Monthly Archives: July 2010

July 24, 2010
2:41 am
by: John Sangster

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Tweets that caught my attention this week:

  • The world’s 10 most impressive subway stations.  Thanks to @TRBofNA http://bit.ly/c7k5XS

  • An ethynol/gasoline car is one of the top contenders to accomplish the x-prize goal of 100 mpg fuel efficiency.  Thanks to @NPR http://n.pr/9YAeKy

  • The ITS Joint Program Office ( @ITSJPODirector ) put out a call for information on Research on ITS Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis  http://bit.ly/AERIS-RFI

  • A link to the North American Transportation Statistics Database, thanks to @NatlTransLib  http://icio.us/24gjbl

Thoughts that distracted me this week:

  • For entering grad students, should the focus be on learning best practices in research, or on learning by example through exposure to their topic?

  • What are the benefits or costs of engaging in discussion on a topic area when expertise is still lacking?

  • In grad school, it is important to keep in mind the long-term career goal, but not at the expense of living in the moment.

Extended thought of the week – benefits of social media:

While the benefits of social media are real, there exists a careful balance to be followed, with diminishing returns relative to time invested.  When beginning a social media effort, it’s important to understand exactly what can be achieved, and exactly how much time is going to be invested to do so.  Blogging, at its root, is one person recording their thoughts, with that hope that others will take the time to read them.  As an altruist I hope that others will find value in the things I have to say, but as a capitalist I hope to generate or increase the opinion that others have of me. Continue reading →

July 24, 2010
2:41 am
by: John Sangster

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Tweets that caught my attention this week:

  • The world’s 10 most impressive subway stations.  Thanks to @TRBofNA http://bit.ly/c7k5XS

  • An ethynol/gasoline car is one of the top contenders to accomplish the x-prize goal of 100 mpg fuel efficiency.  Thanks to @NPR http://n.pr/9YAeKy

  • The ITS Joint Program Office ( @ITSJPODirector ) put out a call for information on Research on ITS Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis  http://bit.ly/AERIS-RFI

  • A link to the North American Transportation Statistics Database, thanks to @NatlTransLib  http://icio.us/24gjbl

Thoughts that distracted me this week:

  • For entering grad students, should the focus be on learning best practices in research, or on learning by example through exposure to their topic?

  • What are the benefits or costs of engaging in discussion on a topic area when expertise is still lacking?

  • In grad school, it is important to keep in mind the long-term career goal, but not at the expense of living in the moment.

Extended thought of the week – benefits of social media:

While the benefits of social media are real, there exists a careful balance to be followed, with diminishing returns relative to time invested.  When beginning a social media effort, it’s important to understand exactly what can be achieved, and exactly how much time is going to be invested to do so.  Blogging, at its root, is one person recording their thoughts, with that hope that others will take the time to read them.  As an altruist I hope that others will find value in the things I have to say, but as a capitalist I hope to generate or increase the opinion that others have of me. Continue reading →

