P a g e 1

forward to seeing you

soon!

Love,

WÜA WÉÜ|á VÄtÜ~@ftÜÜ

Happy New Year 2013!

I pray that this

newsletter finds you in

good health and

spirit!!! We are busy

preparing for our

upcoming meetings

and workshops for you

as well as summer

2013!!! Hard to

believe…but it is that

time again!

Remember to attend

tutoring online as

needed, attend AIMS

workshops as your

schedule permits,

advise us of any

address or phone

number changes,

register for national

tests on time

(ACT/SAT), and

recommend AIMS to

your friends at school!

Keep up the good work

in school! I look

Aalecia Crittendon

Stephen Keene

Heather Redd

Jackson Siples

D I R E C T O R ’ S C H A I R

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

• The Myth of the

Well-Rounded

Scientist pg. 3

• Parents are an

“Un-Tapped Re-

source” to Push

STEM, Research

Says pg. 5

• Five Simple Study

Tips pg. 6

• 52 Week Money

Challenge pg. 7

• Schedule At-A-

Glance pg. 8

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Director’s Chair 1

January Birthdays 1

Coordinators’ Corners 2

Career Profile 3

Parents’ Corner 5

Five Simple Study Tips 6

52 Week Money

Challenge 7

Schedule At-A-Glance 8

J A N U A R Y B I R T H D A Y S !

A D V E N T U R E S I N M A T H & S C I E N C E

AIMS TIMES

January 2013 Volume 13, Issue 1

Happy New Year!

So amazing how quickly time

has gone by, but great to

know that we have all made

it to a new year with new

goals, aspirations, and

resolutions to achieve. I

hope you have returned to

school with renewed vigor

and the desire to achieve the

best and be the best.

Evan and I are hard at work

recruiting new participants.

Please remember that our

biggest voice in this process

is you! Share your AIMS

experiences with your friends

and let them know how AIMS

is helping you achieve your

academic goals and

aspirations.

Seniors, your Bridge Program

is quickly approaching. If I do

not have your Murray State

University Admissions

Application, you cannot

participate in the Bridge

Component. You should

have also completed the

2011-2012 Federal

Application For Student Aid.

In February, we will be

completing the 2012-2013

Federal Application For

Student Aid. These forms are

extremely important so if you

have not completed the

information, you must get

assistance from your

guidance counselor. As

always, feel free to contact

me for assistance. It is

extremely important that you

become responsible and

mature because you alone

are the ruler of your destiny.

Please continue to let us

know about your academic

achievements and

accomplishments. AIMS

applauds achievements and

we look forward to hearing

about your good work!

I hope that 2013 is off to a

great start for everyone and I

look forward to seeing many

of you in the near future!

Much Love,

Stephen D. Keene

I’ll keep it short and sweet this month. However, I must encourage you to get started with your classes on the right foot. If you can tell upfront that you might struggle with this class or that, then break out your library card! (A.K.A. your AIMS tutoring access) If you are missing your card then please be sure to contact me so I can get you another. This is free help—use it!!

Greetings! Happy New Year!! I hope you all feel as good about 2013 as the AIMS staff does! The wheels are in motion for another great spring semester – and for the 2013 Summer Program. Yes, it is already that time! Can you believe it? Please don’t forget to look at the calendar! We have a workshop coming up so go ahead and pencil-in that date on your calendar.

Lastly, do something nice for someone today. It’s free and makes you feel good. Let us know what we can do to help with your success. That’s why we’re here!

Sincerely,

Evan O’Neal

C O O R D I N A T O R ’ S C O R N E R — A I M S i

C O O R D I N A T O R ’ S C O R N E R — A I M S I I

P a g e 2

A I M S T I M E S

“Um … 100% focused on molecular

biology, please. The sheer fact that

we’re having this conversation means

that you possess communication

skills, upon which we frown.”

So, for half of the schools, I showed

them everything. For the other half, I

submitted a CV that basically read,

“Biology. I do biology, just biology. I

have no other interests besides biol-

ogy biology biology zebrafish nema-

todes xenopus.”

I soon learned, however, that this

aversion to well-roundedness didn’t

stop with grad school admissions com-

mittees. Scientists with outside inter-

ests are often regarded with suspicion

in the lab; we can be seen as undedi-

cated, unfocused, easily distracted,

and so divorced from the scientific

frame of mind that we’ll probably end

up working in—oh, the shame—

industry.

