Counterpoint: the never-ending gluten-free fad creates so many more options to those of us who ACTUALLY have Celiac 😂 apple.news/AGhFj5SStQb2...

This snippet is from an article on the “AI bubble” (apple.news/AYexgL6UdTrO...), but next time a University proposes slashing support staff in response to budget challenges we should all wave it in their faces.

See? I wasn’t kidding! 😉 bsky.app/profile/rich...

Anti-jinxing this until the cows come home.

This is gonna be fun. #GoBlue

“That easy A’s would lead students to phone in their coursework should have been predictable. What’s surprising is that the system has also failed to reduce stress. The percentage of first-year students who have received counseling has nearly tripled in the past decade.” apple.news/AlZopGWfBSL-...

The podcast I make semi-regular cameos hosting interviewed Jon Scheyer today. Not surreal at all.

If @mgoblog.bsky.social can be excited for college sports after this, then I feel so much less guilty about my plans to use football season to ignore the dismantling of American science for at least one day a week. Worth a read by everyone, sports fan or no. Go Blue. mgoblog.com/content/stor...

Every mentor I ever had warned me about this, and I STILL wasn’t prepared for how much of my life is emails. Especially when I’m lecturing to ~300 young premeds…

Welllllll there goes any optimism I had after the congressional budget news. I’m not sure how we’re supposed to survive amidst all this chaos, independent of needing money to do the actual science.

Tenure-track job postings specifically for COMPUTATIONAL neuroscience are few and far between. Great to see one here!

A reminder: Black Mirror concepts are meant as warnings, NOT AS SUGGESTIONS! 🤦‍♂️

Ummm… is this good news?!??

Also (minus the one obviously dated bit) this exchange lives rent free in my head: youtu.be/uqyDP_6yFFM?...

Life in #AcademicSky in a nutshell. Futurama science for the win, always.

Sincere question about this (purposefully?) confusing policy: as a #NewPI am I better off stalling some grant resubmissions until this stabilizes? Are the funding rates this year going to be so low that it isn’t worth it? #AcademicSky #NeuroSkyence

Not what I want to read about my alma mater. As researchers we need to do better not only making the broad argument for our importance, but the SPECIFIC one that higher education needs us. E.G., future doctors need exposure to biomedical research as undergrads, etc…

When I begrudgingly left 🇨🇦 for my (wonderful!) TT job, one way I justified the decision was how challenging it was to get CIHR funding. Now, I think most US neuroscientists would kill for a 15% funding rate, even with all the caveats considered…

#Neuroskyence #CompNeuroSky #NewPI

A quick update from inside my new Dad bunker: the final paper from my postdoc at @kbi-uhn.bsky.social @kcnhub.bsky.social is officially published 😀 We worked on this computational model of seizure-like events for 5+ years and it yielded some fascinating insights! journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

Will keep posting this to make sure we don’t collectively jinx something good.

Again…

I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Eve Marder: "The process of turning a word model into a formal mathematical model invariably forces the experimentalist to confront his or her hidden assumptions." The point isn’t to capture all the richness, it’s to put your money where your mouth is.

Sad to be missing CNS*2025, especially in such an amazing location… but the new little one at home (let alone Mom!) wouldn’t be pleased with Dad jaunting around Florence just yet 😉😀😂

As promised, some belated big news 😀😀😀

Doing this because it’s fun. Notes: 1) I will fight any Star Wars fan to the death about TLJ being the best Star Wars thing outside of the original trilogy. Disney failed by not just letting Rian Johnson cook. 2) Wish I could’ve put “The Room” on here. IYKYK.

I interrupt your doomscrolling for some happier news: my lab’s first paper is on bioRxiv!!! This study is our initial foray into describing the effects of time-varying cholinergic neuromodulation on neuronal microcircuit dynamics. #NewPI #neuroskyence #compneurosky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New theory: Our current science hellscape is because the wrong person thought “Twisters” was real and we were all pulling crazy ideas out of thin air chasing “big piles of grant money.” Also: That movie is horrible.