July 18, 2010
12:56 pm
by: John Sangster

In which I share too much information

Though I have long ascribed to a philosophy of change, I may be overdoing it at the moment.  This blog space has been created as a direct result of what I expect will be the first of my mid-life crises.
At the age of 30, with a house, a wife, and two young kids, I’m transitioning from the past seven years in consulting to return to graduate school full time, for the long haul.  At my age, and with my work experience, going back to school only makes sense if I’m to stay in academia, and not return to consulting.  Graduate school, including teaching experience and everything else required to have a well rounded resume, is going to take five or six years, after which time I’ll need to find a position that not only allows me to pay back my student loans, but is also rewarding enough compared to my consulting job that it justifies the time and energy put into school.
The statistics on obtaining a coveted assistant professor position involving both teaching and research are quite daunting.  My estimate is that there are approximately 200 existing positions for transportation professors, with the turn-over rate resulting in around 5 new positions available per year.  Though not all PhD graduates are seeking positions in academia, if there are 50 to 100 PhDs awarded per year there will continue to be supply far in excess of demand for a full professoriate position.  Anecdotally, I’ve been told that a position advertised a couple of years ago at one of the top schools resulted in over 100 applicants.  This is the reality that I face as I begin this journey.
Maximizing my time in grad school will require me to hit the ground running, with all thrusters at full.  While there’s not likely to be much time to relax during the next five years, I don’t expect I’ll ever experience a time crunch as badly as I will this upcoming first year.  With ten credit hours worth of classes, I expect I’ll average 30 hours per week on coursework just to satisfy myself with the work I produce.  My research assistantship requires an average of around 20 hours per week, which I expect to push upwards to 25 hours per week as I get involved with the proposal/procurement side of things.  The legitimate demands of a spouse and two young kids will limit me to at most an additional 10 hours per week of additional workload, bringing my total hours to 65 per week.  Those last ten hours may well be the most important ones for me to utilize, as that will be my time to submit abstracts to conferences, prepare presentations, do volunteer work in the industry (i.e. TRB committee work), and work on expanding my connections through social media.  This seems like an awfully tall order for ten hours in the week, but any effort to steal time from my other commitments would only undercut these efforts.
This blog space is intended to serve as an outlet for the other efforts I will be conducting while doing graduate study in transportation engineering.  It will expand upon the ideas and news that I express through my @trfc_guy twitter feed, it will relay or react to information I pick up at conferences, it will discuss information of note that I come across as I do literature studies, and it will share insights I gain from doing my own research and data analysis.  This will only work within my time constraints if I am successful in organically updating the blog, bringing my thoughts to the page without undue time spent editing and rewording.  Ideally, an update schedule of once every week or two would be appropriate, though most posts should be shorter in length than this one.  Lastly, this first post is to be the most personal and least informative post that I make.
My wife often says that I am truthful to a fault, and what I think she means by that is that I sometimes go too far in speaking a truth which should rather have just gone unsaid.  With that on the table, I wanted to address the underlying purpose of writing, and updating, a blog.  My hope is that this web space will serve to project my research interests, my thought process, and my personality, in such a way that I at some point connect professionally with others in the industry who like my style, and who share my interests.  Unless you’re in the field of Public Relations, a blog is not going to get you a job, and is not likely to be a factor even in getting an interview.  If my time spent on this effort manages to extend my professional network only a little bit, giving me an introduction and some name recognition to a couple of people when I attend a conference, or at best a connection who can introduce me to someone who is hiring when I am in need, then it will be time well spent.
Through my interaction on twitter with those in the transportation industry who are actively using social media in a professional capacity, I can honestly say that there may currently be a market for a blog on this topic of about a half-dozen people.  I believe this will change, and I believe it will change very soon.  Facebook has only been open to the public since September of 2006, yet only four years later nearly every high school and college student has jumped on board, and social media has become a part of their daily lives.  As this age group transitions into their professional careers, many of them are likely to bring their social media habits with them, transforming how we communicate in business.  If I am able to provide a dependable, thoughtful, on-topic analysis of the transportation industry as it relates to research, then I believe that those who share my interests will find value in the time and energy I put into this space.
I do not take lightly the sacrifices that I have asked of my wife and two wonderful children – and I am dedicated to making the most of the opportunity they are giving me to return to school and pursue my dreams.  Far from this being a burden, I am ecstatic to have such a strong motivator to make the most of each day.  There’s nothing quite like looking in on your sleeping toddler before you leave for work, to remind you of why you work so hard during the day.  To have the opportunity to put in that effort as a graduate student, getting paid to do what I now choose to do as a hobby, is a gift that my family is giving me that I expect will pay us all dividends in the future.

