quick update

- just a quick update to keep you all entertained - 

This weekend's Bioinformatics and Genomics (BG) retreat went very well! We had over 60 faculty and students make oral and poster presentations, share ideas and get to know one another. It was especially useful for me to connect with a couple of faculty with whom I would like to discuss ideas for my research proposal.

This morning I drove around dropping off sponsorship letters to local businesses, requesting donations for the upcoming USA Science and Engineering Festival. We are planning to teach polymer science to kids who stop by our booth. The Festival estimates 100,000 people on the mall, and about 10,000 people stopping by each booth!! Whew!

This weekend I was also able to finish some analysis on one of my current projects  (male mutation bias), and although the results are a little puzzling right now, it is nice to have the results to look at and interpret.

I'm going to devote a lot of time this week to writing: writing manuscripts, writing research proposals, writing a letter of recommendation for an undergrad professor of mine, writing the background for a review article.

I have five fellowship/grant applications to finish in the text two months, and a sixth due in January, and it's starting to get a wee bit stressful (just a little though). Mostly just nerves, so it'll be good to get them done and out of the way.

Happy Monday!