tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post4249871353432027197..comments2024-03-27T21:23:40.339-04:00Comments on Chemjobber: “Keep Your Job, Ken!” Part 6: TeachingChemjobberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-35448347347216375422020-04-24T12:44:40.799-04:002020-04-24T12:44:40.799-04:00In terms of outreach, at least through the lens of...In terms of outreach, at least through the lens of NSF broader impacts, I have no profound insights because the amount and activities vary greatly. I have seen people successful doing very little and I have seen others not get tenure or an NSF-CAREER with very strong outreach. The thing I have always been told is that outreach will not help you get tenure or a grant but the lack of it can work against you. If for example, you are on the boarder-line for NSF funding, your broader impacts could be used to justify not giving you the grant.<br /><br />In terms of my engagement, even from my times as a graduate student I have been heavily involved but mostly because I enjoy doing it. This includes things like judging science fairs, visiting high schools, Science cafes, chemistry magic shows, etc. My primary contribution as an assistant professor was of my own creation and it involved setting up up a tent at a music and art event in Tallahasse with a sign that said “Ask a Scientist.” I would invite 4 or 5 other professors from FSU to hang out, drink beer, and talk science with the public. If I am being completely honest, even if the public was not there, I would take this as a great opportunity to hang out with my colleagues. We have been doing this monthly for over 6 years now. I did a blog post on it in 2014 so you can read more about it here:<br />http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2014/09/23/first-friday-ask-a-scientist/<br />Once I hit a groove, it was not too involved. It lonely takes me 8-10 emails and then 4-5 hours on the First Friday of every month. Despite being fun and easy, this was the main portion of my successful NSF-CAREER proposals broader impacts. The one thing I did get critiqued on was that it was an already established event and not a new pursuit but at that point the reviewer is just looking for something to complain about. <br /><br />In terms of finding opportunities, I would try asking around your department because they might have something already established you can dive into. Alternatively, contacting someone in your PR office might be a good option. Since they often do news stories on university outreach, they have their fingers on the pulse of what is going on. Regardless of what you do, I would try to make it somewhat unique. I can’t tell you how many proposals I have reviewed whose primary focus is going to a grade school twice a year to do an activity. While a great thing to do, it is uninspired as far as a proposal goes. <br /><br />One thing I will recommend is to document all of your service. Anytime you give a tour, serve on a university advice panel, judge a science fair, etc. write it down and take pictures and videos if possible. It makes doing your annual grant updates easy and provides clear evidence of performance. Documenting also helps with your pre-tenure annual and/or 3rd year evals as well as with the tenure package submission. Same thing with your service to the scientific community. Document every grant (agency and number) and manuscript review (journal and number). For the latter, I recommend using a third-party service like Publons who basically do the book keeping for you.<br /><br />I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.<br />HansonFSUhttps://www.chem.fsu.edu/~hanson/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-15112554411312453972020-04-16T08:05:04.308-04:002020-04-16T08:05:04.308-04:00Thanks Ken for the post! a related question: how d...Thanks Ken for the post! a related question: how do you engage in outreach activities and how much should you get involved in outreach activities? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com