Continue reading →

July 18, 2010
12:56 pm
by: John Sangster

In which I share too much information

Though I have long ascribed to a philosophy of change, I may be overdoing it at the moment.  This blog space has been created as a direct result of what I expect will be the first of my mid-life crises.
At the age of 30, with a house, a wife, and two young kids, I’m transitioning from the past seven years in consulting to return to graduate school full time, for the long haul.  At my age, and with my work experience, going back to school only makes sense if I’m to stay in academia, and not return to consulting.  Graduate school, including teaching experience and everything else required to have a well rounded resume, is going to take five or six years, after which time I’ll need to find a position that not only allows me to pay back my student loans, but is also rewarding enough compared to my consulting job that it justifies the time and energy put into school.
The statistics on obtaining a coveted assistant professor position involving both teaching and research are quite daunting.  My estimate is that there are approximately 200 existing positions for transportation professors, with the turn-over rate resulting in around 5 new positions available per year.  Though not all PhD graduates are seeking positions in academia, if there are 50 to 100 PhDs awarded per year there will continue to be supply far in excess of demand for a full professoriate position.  Anecdotally, I’ve been told that a position advertised a couple of years ago at one of the top schools resulted in over 100 applicants.  This is the reality that I face as I begin this journey.
Maximizing my time in grad school will require me to hit the ground running, with all thrusters at full.  While there’s not likely to be much time to relax during the next five years, I don’t expect I’ll ever experience a time crunch as badly as I will this upcoming first year.  With ten credit hours worth of classes, I expect I’ll average 30 hours per week on coursework just to satisfy myself with the work I produce.  My research assistantship requires an average of around 20 hours per week, which I expect to push upwards to 25 hours per week as I get involved with the proposal/procurement side of things.  The legitimate demands of a spouse and two young kids will limit me to at most an additional 10 hours per week of additional workload, bringing my total hours to 65 per week.  Those last ten hours may well be the most important ones for me to utilize, as that will be my time to submit abstracts to conferences, prepare presentations, do volunteer work in the industry (i.e. TRB committee work), and work on expanding my connections through social media.  This seems like an awfully tall order for ten hours in the week, but any effort to steal time from my other commitments would only undercut these efforts.
This blog space is intended to serve as an outlet for the other efforts I will be conducting while doing graduate study in transportation engineering.  It will expand upon the ideas and news that I express through my @trfc_guy twitter feed, it will relay or react to information I pick up at conferences, it will discuss information of note that I come across as I do literature studies, and it will share insights I gain from doing my own research and data analysis.  This will only work within my time constraints if I am successful in organically updating the blog, bringing my thoughts to the page without undue time spent editing and rewording.  Ideally, an update schedule of once every week or two would be appropriate, though most posts should be shorter in length than this one.  Lastly, this first post is to be the most personal and least informative post that I make.
My wife often says that I am truthful to a fault, and what I think she means by that is that I sometimes go too far in speaking a truth which should rather have just gone unsaid.  With that on the table, I wanted to address the underlying purpose of writing, and updating, a blog.  My hope is that this web space will serve to project my research interests, my thought process, and my personality, in such a way that I at some point connect professionally with others in the industry who like my style, and who share my interests.  Unless you’re in the field of Public Relations, a blog is not going to get you a job, and is not likely to be a factor even in getting an interview.  If my time spent on this effort manages to extend my professional network only a little bit, giving me an introduction and some name recognition to a couple of people when I attend a conference, or at best a connection who can introduce me to someone who is hiring when I am in need, then it will be time well spent.
Through my interaction on twitter with those in the transportation industry who are actively using social media in a professional capacity, I can honestly say that there may currently be a market for a blog on this topic of about a half-dozen people.  I believe this will change, and I believe it will change very soon.  Facebook has only been open to the public since September of 2006, yet only four years later nearly every high school and college student has jumped on board, and social media has become a part of their daily lives.  As this age group transitions into their professional careers, many of them are likely to bring their social media habits with them, transforming how we communicate in business.  If I am able to provide a dependable, thoughtful, on-topic analysis of the transportation industry as it relates to research, then I believe that those who share my interests will find value in the time and energy I put into this space.
I do not take lightly the sacrifices that I have asked of my wife and two wonderful children – and I am dedicated to making the most of the opportunity they are giving me to return to school and pursue my dreams.  Far from this being a burden, I am ecstatic to have such a strong motivator to make the most of each day.  There’s nothing quite like looking in on your sleeping toddler before you leave for work, to remind you of why you work so hard during the day.  To have the opportunity to put in that effort as a graduate student, getting paid to do what I now choose to do as a hobby, is a gift that my family is giving me that I expect will pay us all dividends in the future.

Continue reading →