Andy Fraass's Avatar

Andy Fraass

@fraass.bsky.social

Assistant Professor at UVictoria. Paleobiology of absurdly small things.

220 Followers  |  200 Following  |  80 Posts  |  Joined: 20.09.2023  |  1.8239

Latest posts by fraass.bsky.social on Bluesky

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

Happy #FossilFriday, the University of Texas is hiring two curators/non-TT professors for our Vertebrate and Non-vertebrate Paleontology Labs: apply.interfolio.com/175702

10.10.2025 18:51 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I still think that they should have used this picture, I still think it's the best out of the options I sent.

10.10.2025 17:28 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Look it's @fraass.bsky.social from @seos-uvic.bsky.social @uvicscience.bsky.social ! πŸ”¬

10.10.2025 16:35 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

🚨 Big news! UVic researchers receive $1.13M from CFI-JELF to advance their work in climate and health innovation. These locally grounded projects are creating global impact, from BC’s alpine ecosystems to coastal communities and beyond. 🌍

ow.ly/sXrw50X9T4t

10.10.2025 16:31 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 4
Salary to Living Wage - only two points fall above the 1:1 line. A star indicates New Jersey Institute of Technology is almost to the 1:1 line!

Salary to Living Wage - only two points fall above the 1:1 line. A star indicates New Jersey Institute of Technology is almost to the 1:1 line!

Always excited for an increased salary submission! Congrats to the Department of Biological Sciences at New Jersey Institute of Tech for their stipend increase! This union-based win brings the pay almost to the 1:1 line! Update your department and find out more here: rhettrautsaw.app/shiny/Biolog...

10.09.2025 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 37    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2

Just a reminder - if you run/recruit or have anything to do with an ecology & evolutionary biology PhD program, check out our database and update your departments salary here: rhettrautsaw.app/shiny/Biolog...

23.09.2025 19:14 β€” πŸ‘ 20    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

So great to have @fraass.bsky.social in as a guest speaker for my first-year composition class today!

Though I was horrified by his saying a Caribbean volcano had erupted "in the 1900s": I thought he meant the 1990s eruptions, WHEN I WAS OVER 20, but nope, 1902. Safe to call that the 1900s. #uvic

24.09.2025 21:39 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Hah! The new running joke in all my classes and lab is that I'm old.
"Back when this paper came out when I was in graduate school"
"I hadn't been born yet"
"Get out."

24.09.2025 22:59 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Not that typesetting is that important as an aspect of the science, but as I was curious what was actually in there, the references are done inconsistently, lots of self citations, and it's just... ugly?

30.07.2025 22:49 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I spent the first few days thinking "Nah, there's no way, the meds are just going to give me a panic attack since it's a stimulant", but feeling so calm after taking them was a pretty clear sign that it's correct. I hope you feel the same way!

25.07.2025 22:40 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes, making a meme about this while I'm writing a paper is a clear sign that I'm not on the right dose yet, why do you ask?

25.07.2025 22:00 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Also, holy shit, I _might_ have been misdiagnosed with Anxiety and not ADHD (or just anxiety and not both) when I was 20? How would my career have been different?

25.07.2025 22:00 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

It's really wild to be diagnosed with and medicated for ADHD in your 40's. Like, I didn't realize that my brain was supposed to work like this? The meds work so fast. 1 day you're fighting 13 trains of thought and the next it's fully calm and ordered inside your skull.

Strangest experience.

25.07.2025 22:00 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Next week at #PalaeoPERCS we will be joined by Jenny Rashall from Stephen F. Austin State University, USA.
Sign up here: paleopercs.com/participate/
(1/4)

25.07.2025 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Three shelves of brightly coloured books

Three shelves of brightly coloured books

Are you neurodivergent & have done, or considered, a PhD? We’re researching how doctoral study works (or doesn’t) for neurodivergent people. Take our 30min survey & help make academia more inclusive forms.office.com/e/ft9jyWsPUW

Questions? Email lindsay.odell@open.ac.uk

#PhD #Neurodivergent

24.07.2025 14:55 β€” πŸ‘ 34    πŸ” 35    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 5

So excited to participate in this panel discussing the history and future of #PalaeoPERCS and the amazing, inclusive, and absolutely brilliant international community of early career pal(a)eo scientists! Please join us at 15:00 UTC today for this really important discussion!

22.07.2025 13:38 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
GitHub - maria-antoniak/sync-paperpile-obsidian: a simple tool to sync your papers from paperpile to obsidian a simple tool to sync your papers from paperpile to obsidian - maria-antoniak/sync-paperpile-obsidian

I made a little tool to sync my papers in @paperpile.com with @obsidian.md. It generates a markdown file for each paper and should handle annoying things like paper renaming and deletion.

I wish Paperpile would expose more data but the basic paper info gets imported.

