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I am mighty in the ways of Professor-Fu.
That is, the art of finessing faculty members so that they do a great deal of work on your behalf, and they like it. Even when you come from a lab with which they otherwise have a bone to pick.
Point in case, I'm the TA for a 400-level virology survey course this term, and I'm the first GSI this course has ever had. The teacher is greatly appreciative of having an interested observer with whom to discuss teaching philosophy and lecture design.
Coming up shortly is the one lecture on bacteriophage (bacterial viruses), and the teacher has admitted that even she finds that day boring, as the students really get bored by the dry material of mechanisms, and much prefer gory pathology. With that in mind, I suggested including a story I've recently come aware of, that of the toxin-bearing phage carried by enterohemorrhagic E. coli which really makes EHEC dangerous.
My lab's other minions have been working on a project involving this area as a collaborative work with another faculty member. Said faculty member has tussled with some of our techs in the past (mostly as they *really* haven't gotten what he's trying to say), and sounds fairly suspect in general about our group. But, he's the local expert on the Shiga-toxin-phage/EHEC story, so I thought I'd bite the bullet and ask him for some help.
He was so thrilled by my request that he came down to personally deliver a copy of his text, highlight the relevant chapter, and walk me through some of the nuances. Smiling all the while.
Right. There are several reasons why I'm so well known in this department.
(hrmm, could do with a teaching icon, as well)
That is, the art of finessing faculty members so that they do a great deal of work on your behalf, and they like it. Even when you come from a lab with which they otherwise have a bone to pick.
Point in case, I'm the TA for a 400-level virology survey course this term, and I'm the first GSI this course has ever had. The teacher is greatly appreciative of having an interested observer with whom to discuss teaching philosophy and lecture design.
Coming up shortly is the one lecture on bacteriophage (bacterial viruses), and the teacher has admitted that even she finds that day boring, as the students really get bored by the dry material of mechanisms, and much prefer gory pathology. With that in mind, I suggested including a story I've recently come aware of, that of the toxin-bearing phage carried by enterohemorrhagic E. coli which really makes EHEC dangerous.
My lab's other minions have been working on a project involving this area as a collaborative work with another faculty member. Said faculty member has tussled with some of our techs in the past (mostly as they *really* haven't gotten what he's trying to say), and sounds fairly suspect in general about our group. But, he's the local expert on the Shiga-toxin-phage/EHEC story, so I thought I'd bite the bullet and ask him for some help.
He was so thrilled by my request that he came down to personally deliver a copy of his text, highlight the relevant chapter, and walk me through some of the nuances. Smiling all the while.
Right. There are several reasons why I'm so well known in this department.
(hrmm, could do with a teaching icon, as well)