My outside interest during grad

school—my “Batman job,” as a grad

student from Case Western Reserve

University called it last month—was

stand-up comedy. (I quickly learned

that audiences in downtown Baltimore

aren’t fans of math puns. Like this

one: “I was curious about the alcohol

content of my mouthwash, but the

label on the bottle didn’t say anything

about it. I guess the proof was beyond

the text of this Scope!” And that’s why

I’m not famous.)

One day, my adviser called me into his

office. The campus newspaper had

just published a little profile of the

stand-up-comedy-performing grad

student, and my adviser happened to

read it. Over the next 10 minutes, I

learned that my hobby was an embar-

rassment to the department, that

there was no way I could properly fo-

cus on biology, and that every nega-

tive lab result I ever produced was a

direct result of telling jokes at night.

For a moment, I even believed it was

true. I pictured my bacteria saying to

each other, “We cannot undergo bi-

nary fission in the beaker of someone

who makes pithy observations at open

-mic nights! Lyse, my little friends,

lyse!”

After that, I made sure to keep all talk

of comedy quiet in front of my adviser,

and the perception of underperfor-

mance dissipated. I kept my Batman

job secret—which made it all the more

Batman.

I even came up with a few conversa-

tional tips to make myself appear less

well-rounded. Feel free to use these to

disguise your own outside interests:

• If asked “What did you do this

weekend?” answer one of the

following:

o “I dry-heaved with sorrow over

the prospect of not being in the

lab.”

o “Nothing beyond the basic func-

tions required to sustain life.”

o “There was a weekend?”

• If a conversation happens to ap-

proach your area of interest, dis-

miss the subject quickly while

revealing nothing about your own

expertise:

CO-WORKER: You have to see this

funny clip of bears playing cribbage!

YOU (who happens to train bears to

play cribbage in the evening): Bears

playing cribbage! Poppycock! Oh ho,

that’s rich. I’ll bet they don’t even use

the tournament long board sanctioned

by the American Cribbage Congress.

Next I suppose you’ll tell me that the

bears throw defensively to the crib to

avoid breaking up a chance for a 4-6

C A R E E R P R O F I L E : T h e M y t h o f t h e W e l l

- R o u n d e d S c i e n t i s t B y A d a m R u b e n

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 1 3 , I s s u e 1

It was weird. When I applied to col-

lege, every school wanted applicants

with diverse interests. “Show us that

you dabble in everything!” they en-

thused. “We don’t just want good stu-

dents. We want biomedical-engineer-

Civil-War-reenactor-Olympic-gymnasts

who breed turtles and founded a char-

ity while editing the yearbook! Also,

give us money.”

I learned, for example, that I would be

at a disadvantage because I didn’t

play sports. (Consequently, I oversold

my third-place finish in a summer

camp wrestling match, neglecting to

mention that (a) there were only four

competitors, (b) the fourth never

showed up, and (c) I was so under-

weight that I mainly wrestled—and lost

to—kids several years younger than

me. Toddlers, basically.)

But when I applied to grad school, the

game changed. Suddenly, extracur-

ricular activities were a detriment—

what graduate biology department

cares what I did in the marching

band? “Mellophone, you say? Why,

that’s the instrument of a budding

virologist! Give this man a pipette!”

I even worried about diversity of aca-

demic pursuits. I realized that my CV

followed a bimodal distribution: Half of

the listings pertained to science, and

half were other things like writing and

theater. So I called each individual

department and asked: When reading

my application, would the committee

rather see that I’m well-rounded or

that I’m 100% dedicated to molecular

biology?

What happened next shocked

me: Every school gave a different an-

swer. Some said, “We love well-

rounded students! Tell us about your

far-flung interests! Why, we even have

a postdoc now who plays semiprofes-

sional jai alai!” But other schools said,

double run!

• Do not wear a costume

to your lab’s Halloween

party, because this

shows you spend your

free time on crafts. If

asked, “What are you

supposed to be?” look

distracted and answer,

“I’m supposed to be

working.” Then shake

your head in disappoint-

ment at their costumes,

and note your disap-

pointment in your lab

notebook.

• • Nothing drains time

from lab work like fam-

ily; therefore, purge all

references to family

from your workplace.

