It’s too late to start thinking now. Five suggestions for making better scientific equipment purchases.

“I get this all the time ‘I’m flying against another aircraft, he’s directly behind me at 1000 feet and he’s about to shoot his gun at me, what do I do?’ I know I’m a Top Gun instructor, but I don’t have a lot of good answers for you…The answer is you need to go

Be careful accepting that speaking fee.

I left academia in 2009 after 20 years of research as a student, grad student, postdoc, faculty member, and core director. That was also about the time that the ACA changed some aspects of the Anti-Kickback Statute [42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b)]. This seems like a good place to note that I am not a lawyer

Why scientists in one building get different discounts.

Saw science twitter discussing discounts and why companies would offer different discounts to people on the same hall or in the same building. The tweet that set this off was encouraging people to share their quotes with one another, put it to the man! I can (and did in drafts) go off on a tangent

5 tips for putting equipment into your grant.

I previously wrote about how to assess needs for large equipment purchases for a group. Today I wanted to touch on another issue I run into while working with PIs. Specifically,  the PI who has received funding from an internal or external source to purchase a microscope for their own lab, then finds themselves without enough

#1 Suggestion for Improving your Large Equipment Purchases

The #1 thing you need to keep in mind when buying equipment is to clearly identify and communicate your needs before starting the process. There, that is the punchline, read on if you want to learn a little more about my perspective. I have been involved in equipment purchases from the customer and sales side.

What to do with users that keep asking for help?

Last time, I added that title as a joke to my blog post on how to keep people from breaking your equipment. The take home message was to make people feel comfortable coming to you with questions or concerns and to let them know that this stuff can be complicated so it is okay to

From one Core Director to another, how do you keep users from destroying your equipment?

From one core director to another – how to keep people from destroying your equipment.

Making Eyes Burn

First off, I don’t think I have blogged two days in a row since those halcyon days of political blogging in the late ’00s. Maybe this will start a new habit for me, maybe not. Yesterday, I wrote about the satisfaction that one gets from making eyes pop with a new and better way of