Dear College of Science Faculty and Staff, My mom encouraged us to read everything. Books will never hurt you, she said, and that remains largely true. Comics she was not keen on, so I read those at friends’ houses. I’m a huge fan of fiction, immersing you in human emotion, adventure, and underappreciated, a conduit to many fascinating facts. You never know what you’ll learn when you start exploring written material, and there’s always something interesting. I’m reading Mantel Pieces right now, brilliant book reviews that are insightful, funny and sad. I look through multiple newspapers every day – from the erudite analyses of the NY Times, Washington Post, and my favorite the Guardian, to Daily Mail with impressively snappy reporting. The Boston Globe is great. Our excellent Northeastern library has multiple subscriptions you can freely access. I look through lots of science-y publications. Journals in my field of developmental biology, broad publications like Science and Nature (also available through our library), and science news aggregators like STAT. This week I learned that the chinstrap penguin sleeps in four second microbursts, 10,000 times per day and gets its eleven hours that way. And I read that 25% of Americans have no confidence that science is helpful. On the other hand, this means 75% have a positive view around science, but that may not make a catchy headline. One article this week concluded that remote collaboration leads to fewer breakthrough ideas than in person. That seems right. Sitting around a table with others, thinking hard, throwing out ideas, looking very carefully at data, thinking hard again can get you somewhere. It’s a wonderful use of offices and conference rooms. This week in the College of Science saw event after event in person, including our wonderful Community Meeting with delicious lunch at the Fenway Center. Sitting at round tables with friendly colleagues, learning about our Psychology department, our new website, and successes in implementing our strategic plan was outstanding. Our next in person COS Community Meeting is on your calendar for Thursday April 4, and I hope all our teams will schedule to be on campus that day! As we move into Finals Week, I want to thank each faculty member for your in-person teaching this semester, and for all the reading you have done to research your material or how to deliver it creatively. I hope your reading of final exams underscores that our students are learning, expanding their minds, and maturing into confident, creative, problem-solvers. And I’m glad that soon, in a well-deserved break, you will be able to read whatever takes your fancy. Thank you! Warm wishes to everyone.
Reading – 12.8.2023