After MUCH delay due to some pretty big life things (ahem welcome to the world baby August) we are back to wrap up Season 2 with a fun lil chat about what life is like as an Assistant Professor. Assistant to the Professor (Michael Scott?) …I mean sometimes, tbh. Follow along as we talk about many added job functions as you go from postdoc to prof, and listen for the stress in our voices. It’s not all rosy, but we also have the freedom to record a podcast at work LOL!

This week on the podcast Steph and Rachel talk about how similar the events in their lives have been over the past two weeks, and catch up with a friend of the pod(cast hosts), Jeff Kerby. Jeff is an award-winning natural history photographer with a passion for science. He currently works as a postdoc in ecology and geography, which is the coolest, but we are here to talk to him about his photography life. He photographed his first feature story for National Geographic in 2017 on gelada monkeys living in the Ethiopian Highlands. And just this past month, National Geographic named one of his photos (of a monkey giving birth, see below) one of the 100 Best Photos from this Century.

Here ye, here ye! We know everything about the academic job search!

Psych. On this episode of How We Got Here, we talk to each other about the perils, pitfalls, and page-length-of-cover-letters of the mysterious wonders that comprise the job search for a professorship. Rachel talks about her recent failures and successes in the most recent #jobseason, while Steph provides crucial insight from the point of view of a search committee member. Application materials, first and second round interviewing, negotiations… Denmark does everything better (?!)… we cover it all!

Listener questions guide this podcasr episode but NO, we CANNOT answer the question: What am I doing with my life?! Sorry. We don’t know either.

This week on How We Got Here we talk to Dr. Marysa Laguë who is… wait for it… a James S. McDonnell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Dynamic and Multi-scale Systems (WHEW!) at the University of Saskatchewan in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. Say that once. Just once. It’s a lot and it’s IMPRESSIVE.

Marysa expertly explains what climate models are to those of us podcast hosts who should really know what climate models are. What is q-u-e-u-e anyway? She also regales Steph and Rachel of stories about her first job as an educator at an 1890’s Victorian heritage town, which takes place, for the record, pre-hoop skirt, pre-bustle, and feather in cap optional.

You can follow Marysa on Twitter and Instagram for pics of her cats Alistair and Tufa.