Live and Learn on Purpose.
“I want to be a millionaire.” “I want to get all A’s this semester,” “I want to lose ten pounds.” We love to set goals for ourselves, dreaming of what life would be like if we just accomplished that next thing. I’m a “big goal” […]
“What do you want to do with your life?” I think this (or some version of it) might be the most often-asked question that college students get. Whether you’re meeting a new peer, sitting around the table at a family event, or in a job […]
I taught my first course as a graduate student, during my fifth year in grad school. One thing my advisor was always really great at was making sure his students were funded with research money. However, we ran into a 1-semester gap between contracts that […]
One of the most interesting transitions I went through while I was a college student for over a decade involves the way I approach work. When I was starting out, I struggled to find the motivation to do the work – schoolwork, and even research […]
Stop for a second and think about the three biggest things you’re hoping to accomplish right now. What came to mind? For some of you, you instantly thought of school assignments or work projects that will be finished in the next few days. Others might […]
My graduate advisor, the late Dr. Walter O’Brien, rarely told me stories from his personal life. However, after I expressed concerns over my own future, he shared with me a little of his own past. Graduate school takes a lot of work and seems to […]
“We want you to come, Tony.” I’d just been offered a job that would mean leaving my current position, packing up, and moving my family across the country. What started a few months earlier as “just looking around” had become a very real, and very […]
25 applications and 26 interviews. That’s the story I’ve been telling for years. When I first entered the job market after my post-doc, I applied to 100 jobs. The problem was that I got zero phone calls for interviews. Zero. When no one contacted me, I […]
I recently made the decision to change jobs (and states). Interestingly enough, at age 34, this is the first time the decision was mine to make. This post reflects on that experience, and I hope it will help you see that sometimes the best thing […]
After three amazing years as a mechanical engineering professor at Temple University, I’m excited to announce that I’ve accepted a new faculty position at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas! This is an amazing opportunity to expand on what I’ve been doing at Temple, and […]