Only speak your

spouse’s name in a

whisper. On Take Your

Child to Work Day, bring

a pet, but don’t show it

any affection. And re-

place photos of beloved

family members on your

desk with photos of sci-

entific collaborators.

(This may require the

purchase of new picture

frames, as you could

find it difficult to justify

the existence of a photo

of your colleague at the

University of Florida

inside a frame that

reads, “I Love Daddy!”) I knew there was a lot I could

learn from my adviser. He

was a wise man with lots of

grant money. But this time I

knew he was wrong, and I

still believe that. There’s

nothing wrong with scientists

having outside interests, and

your time outside the lab is

your own.

Nor was I the only student

with extracurricular activities.

Nearly everyone, it seemed,

had a Batman job. One stu-

dent worked in a dance stu-

dio. Another was a deejay.

Another ran marathons. Still

another played 8 hours of

video games a day—not a

Batman job exactly, although

it’s possible he sometimes

played games involving Bat-

man. And one grad student

had two kids, which I now

know occupies more time

and attention than any dinky

second career telling math

puns to drunk people.

It’s good that science ac-

cepts those with broad inter-

ests. Despite what half of the

grad schools told me, tunnel

vision is not a virtue. I met a

professor of ecology and

evolutionary biology a few

weeks ago who told me he

Batmanned as the lead

singer of a punk band, a ca-

reer he’s maintained along-

side science for decades. By

day, he lectures at an Ivy

League school. At night, he

rocks out. His musical career

makes him a better profes-

sor, but I’m sure there are

times he’s under pressure to

say, “What punk band? Don’t

ask me about The Offspring

unless you want a lecture on

Mendelian inheritance.”

Even now, I downplay my

nighttime activities at work,

partly out of paranoia that

someone in a position of

power will react the same

way my grad school adviser

did. Yet, when I arrive at work

in the morning remembering

the previous night’s perform-

ance, my secret second ca-

reer helps me dream bigger,

maybe even make connec-

tions in the lab that I would

have missed. On those days,

I feel like Hannah Montana.

I’m not saying that Batman-

ning always works. As with

anything, you need to be sure

that the hobby doesn’t creep

over into your career, lest you

find yourself training bears to

play cribbage during the

workday.

CO-WORKER: Hey, what’s

that bear doing in the lab?

ME: Uh, I wouldn’t know. That

must be someone else’s

bear.

CO-WORKER: Are you sure?

ME: Definitely. Be-

cause my bear would never

get double skunked by throw-

ing consecutive cards into

the opposition

crib. Would he, Mister

Growls?

There is, of course, some-

thing to be said for deep

focus on your subject. Mathe-

matician Paul Erdős famously

spent 19 hours a day doing

math, and he may be the

most prolific mathematician

who ever lived. For him,

scrapbooking or fantasy foot-

ball wouldn’t have been a

C A R E E R P R O F I L E : C o n t i n u e d

P a g e 4 A I M S T I M E S

much-needed mental “reset”;

it would only have wasted

valuable math time.

But for the rest of us, outside

interests keep us sharp.

We’re more productive, more

creative. We’re happier.

And Gotham City is safe once

more.

Adam Ruben, Ph.D., is a prac-

ticing scientist and the au-

thor of Surviving Your Stupid,

Stupid Decision to Go to Grad

School.

that parents' education level was a

strong predictor of their children's

coursetaking patterns, as other

research has found. Simply put, the

children of more highly educated

parents took more math and science

courses.

But here's what's striking. The effect of

the randomized intervention was

nearly as strong as the effect of

parents' education, the study

concludes.

The study, "Helping Parents to

Motivate Adolescents in Mathematics

and Science: An Experimental Test of

a Utility-Value Intervention," was

co-authored by four researchers:

Judith Harackiewicz, Janet Hyde, and

Christopher Rozek of the University of

Wisconsin-Madison, and Chris

Hulleman of James Madison

University.

The research was supported by grants

from the National Science Foundation

and the U.S. Department of

Education's Institute for Education

Sciences.

Researchers first mailed a brochure to

parents in October of their children's

10th grade year. It provided

information about the importance of

math and science in daily life and for

pursuing careers, as well as guidance

to help parents talk with their children

about the connections between STEM

education and their lives. The parents

received a similar brochure in January

of their children's 11th grade year, as

well as a link to a website with more

STEM resources. The website featured

resources on STEM fields and careers,

along with interviews with college

students about the importance of

math and science courses they took in

high school.