Please use, extend, enjoy!

20.07.2025 08:17 β€” πŸ‘ 46    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The Valuable, Vulnerable, Long Tail of Earth Science Databases - Eos Community-curated data resources in the Earth sciences, highly valuable but systematically underfunded, are vital to research on a changing planet.

Opinion: If scientific databases in the Earth and environmental sciences are not adequately supported, we risk losing and potentially needing to replace these resources, an extremely costly, yet preventable, outcome.

buff.ly/WTgm4IC

Read more: bit.ly/Eos-Jul2025

19.07.2025 22:45 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Biomass and Biodiversity Were Coupled in Earth's Past - Eos Measuring shells and skeletons encased in thousands of limestone samples has revealed that the sheer amount of living stuff in Earth’s oceans changed alongside the diversity of organisms.

Data on how ecosystems evolve over geologic time may be key to understanding modern-day ecosystem changes. A study of marine biomass over the past 541 million years gets scientists one step closer.

10.07.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œOnly 2 of 225 US biology PhD programs assessed offer annual salaries meeting basic living wages”

Sad parallel with our findings in Canada, recently published in PLOS One (Fraass et al. 2025)

08.07.2025 15:41 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Too poor to science: How wealth determines who succeeds in STEM From student to researcher, a career in science can come with a high price tag. This Perspective explores how persistent financial barriers limit who can succeed in science, revealing how wealth shape...

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

08.07.2025 15:24 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

New paper led by @aniekebrombacher.bsky.social using x-ray CT and laser ablation to detect plastic environmental responses in fossil individuals www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2421549122 featuring @jamesmulqueeney.bsky.social @clivetrue.bsky.social @thefosterlab.bsky.social

03.07.2025 21:53 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
NOAA Climate & Global Change (C&GC) Postdoctoral Program | Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System ScienceNOAA Climate & Global Change (C&GC) Postdoctoral Program | Cooperative Progra...

As of today, all current NOAA Climate and Global Change postdoctoral fellows have been furloughed due to the Dept of Commerce not releasing the funding for the program. In addition no new Fellows were awarded this year. cpaess.ucar.edu/cgc

07.07.2025 15:16 β€” πŸ‘ 370    πŸ” 247    πŸ’¬ 15    πŸ“Œ 29
Preview
The Valuable, Vulnerable, Long Tail of Earth Science Databases - Eos Community-curated data resources in the Earth sciences, highly valuable but systematically underfunded, are vital to research on a changing planet.

Opinion: If scientific databases in the Earth and environmental sciences are not adequately supported, we risk losing and potentially needing to replace these resources, an extremely costly, yet preventable, outcome.

buff.ly/WTgm4IC

Read more: bit.ly/Eos-Jul2025

03.07.2025 22:45 β€” πŸ‘ 56    πŸ” 24    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 3

To the non-expert, this will seem esoteric, so allow me to summarise: we have profoundly altered the distribution of nutient elements on the ocean, with a potentially profound impact on the life that lives in it.

04.07.2025 16:15 β€” πŸ‘ 87    πŸ” 43    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 3
Preview
Adverse experiences of women with undiagnosed ADHD and the invaluable role of diagnosis - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Adverse experiences of women with undiagnosed ADHD and the invaluable role of diagnosis

New paper in @natureportfolio.nature.com's Scientific Reports!
We investigated emotional & psychological impact of late ADHD diagnoses in women
Highlighting how undiagnosed ADHD contributes to life-long challenges & how diagnosis in adulthood can be life-changing
#ADHD #WomenWithADHD #ADHDawareness

01.07.2025 21:44 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
Research students are diverse, while those in salaried positions are not: results from a survey of Canadian academic geoscience | Earth Science, Systems and Society Despite recognition that academic geoscience lacks diversity to an extent beyond that of other disciplines, demographic data from academic geoscience departments is not routinely collected. This inhib...

Paper about diversity within Canadian academic geoscience departments.
www.lyellcollection.org/doi/full/10....

17.06.2025 16:38 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The history of the ocean, as told by tiny beautiful fossils Β» Yale Climate Connections Climate change and declining biodiversity are the two biggest environmental crises facing humankind today, but predicting how they’ll play out together is tricky. Ideally, scientists would study how l...

🧡🌊 Tiny ocean fossils called foraminifera or "forams" hold a deep record of Earth's climate past. By studying these beautiful microfossils in ocean sediment cores scientists like our own @fraass.bsky.social reveal how life and climate have changed over millions of years wdcnews6.com/the-history-...

16.06.2025 18:32 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

It’s perfect!

12.06.2025 14:14 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I use it in my intro geology class (in the β€œlet’s talk about how batshit the geology is” sense). Hell, the undergrads in my department hosted a movie night with it.

11.06.2025 23:56 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@fraass is following 20 prominent accounts