Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)

I am two weeks away from starting my new faculty position - any advice for new faculty?

Steal this (updated) syllabus for Scientific Writing I’ve just finished the 3rd go-around of my Scientific Writing course.  When I first signed up to teach it, I was very scared, but now that I’ve been through it a few times, I’m quite pleased with h…

If you're teaching Scientific Writing this fall (especially if it's new to you!) and are getting worried about just how close the fall is getting: reminder that I share my syllabus and all my course materials. Here: scientistseessquirre...

this is so accurate

And “hard science” careers are also WRITING INTENSIVE jobs! Want to be an astronomer, biologist, or chemist? You’ll spend years writing reports, grants, papers, reviews, reference letters, etc. Writing is never easy, but it’s much *easier* if you’re trained how to outline and structure text.

Thinking about description, analysis and interpretation in social science research.

(I may have one too many coloured fineliners)

I've wanted to write this article for years. About my and other's struggles to even survive sometime in #academia. Thank you to the amazing editors at @plosbiology.org that gave me the forum to write this piece. #science

This is figure 1, which gives an overview of the methods used to generate artificial mimetic stimuli.

Birds have an excellent ability to learn to discriminate harmless insects from those that they mimic on the basis of subtle differences in appearance, according to a study in Nature. go.nature.com/44yj4M5 🧪

Fig. 2 Whole-body estimates of sea otter metabolism scaled to body mass. Estimated scaled whole-body metabolic rates include predicted [BMR; predicted on the basis of scaled rate for eutherian mammals], sea otter resting metabolic rate, and whole-body skeletal muscle leak capacity.

Several mammal species live in cold-water environments thanks to adaptations like blubber and large size. A notable exception is the sea otter—so how does it stay warm?

A 2021 Science study found an answer: skeletal muscle thermogenesis.

Learn more on #WorldOtterDay: scim.ag/4jjvMDL

2 versions of the same design, all of which say "Biology is bigger than binaries", with a central image of a bee, a clownfish, and a lily. The one on. the left is pink, the right is orange,

You've got ~a week left to pre-order our collab w/@franzanth.bsky.social, Bigger Than Binaries!

I'll order some extras in orange in a limited size range because I lack a warehouse, I have only a room full of lizards.

Printed locally on 100% cotton.

Get 'em while you can! squidfacts.bigcartel.com

Thanks Miriam!

Does anyone have any templates or guidance on writing letters of recommendation for undergraduate students? Especially for medical/dental school? I've gotten a bunch of requests since the end of the semester from students in my class and I've never written these before #academics #STEM #DBER

🥳📣 Call for abstracts: Special Issue of JQTSIE:
"Critical Approaches to Queering STEM Education"
edited by @drjgutz.bsky.social & @ftmathteacher.bsky.social!
Abstracts are due SOON: May 30, 2025! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
www.jqtsie.com
@kamdenstrunk.bsky.social @drantonioduran.bsky.social @sashelton.bsky.social

There is no one right way to solve a problem, just like there is no one right answer to a question and really showcases why diversity is so important. My students may not have directly gotten that out of this class, but my goal is to make those connections more explicit in future courses I teach

I'm grading final papers for my comparative animal physiology course and one group wrote in their conclusion a sentence that essentially said that physiology shows us there is more than one way to solve a common problem and THAT is such an important lesson!

Thread with an email being sent to @asn-amnat.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @systbiol.bsky.social members today calling for a Tri-society week of action for NSF:

Dear members:
The tri-societies (ASN, SSE,SSB) are running a ‘Week of Action for NSF’. Your engagement is crucial.

I literally wouldn't have been able to go to college if it wasn't for the federal work study program

I did my master's thesis project with them! They're so cool 🤩

I ended up parking my car at an underground parking garage downtown because I don't have a garage and don't want to deal with possible hail damage! but otherwise going to hope the tree outside my house doesn't fall 😩

Super excited to announce that I've accepted a Teaching Assistant Professor of biology position in the Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University!

If you, like me, had you NSF granted terminated, here’s what I learned from a hopeful meeting with my VP of research:
1. We have 30 days to act! Meet with your admin asap
2. APPEAL: Everyone can appeal! It must go through your institution, there’s a template, sent registered mail. My VP told me ⬇️

Woohoo!!! Congratulations Emily 🥳

What are your most unhinged writing tips? For example, I wrote the first draft of my dissertation in Comic Sans because writing in Times New Roman feels permanent, and Comic Sans made it feel more like a draft. #academics #academicwritingtips #unhinged #dber #STEM

I'm so sorry Paula :(

"But it didn’t take me long to look around me and realize that some of the most effective people doing DEI work weren’t “doing DEI work.” They’re just excellent mentors, do things equitably and fairly, support institutional transparency, and all that."

Action Alert: Ask Your U.S. Representative to Support Investment in NSF Congress has begun debating funding levels for federal programs for fiscal year (FY) 2026. Please show your support for the National Science Foundation (NSF) by asking your Representative to sign a De...

Action Alert: Ask Your U.S. Representative to Support Investment in NSF by signing a Dear Colleague Letter. AIBS has this nice template that you can send to your Rep! www.congressweb.com/AIBS/3?frame...

“Am I Doing Enough?”: Exploring How Neoliberal Discourses Inform Women Doctoral Students’ Experiences in Biology - Innovative Higher Education While women make up over half of doctoral students in the biological sciences, that number decreases as they progress through academic job rankings. The “leaky pipeline” and other metaphors have been ...

My paper titled "Am I Doing Enough?" Exploring how neoliberal discourses inform women doctoral students' experiences in biology has been out for a while, but finally has an issue assigned!

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

What's currently happening to science funding and higher education in the U.S. feels similar to what happened in Hungary several years ago. I reread a paper I co-authored on this topic, and oof, this is basically the same thing www.proquest.com/openview/db0...

🙏 We need your help 🙏

The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.

We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:

NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...

NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...

w/ @noamross.net

A flyer for information about how to participate in the STEM faculty survey.

🔭 Seeking STEM faculty teaching undergraduates this spring to complete a survey about their beliefs and teaching practices! Please share out widely and with anyone you know who is eligible. THANK YOU! #HigherEd #AcademicSky #EduSky #STEM #SciSky #PhDSky utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...