Geochemistry, geology, education in a digital world

Updates from a new postdoctoral scholar

3 minute read

Published:

If it’s not obvious already, when I listed the different types of academic blogs in my first post in 2021, I wanted to be the last one: “Thoughtfully updated on a regular basis over several years.”

It is now 2023 and this is my 3rd post. Is this regular? Is this thoughtful? Not sure, but here are some updates about what I am doing:

I earned my PhD

I graduated from Oregon State University with a PhD in Geology. Woohoo!

My defense was in late May 2023. I set up COVID safety protocols for in-person attendees and optimized hybrid/virtual technology in a way that surpassed what was provided by the institution. It took a little bit of my own money, time and contributions from my friends (whether in-person or virtual), and a lot of planning. It was completely worth it, and I hope the recording of my defense livestream shows it. Oh, also, I passed. Yay! The dissertation revision process was challenging, especially because it took longer than expected and ended up overlapping by 1 day into my new job at UC Irvine.

Also, I paid for it (the frame), so I am going to flaunt it.

Oregon State University diploma for Thi Truong degree of PhD in Geology

I began a new position

I started a new position as a postdoctoral scholar at UC Irvine working on the CLIMATE Justice Initiative. I am working with a great group of people and am continuing my commitment to transform the culture of the geosciences. To have the opportunity to revisit what I heard learned from experts from the time when I organized their Unpacking Diversity keynotes (e.g. Drs. Julie Posselt and Aradhna Tripati) is really special. More to come!

Internet Stuff

Experiencing Dropbox to OneDrive pains

I have been trying to figure out how to transition my Oregon State University storage systems to UCI or non-institutional storage systems. I have personally paid for Dropbox Premium during my PhD (basically paying an executive function tax), and the plan renews in early December. Really trying to beat the clock here, but I have a feeling that OneDrive is not going to be a seamless ending place for me.

Completing web accessibility training and improving my websites

I have been completing a WebAIM course on document accessibility, and organizing small working groups in my capacity in my new position towards accessibility of typical text and non-text content produced in academic products. I have also been going back to the Unpacking Diversity to redo the layout (yikes, the header structure!), as well as trying to figure out what can be done on this website, within the confines of the academicpages github layout. An example of a limitation that I have run into is the weird header structure of the blog posts page, as seen in the screenshot below. Currently, each blog post sits at heading level 2, which is the same as the years (e.g. 2022, 2023). In my mind, each post should be at a heading level 3, instead.

Screenshot of blog posts page with information from HeadingsApp extension

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Introducing myself

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Hi, my name is Thi. I am pursuing a doctorate in Geology. I seek to understand processes occurring in Earth’s interior, in the present-day, and ideally, the past. I have found that academic blogs in geology tend to fall into one of these categories….