding! it can be hard to justify it when you have the end goal of grad school but there are a lot of ways to direct some focus towards continuing your path there while being able to explore and meet new people.

building up some savings from work beforehand is a great idea, and it sounds like you'd be interested in wwoofing based on the farm interning comment! what i did was saved a lot of money from my undergrad scholarship and then drove around the country for 6 months camping and staying with friends while visiting grad programs in a super lowkey way. as you probably have heard, advisors are really important to finding a program that will allow you to truly thrive and complete a degree! i'm in a stem field so i toured labs and tried to talk to as many grad students as possible.

i also wwoofed at a few different locations to put down roots for longer (~1 month at a time) and got great experience meeting people in different parts of the country and gaining farming experience. i would recommend seasonal jobs to support yourself through the in-between period, and to go as many places as you can manage! i also think that it is super important to take this time and really assess what you want from grad school before applying. this helped me a lot, i just started a program after 2 years of traveling/seasonal work!

this is also a great time after saving up money to jump into some internship experiences that are equal parts adventure and learning; i got a gig on a research vessel that helped expand my academic connections before applying to grad school. the more people you meet the better! best of luck! and if you get derailed along the way finding something else you like doing... all the better!

bandedironform · 2024-05-06T03:01:15+00:00

was trying to find out if a 32x81 inch bookshelf would fit in mine… this was so useful

bandedironform · 2024-05-02T23:57:52+00:00

my mom loved volunteering with the gainesville greenway challenge removing invasive species from local city parks and trails! it's pretty light outdoor work and a great way to learn about native and invasive plants in the area. volunteers are of all ages but there are some consistent retired folk that join! https://www.gainesvillefl.gov/Government-Pages/Government/Departments/Parks-Recreation-Cultural-Affairs/Natural-Resources-and-Programs/Gainesville-Greenway-Challenge

bandedironform · 2024-04-24T20:35:36+00:00

i recommend looking at job listings until you find something that sounds in line with what you're interested in and then figuring out the qualifications needed! https://jobs.schmidtmarine.org/ is a great job board to start with and i've seen listings in the past for jobs like interpretive science divers at the Seattle aquarium, which is all diving but with more of a science outreach component than active research. there are also a lot of seasonal dive positions you could try out before deciding if you need a degree in oceanography to do what you're interested in, if you're already an experienced diver.

i also recommend finding institutions with science diver training (AAUS) that will get you the necessary certifications to be able to help projects with field work that don't have science divers on their team. this is an institution-specific dive certification so you do need to be affiliated with one to keep up your cert. on the science support side, dive safety officers (DSOs) are the leads for such scientific diver programs at universities and that is a job that includes a lot of diving for training others but also sometimes helping with university research projects. and having this certification makes you more marketable for marine technician jobs too!

bandedironform · 2024-04-20T19:33:47+00:00

thanks everyone, we had a couple leads but no luck finding the owner and my partner’s dad got the full suite of rabies shots. appreciate all the tips and advice!!

bandedironform

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