This week's Sci-Lights

"Living on a starvation diet, strange life forms are thriving deep beneath the sea floor," stated author Alaina Levine in her article Into the Deep in COSMOS magazine. 

Before you think of sea monsters or bio luminescent fish with lures and jagged teeth, let's define these life forms.  They are single celled organisms called microbes.  I know...hardly the stuff of science fiction novels.  But their role in the environment that they live in could be crucial to a more complete understanding of large scale cycles such as carbon, nitrogen and iron. 

The Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations which focuses it's study on the subsurface of the ocean and the environment and organisms that inhabit this always dark, rock and sediment environment is comprised of scientists from a variety of multidisciplinary fields.  For example our executive committee boosts a Geomicrobiologist, a Geochemist, Oceanographer, Hydrologist, Geobiologist, and a Microbial Geochemist.  This hardly fits the traditional breakdown of science into Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  Why are there so many interdisciplinary specialists?  The short answer is because when studying the ocean, you need to look at the larger system.

Moon Pool on JOIDES Resolution, COMOS Magazine

Do you want to peer into the deep as the engineer pictured and read more about the biological systems approach to the exploration of the deep?   COMOS' article is a perfect place to begin!

Letters of Recommendation--The Details!

I'm certainly not the first educator to write about letters of recommendation (LOR).  In fact, visit Institute for Broadening Participation for an in-depth article called "Getting Strong Letters of Recommendation" by Susan Kauer, Scott D. Anderson and Michael Ernst for an extensive list of recommendations.  This article focuses on what I have found to be a little discussed aspect of LORs. 


 http://mashable.com/2012/04/29/improving-tech-budget/

In my years of writing LORs, I have relied in part on my training in writing business letters starting with a date, an address block, a professional salutation, and a first paragraph, short and sweet, that defines the purpose of the letter.  What I have noticed is that requesters fail to provide this information to me.  In this age of emails, perhaps they imagine that I will simply whip off an email to the address with a line that says, "To whom it may concern."  However, this doesn't make the student or myself look professional.  So I'm scouring the internet for what I need to write a professional letter.

So, in addition to all the wonderful tips I've found on getting letters of recommendation that will help you gain entrance into programs, I have to suggest that you provide the following to your writer.

1. The exact title of the program
2. The exact name of the organization, institution or foundation offering the program
3. The complete mailing address of the host organization
4. The full name, degree, and title of the contact person
5. The email address and phone number of the contact person

A lot of work?!?  Yes!!!  And you want the letter writer to be able to concentrate on the content of the letter, not be distracted by the last minute scramble for the mailing address!  :)  Harsh, I know.  But seriously, do as much as you can to make it easier for the letter writer to champion you, because that's what they do best.

Good luck!  There are still a few programs open--hurry, hurry, hurry.  You've got some internet research to do!