After reviewing nearly 200 applications from prospective grad students and postdocs over the past few months for a couple different 🧪⚒️ postings, here are some tips, at least as they apply to North American positions. I hope they help future applicants. Share with your networks. 🧵

I have been alive for 15,353 days today. I have reached the # of Life, the Universe, and Everything. My birthday wish is that a) you do something kind today, b) read, skim, or share something I wrote for science, and c) do a little jig. 🧪⚛️ #highenergyastro www.jamiezvirzdin.com/publications...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C7t... Jamie Zvirzdin links principles of physics with those of grammar and linguistics, adds a pinch of poetics, and serves up a tasty guide to scientific thinking and writerly writing. —Christopher Joyce, Correspondent, Science Desk, NPR www.subatomicwriting.com 🧪⚛️🔭✏️

Once upon a time my friends told me about a Science & Religion essay contest, that I had to do it. I wrote the damn thing in a week and won 2nd place and $5,000. At the heart of it is the symbol of the urbs quadrata, like the unit circle centered at a Cartesian origin. 🧪🔭⚛️ issues.org/shuddering-b...

I'm reading The Complete Sherlock Holmes to my son at night. Sherlock says in "A Scandal in Bohemia" (p. 187), "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." Wise words. 🧪⚛️🔭

The world can be grim. What sustains us? Meaningful work and kind interactions sustain me, along with good memories. Teaching my son to read is one of these. (We loved these foam letters someone gave us!) His determination still fuels me. #parenting #love #education www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNiS...

We invite you to learn about the link between topology and space engineering when it comes to solving the three-body problem! Find out in our latest blog post by Arthur Limoge: structures.uni-heidelberg.de/blog/posts/2... #threebodyproblem #math #spaceexploration #topology

I am citable! Check it out: Zvirzdin, J. (2025, January 27). Psst . . . Your AI Is Showing: How to Put Your Own Voice in Scientific Papers. Workshop on Machine Learning for Analysis of High-Energy Cosmic Particles, University of Delaware. doi.org/10.5281/zeno... #highenergyastro #ai ⚛️🧪

🧪⚛️🔭 Give back, nominate someone who helped you.

Props to @kurzgesagt.org for another fantastic and supremely important science video, this time on the benefits and costs of alcohol. Take a moment to watch it, please. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Or others. 🧪 youtu.be/aOwmt39L2IQ?...

We just published our second paper on this topic! Our #TelescopeArray detectors help us understand energy mechanisms behind both cosmic rays 🌠and lightning.🌩️ Support your local scientists and the National Science Foundation! 💞💸 agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... #highenergyastro 🧪⚛️

Fantastic article by @rhettallain.bsky.social. I grow tired of physics problems that do not model real life. It only leads to physicists who do not know how to model real life. We need more of this, a careful examination of assumptions.⚛️

I remotely operate sensitive cosmic-ray telescopes in the West Desert of Utah. Wild that we can pick up the light from this wildfire. Be safe, Sevier County! Select Band="Fire Temperature RGB" www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/wfo_ban... #Utah #UofU #TelescopeArray #highenergyastro 🧪

Word to the wise, this happened yesterday. I'm in Europe and move frequently for my husband's job. I value staying in touch with friends across the globe. But to be locked out of both Facebook and Instagram with NO warning made me realize I need to write down names/other contact info ASAP.

Scientists can regain public trust by a) being honest in their work and b) not being so proudly inaccessible in their writing. The best physics writing uses different kinds of stories, and I also tell my own. aeon.co/essays/to-un... @aeon.co #scicomm #writing #editing #publishing #highenergyastro ⚛️

If you research the physics ⚛️ of extreme objects/particles/environments or high/ultrahigh-energy emissions from space, sign up to post to our #Bluesky #highenergyastro feed. I moderate this feed as part of the most excellent Astrosky Ecosystem.🔭 Join us!🧪 astrosky.eco/feeds/highen... @emily.space

Our friends at @natcomms.nature.com are hiring an editor for quantum physics and technology. Can be based in China, the US, Spain, or Italy. Full details here: www.nature.com/naturecareer... #Careers #EditorialJobs #Quantum #Physics

!!! new on work led by U.C. Berkeley postdoc, Yuhan Yao 🦖 incl. comments from @gymleadererica.bsky.social et al. "Like a scene out of a sci-fi movie, astronomers using NASA telescopes have found 'Space Jaws.'" 🧪🔭☄️ #womeninSTEM #highenergyastro science.nasa.gov/missions/hub...

Hey, the PDF of my 3-hour workshop at the U. of Delaware has over 100 downloads now! Not bad! zenodo.org/records/1511... If you teach science, give your students the time and opportunity to find their own #writing voices. Textbook I wrote for my #JHU students: www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/... 🧪⚛️🔭

And here is one of the solutions to the 3-Body Problem. There are hundreds! It is a good reminder that we often focus too much on a problem and not enough on the solutions. This is Christopher Moore's original (nontrivial) solution from 1993: youtu.be/EQ5K6KTVaQc ⚛️🧪 #highenergyastro

I find it wildly cathartic to be taking both #Chaos and #Cosmology this semester at #JHU. Insane amount of work but marvelous material (Thank you @stevenstrogatz.com and @bsryden.bsky.social for your writing styles!). Dramatic music for (melo)dramatic times. ⚛️🧪 #highenergyastro youtu.be/HGbs1mcju0Q

My Australian Shepherd is absurdly beautiful even when covered in mud after many miles of trail running with my husband. I will never get over how marvelous she is. Husband's pretty great too. 😂 #pets

This is Andrew being acted upon by the cat force, which is far more powerful than any other force in the universe. Dimensionally speaking, 😺 Force = (Mass of 🐈) * (Length of 🐈)/(Time the🐈decides to remain)^2 . . . * ♾️. It's a very positive force. 😹🩵 ⚛️🧪

A room with a GREAT view. Currently waiting for lightning to clear up before we can open #UofU #TelescopeArray doors and capture ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray particles. Also studying for #JHU graduate course, Chaos and Its Applications. Also, cat. #highenergyastro #fundscience 🧪⚛️ #particlephysics

Happy 18th anniversary to us!

