My first post

For a long time now, I’ve told myself that I would start an “academic” blog. I’ve told myself this since I began doing research in my undergraduate studies, but too many little things got in the way (courses, courses, and yes, more courses). Now that I am a fully-fledged Ph.D. candidate that has completed all course requirements, I can finally do it.

You may be asking, why? Why would someone like me take any extra time out of the week to write a blog post?

The reason why I’m starting this blog is to document my journey as an academic. Time has been flying very quickly over the course of my Ph.D. program and I feel as if I’m not reflecting enough on my experiences. Between reading, teaching, publishing, attending conferences/workshops, preparing posters/presentations, learning grant writing, peer-reviewing, mentoring – at times I feel completely lost.

My hope is that this blog will be a way to openly reflect on my experiences and also to distill some of the many interesting things I am learning. It is also my hope that readers will react/comment/or share their own experiences in response to my own.

Cheers!

Yousef