Interdisciplinary

The trick is to keep splitting up your discipline into smaller and smaller pieces, until you can claim your work goes through a bunch of different areas.

Elevator Pitch

“Do you mean to tell me you’ve spent years working on this, but you don’t know how to explain it to me?!”

“Oh no, I can do it…I’ll let you know this afternoon.” (Proceeds to spend that time frantically searching for a good way to communicate the idea.)

Reality Check

“You may have also heard of ‘experiments’ and ‘data’. We won’t worry about that here.”

Loss Landscape of Academia

It’s good to check every once in a while that you aren’t stuck in a local minimum.

Simple

This is how I feel about many computer science papers. Such simple ideas, but the notation and equations are so cryptic.

Difficulty Level

You would think that this should be painless. But no, despite our civilizational advances, this is still a pain.

Project Cycle

The highs in science are often short-lived, so make sure to give yourself the time to celebrate. You will have plenty of time to start a new project and be stuck in frustration again!

Grants

“And honestly, the equations I use for my work are simpler than yours.”

Working Hard

Busywork is not the same as work that helps you achieve your goals.

Fan Mail

Normally, I’d be mad about you checking out my mail. But on second thought, could you also sort through it a bit?