Students are so intent on #publishing they turn to #AI, but AI is STILL a bad writer with identifiable writing patterns editors easily see. If you're a professor/administrator, hire me to come inspire your students to find their own #sciencewriting voices! 🧪⚛️🔭 A taste: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

#Bones to Booth on the Tooth Fairy: "I don't want to teach our daughter that it is okay for a stranger to break into her room and steal discarded body parts." 😂😂😂 I totally agree. It has been great watching this show for the first time. Thanks @emilydeschanel.bsky.social & Co.

My students are the bestest. #SubatomicWriting #scicomm #grammar #JHU @hopkinspress.bsky.social rappahannockreview.com/issue-12-2/i...

Access my presentation for FREE. APA citation: Zvirzdin, J. (2025, January 27). Psst . . . Your AI Is Showing: How to Put Your Own Voice in Scientific Papers. Workshop on Machine Learning for Analysis of High-Energy Cosmic Particles, University of Delaware. Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭

"Excrementitious" and "nefandous" are my favorites. www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/tha...

I remember learning about Reed Smoot and his policies in 7th-grade Utah History. History doesn't repeat; it rhymes. (Check out the rhyme! My favorite line is "Smite, Smooth, smite for Ut." 😂) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Sm...

I loved watching The Secret of NIMH as a kid, bring it on! www.iflscience.com/scientists-p... 1982 Trailer: youtu.be/W4xHs01SUA4?...

So satisfying to create plots like this. #Relativity #gradschool #Python #JupyterNotebooks #differentialgeometry #highenergyastro ⚛️

Finally had time today to turn a snake-mass of my old #karate belts into something I can hang on the wall. Just needed packing tape, twine, YouTube, and MacGyvery patience. Black belt is where it belongs: on me or on the shelf. I'm not really a crafter but this was worth it. #JissenKobudoJinenkan

OK, I just started watching Bones (2005) for the very first time, and I freaking love it. Is that weird? Have you guys seen it? I'm super squeamish, but there's something incredibly cathartic about using science to bring about justice . . . in a time of anti-science and injustice. It's heartening. 🧪

Proud member of AWIS, Association for Women in Science. @awisnational.bsky.social 🧪⚛️👩‍🔬

If you're struggling right now, here is a piece I wrote for @orionmagazine.bsky.social a few years ago. We are capable of doing difficult things. orionmagazine.org/article/6-wa... 🧪🔭 #nonfiction #writing #enumerations #cnf #scicomm #parenting

My latest science column came out today (2 print newspapers, 1 online). We're facing down mysteries this year, and this is undoubtedly the most important and the most urgent one to solve: www.allotsego.com/citizen-scie... 🧪 #scicomm #ScienceLiteracy #PublicEngagement #CitizenScience #AcademicSky

Citizen Science #7 Welcome to Biasville. We all live here. If we're smart, we'll visit the Valley of Dissonance from time to time. Learn to manage uncertainty in your life. Reduce fear and distrust in yourself and among your neighbors. This is the way forward. 🧪 www.allotsego.com/citizen-scie...

My latest NY newspaper column. May we all develop Nancy Drew grit to solve any problem before us. Please tell me your favorite physics mystery! www.allotsego.com/citizen-scie... 🧪⚛️ #highenergyastro #scicomm #journalism #mysteries #Edusky #AcademicSky

This whole thread is great, but this is hilarious. Watch out, finely structured alpha, I'll get you like Éowyn got the Witch-king of Angmar, mark my words. 🧪⚛️ #highenergyastro

I know Emily. She does great work.

Tell your children & your students that science editors/writers/people like me can identify the linguistic patterns AI uses. It's blandly boring. If you want to publish and be taken seriously, use your own voice. Be proud of it. No need to be perfect. I enjoyed giving this talk! 🧪⚛️🔭 #scicomm #EduSky

Very proud of my little sister Katie and her new watercolor collection, "Strong Women." www.papercitymag.com/arts/kate-st...

I flew over Greenland on my way to a physics ⚛️ conference. Some of my colleagues have #highenergyastro experiments going in peace and quiet, interrupted only by intermittent polar bears. Let's keep it this way. 🧪

Just finished a fascinating and fabulous week with these fellow #highenergyastro physicists. Thanks to Frank Schroeder, Spencer Axani, Dawn Butler, and the #NSF for a superb conference on using #machinelearning to analyze cosmic particles. It is a privilege to talk and work with these people. 🧪⚛️

I am personally invested in changing this. I've experienced myself in high school and college how tiring it is to feel intimidated. We start by avoiding terms like "obviously" and "clearly." This kind of language is called Proof by intimidation. Encourage curiosity, not self-consciousness. ⚛️🧪

I attempted to shut off my brain at night by reading some lovely old Nancy Drew mysteries my MIL gave me—books I read in my early teens too. They are DEFINITELY dated, but I feel grateful I had/still have Nancy Drew to inspire me to solve my problems and check for secret panels. #books #fiction

My physics colleague is making faces at me as I try to work from home. Does anyone else have a similar problem? 🧪⚛️👩‍🔬 #highenergyastro #pets