Tag Archives: Michigan State University

One of the Challenges—and Privileges—of Working at a Major Research University

Today is going to be difficult, but it should be interesting. There are not one, not two, but three seminars that I really want to—and will (or meant to*)—attend. They are scattered all across campus, with none in my building. I’ll also meet with one of the speakers–though I’d have liked to meet with all three if only I had unlimited time. The seminars are by:

  • Lee Spector, speaking on “The Future of Genetic Programming” for the College of Engineering;
  • Eugene Koonin, speaking on “Viruses and Transposons as Drivers of the Evolution of Life” for the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and
  • J. J. Emerson, speaking on “Evolution and Novelty: Exploring Adaptation from the Perspectives of Experimental Evolution and Population Genomics” for the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Program.

So I won’t get much of my own work done today. That’s one of the challenges—and one of the privileges!—of being at a top university like MSU, which attracts visiting speakers in so many areas that interest me. *End-of-day edit: Did I mention that having so many seminars to attend was a challenge? Ah yes, it’s in the title and at the end. Well, as it so happens, I screwed up reading my schedule today and so only made it to two of the three talks.

[This photo shows the Beaumont Tower on the MSU campus.  It was taken in May 2006 by Jeffness; it is from Wikipedia and shown here under the indicated Creative Commons license.]

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