Dear @uconn.bsky.social: I love our dear mascot Jonathan just like all good Huskies do. But this? This is NIGHTMARE FUEL. A heck of a big swing as the lead image for our monthly magazine, hahahaha. magazine.uconn.edu/2025/06/05/b...

Dear @cnn.com: Doug Ford is not a “top Canadian official.” He’s the Premier of Ontario. That’s analogous to the Governor of California (largest state -> largest province). Say what you will about the man (and us Canadians have a lot to say!) but stop implying this is just some middling bureaucrat.

First of two lingering postdoc papers officially accepted for publication 😀😀😀

Reviewing papers here >>> reviewing papers in the office.

“No new awards” (which I’ve seen multiple times as a likely consequence of these cuts) means every #NewPI searching for funding—in an already historically challenging environment—basically needs to hit the lottery to create a self-sufficient lab.

It’s a small point of pride that I made it >15 years into the era of smart devices without the dreaded broken screen. But man, my first one was a doozy! RIP iPad… thank goodness you were aging and replacing you was already on the to-do list 😮‍💨😅😂

#AcademicSky and #NeuroSky, how did we miss these heroes on @thedailyshow.com with @jordanklepper.bsky.social shouting out cuts to neuroscience research?!?! We need to keep attacks on science in the media's focus anyway we can... these future neuroscientists depend on it! youtu.be/ePbMNq8m7Jw?...

Just over a year into my celiac diagnosis, can confirm. The number of “gluten free options” I’m offered that are just sugar bombs shaped like something else is depressing.

Amidst **gestures at everything**, a victory that needs celebrating: my lab has officially received its first grant from UConn's Institute for Brain and Cognitive Sciences! A small step forward, but a milestone for a #NewPI nonetheless 😀

News: White House has cuts to CDC traumatic brain injury education and research, including a program for coaches and trainers to take educational classes on concussions, in its proposed budget

In my wildest dreams I did not have "Highlighted story on ESPN.com about NIH funding cuts" anywhere on my bingo card, but that's 2025 for ya! #AcademicSky #NeuroSky www.espn.com/espn/story/_...

#AcademicSky and #NeuroSky, I need your best tips on how to distract yourself while waiting for grant results! My study section met on Tuesday and despite all conscious efforts to the contrary I’m refreshing Commons at an unhealthy rate 😅🤦‍♂️😂

#NewPI 🤦‍♂️ moment of the day: Finishing a meeting with a visiting speaker and realizing I never actually walked them through MY research program. Then realizing I’ve been doing that in some form all year in the perfect expression of #ImposterSyndrome.

Discovering new collaborators in unexpected places is the best part of being a #NewPI.

The great turnout for @uconnaaup.bsky.social’s event this afternoon was heartening. @blumenthal.senate.gov (pictured) deserves credit for coming out too. But how does this translate to action and leave the academic bubble? I’m not sure. But if this is all we can do in the moment, I’ll do it.

Bluesky friends! Did you know I masquerade as a college basketball expert on the side? No? That’s probably good. But if you want to hear another side of me, now you can! 😉😅😂

How it’s gonna feel when that first big grant comes through…

I called every twist in “Common People” minutes before it happened and it STILL absolutely wrecked me. Black Mirror remains special television. The fact that Charlie Booker is ALSO responsible for creating Philomena Cunk, which makes me cackle with laughter every time, is mind blowing.

Understatement of the day: It's incredibly hard being a #NewPI given **gestures at everything.** But talking with colleagues here, on Slack, or via impromptu in-person vent sessions is a great stress relief. As an introvert I was skeptical, but "community engagement" really does help 😀

Mood. 😈😈😈

I’ve reverted back to my least favorite trainee habit that I thought would leave me as a professor: anxiously refreshing the status of my manuscript resubmission 🤦‍♂️ Trainees, remember your mentors are often just as anxious as you are and don’t always practice what they preach 😂