The interventions led to a significant

difference in the number of elective,

advanced math and science courses

taken, such as calculus, statistics, and

physics, the study found.

Stepping back, the researchers

suggest that the stakes are high for

students based on decisions they

make in high school.

"The pipeline leading students toward

careers in science, technology,

engineering, and mathematics [STEM]

begins leaking in high school, when

some students choose not to take

advanced mathematics and science

courses," the study says. "It is

essential to mobilize all potential

resources for motivating adolescents

to take courses that will best prepare

them for their future."

P A R E N T S ’ C O R N E R : P a r e n t s a r e a n

“ U n t a p p e d R e s o u r c e ” t o P u s h S T E M ,

S t u d y S a y s B y E r i k R o b e l e n

P a g e 5 V o l u m e 1 3 , I s s u e 1

Sometimes a little effort can go a long

way. A new study suggests that a fairly

simple intervention with parents can

translate into their teenage children

getting more STEM education.

The field experiment involved sending

parents two glossy brochures and the

link to a website, all highlighting the

value of studying STEM subjects. The

result? Students from those families,

on average, took nearly one semester

more of science and mathematics in

the last two years of high school,

compared with a control group of

families not exposed to this

intervention.

"Parents are an untapped resource for

promoting STEM motivation, and the

results of our study demonstrate that

a modest intervention aimed at

parents can produce significant

changes in their children's academic

choices," researchers write in an

article published this month in the

journal Psychological Science.

The research comes at a time of

growing national concern about the

need to prepare more students for

careers in the STEM (science,

technology, engineering, and

mathematics) fields.

Not surprisingly, the researchers say

Kentucky TRiO Day Celebration On Saturday, February 23, 2013, Morehead State University will host Kentucky’s TRIO Day Celebration, which will include Student Initiatives Competitions. Murray State University AIMS Programs will be taking teams to compete in the Scholars Bowl Competition. If you are interested, contact Dr. Sarr via email at dclarksarr@murraystate.edu or by posting a message to the AIMS Facebook Group. There will be a Team Meeting and Practice Session during the meeting scheduled for Saturday, February 2, 2013. Please make plans to attend. Team members with the highest number of correct answers have an opportunity to attend the SAEOPP Regional Initiatives Competition later in the academic year. This event is a lot of fun and very exciting!

Studying can be difficult.

When you were searching for

a college, you probably never

imagined it would be so hard

and so much. You might read

one sentence and think you

know what the writer’s talk-

ing about, but as soon as you

read the next paragraph,

you’re lost. You can’t remem-

ber what you read and you

don’t really understand the

topic. But you have to; this is

knowledge you need for an

upcoming test, and it’s what

you need to know to get

ahead in your career. Under-

standing the material, re-

membering it for the test and

being able to apply it to a

career is important, and chal-

lenging, no matter if you’re

an online student or if you’re

in the classroom every day.

Here are five simple tips to

help you study.

1. Train your brain: Study at

the same time, in the same

place, every day

Your brain is a muscle, and like any muscle, it responds well to repetition and rou-tine. Choose a study area in your house, at the library, or at your favorite (quiet) cof-fee shop. You want the same area, even the same desk, everyday. You want to choose a quiet spot, and you want to have all of the supplies you’ll need readily available to you, including food and beverage. Don’t forget anything; you want to stay in that spot without any distractions. Visit that area at the same time every day.

After a few days, your brain will be ready to concentrate as soon as you approach that spot.

2. Tick tock: Get a stopwatch

Study every day for the same amount of time. Never cram! Cramming only leaves you exhausted for the test, and you’ll never remember the info two days later. Choose an amount of time that is right for the class you’re taking. You’ll have a good sense of what the class requires by asking your professor and after studying for the first few days. Once you choose an amount of time (an hour or two per class is usually more than sufficient), set your stopwatch, and then hide it so you’re not con-stantly looking at the clock. Don’t leave your study area until the stopwatch goes off. If you run out of things to study before the time is up, great! Review the previous chapters. If you’re writing a paper when the watch goes off, stop even if you’re mid-sentence. That will give you somewhere to pick up the next day. And remember, always reward yourself: Shut the book, put down your highlighter, and take yourself out for a milkshake!

