In Episode 25, Bryony and Jon banter about the process of getting tenure, writing your package, and why it takes sooooo long. Along the way, we get sidetracked with pretentious diplomas and scroll through our Slack feed for interesting tidbits. Jon screws up the meaning of subjective and objective, which surely means he's ready to be a tenured professor. Lastly, there is foreshadowing for the next episode. (We are posting this out of order because this is fresh and recent. Episodes 23 & 24 have been recorded and will be online shortly!)

Let us know what you think. The podcast can be contacted at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears. Bryony can be reached via her website, or on twitter @BryonyDuPont.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes & Google Play

In Episode 22, Kyle and Jon banter about the time honored tradition of complaining about space (or lack thereof) in academia. We discuss potential remedies, none of which are good, but at least we are trying to provide solutions. 

Let us know what you think. The podcast can be contacted at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears. Kyle can be reached via his website, email, or on twitter @KyleNiemeyer.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes & Google Play

In Episode 21, Kyle and Jon discuss research publishing and software standards for research publishing. The discussion then meanders into open source publishing versus e-print publishing and presubmissions for peer review. Jon and Kyle then banter about adding editorial oversight to so-called "Xiv" publishing sites. Some of the sites we discuss are the engrXiv, the Journal of Open Engineering (TJOE), and the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS).

Let us know what you think. The podcast can be at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears. Kyle can be reached via his website, email, or on twitter @KyleNiemeyer.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes & Google Play

In Episode 19, Bryony and Kyle join Jon to discuss research over the summer and a look-ahead to the coming semester. Tangents ensue! Bryony is available via her research website, email, or on twitter @BryonyDuPont. Kyle can be reached via his website, email, or on twitter @KyleNiemeyer.

Let us know what you think. The podcast can be at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes.

In Episode 19, Bryony DuPont, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University, guest hosts with Jon to discuss NSF CAREER proposals, which both just submitted. We get sidetracked (in a good way!) discussing outreach and STEM encouragement for K-12 girls. We also share our likes and dislikes for the CAREER proposal. Bryony is available via her research website, email, or on twitter @bryony_dupont.

Let us know what you think. The podcast can be at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes. 

In Episode 18, Kyle Niemeyer, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University, joins Jon again to discuss the graduate student union at OSU. We delve into more labor relations and how the administration rules impact academia. Kyle shares how OSU cannot really hire postdocs and discusses some items that are part of the student collective bargaining agreement. Kyle's research website can be found here and he is also on twitter @kyleniemeyer.  

Let us know what you think. We can be reached at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes. 

In Episode 16, guest host Bryony DuPont, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering from Oregon State University, joins Jon for a conversation about teaching engineering design classes and the start to an academic career. We get pretty deep into curriculum design and ensuring students have equal access to resources. Bryony is active on twitter @Bryony_DuPont, her OSU website is here, and her research website is here. (Sorry for the issues with the audio; we were a bit laggy.)

Let us know what you think. We can be reached at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes. 

In Episode 16, the GEARS Duo banters about the intersection of academia, labor law, and the new overtime rules. We discuss whether minimum wage laws should apply to undergraduate students and/or should be impacted by the so-called "Fight for 15". We also discuss how the new overtime rules and pay lines affect university positions for postdocs.  

Some useful links are:

Department of Labor's Overtime Rule

Guidance for Higher Education 

Let us know what you think. We can be reached at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes. 

In Episode 15, Kyle Niemeyer, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University, joins Jon to discuss his research, being a trailing spouse, and his initial thoughts on academia. Kyle's research website can be found here and he is also on twitter @kyleniemeyer.  

Let us know what you think. We can be reached at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes. 

In Episode 14, the GEARS Duo banters about academic burnout, why it happens, how you can move past it, and its impact on academic. We also discuss how academic could be structured differently to prevent burnout, the role mentorship plays in burnout, and why almost all tenure track faculty experience burnout.    

Let us know what you think. We can be reached at www.academictrax.com or via email at [email protected]. Jon can be reached on twitter @profgears.

If you like Academic Trax, please leave us a comment on our website and also on iTunes.