3. Put down the highlighter

Have you ever noticed your-self highlighting almost every single sentence in the book? It’s sometimes diffi-

cult to know what to high-light. Everything seems important. Read the entire page of text before you make any highlighting marks. Then go back and choose the most important sentence in that page. Ask yourself why it’s important. Is it introducing a new idea? A new key word? An impor-tant quote or date? If so, highlight it AND write it down in your notes. Keep your notes, and your high-lighting, to a minimum. Think about it this way: the information has to earn a highlighting line or a place in your notes. Is it worth it? Usually, the first sentences of a section are the most important; they introduce the idea that the rest of the paragraphs will be discuss-ing. Also, usually anything in bold or italics is empha-sized because the textbook writers want you to remem-ber it. Finally, always read the chapter or section re-views. Most likely, your pro-fessor will use these review pages to design a test, and they will give you an idea about what you should be highlighting.

4. Build a community

You don’t have to be sitting directly across from other people in order to have a study group. In fact, your study group doesn’t even have to include other stu-dents from your class. Use the Internet. Look up the

F I V E S I M P L E S T U D Y T I P S : A C E T H E T E S T

& R E M E M B E R W H A T Y O U L E A R N E D B Y

A D A M S O R E N S E N

P a g e 6 A I M S T I M E S

topics you’re studying, and talk to other people on dis-cussion pages about those topics. Become an expert on your topics; don’t just rely on the textbook to build your knowledge. If you can start a study group with other students in your class, chat online at previously scheduled times and intro-duce them to the informa-tion you’ve learned from reading other material and talking with other people. Also, make sure to include your professor in your com-munity; he or she is your most valuable resource, and a person you should communicate with on a daily basis. Professors are always eager to help stu-dents who are eager to learn.

5. Ace that test!

First and foremost, be healthy. Eat well, get a lot of sleep, and keep a positive attitude going into your test. Study by going over your notes and your highlighted marks, and rereading the review sections of each chapter. The best way to learn and retain information is to teach it to someone else. Pull a friend or family member aside and see if you can teach that person something from your class material. Also, have that person help you with flash-cards (which of course only contain the most important ideas from your textbook or study material). While you’re taking the test, start with the easy questions. If you have to skip around a bit in order to get into a

F i v e s i m p l e s t u d y t i p s : c o n t i n u e d

P a g e 7 V o l u m e 1 3 , I s s u e 1

rhythm, that’s fine. Build your confi-dence. If you don’t know an answer and it’s a multiple-choice test, nar-row it down to the two most likely answers and choose between them. If it’s a short answer test or a math or science problem, give it your best try. You might get partial or half-credit. Before the test, take a deep breath and be calm. Trust yourself.

pg.5 of this newsletter) & MANDATORY Bridge Meeting 3 9th ACT Test Date 23rd Kentucky TRiO Day Celebration/ Scholars Bowl Competition Morehead State University

March 9th SAT Test Date 23rd Honor Roll Trip Dinner TBA April TBA College Tour

13th ACT Test Date

27th AIMS Summer Orientation 9:00am—12:00pm 251 Blackburn Science Bldg

January 21st MLK Day Of Service 9:30am Registration Curris Center 10:00am Keynote Address 11:30am Team Meetings and Travel to Sites (Sack lunches Provided) 12:00—4:00pm Projects 4:30pm Wrap-Up & Pizza Party @ Curris Center Projects: Needline, Bike Project, Backpack Project, LBL Homeplace, Angel’s Attic, Project TBA, Road-side Clean-up 26 SAT TEST DATE

February TBA Summer Employment Interviews

2nd Academic Team Meeting (Additional Information

May 4th SAT Test Date 27th Bridge Move-In Day

June 1st SAT Test Date 8th ACT Test Date 10th Undergraduate Move-In Day

29th—July 3rd End of Summer Trip

240 Blackburn Science Building

Murray, KY 42071

Phone: 1-877-424-6777

Fax: 270-809-4351

E-mail: www.murraystate.edu/aims

AIMS STAFF Dr. Doris Sarr – Director dclarksarr@murraystate.edu Stephen D. Keene – Coordinator skeene@murraystate.edu Evan O’Neal – Coordinator eoneal@murraystate.edu Gail Wooldrige – Administrative Assistant gwoolridge@murraystate.edu

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