Papers, papers, papers... !!!

Thinking aloud on which papers I actually do have lined up... Let's see which's sure and which's possible:

(1) Work with F. Review on methods. I'll need to write and collect more literature. Should finish a draft in 2-3 weeks.

(2) Work with boss M. Proposal of a new model. Running experiments which will last for another 3 weeks. I can't say how long the writing will take for this yet. Since this is first-hand work with boss M, he's keeping a close eye on the model, algorithm and code, and that in itself makes it take time as the feedback loop is more frequent. Not that this is a bad thing, it actually makes the work validate itself, though I keep rewriting code more often.

(3) Work with boss M and Z. Estimation of parameters from new model applied to current methods. Just yesterday, boss M pointed out that there is another possible paper out of our work in (2) that can be piped into Z's work. No time frame for this yet as it largely depends on (2).

(4) My own work. Validation of our previously-published method. A project that is on stand-by soon as I can find time for it. Should be open and shut as I've got the framework done.

(5) Possible work with R. Proposed new method for different organism. I've not met with R for a while (since last year). This is all up in the air, and I'm not sure I can think this up in time for the PhD to end.

Ok... now, what are the chances I finish at least ONE before September?!

A successful talk

In our most recent lab meeting, I gave a presentation on my work. I'm happy to report that it went very well. It certainly cleared my doubts that what I was doing made sense to other people. For a while I had been worried that the simulations I had designed and my plans for reporting the results in a specific manner would be undecipherable to others. After yesterday, I'm glad that they understood what I was doing.

And as a bonus, big boss seems happy and excited with it. He thinks I should hurry and get it published.

So back to work!

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I have some stories to tell as well about conferences and scholarships and such... But I'll save those for another time.

A dilemma of priorities

(Source: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd012609s.gif)

Ah, Jorge Cham continues to write the story of my life. This strip shall be me in our next research meeting, scheduled for February.

I need to come up with my plan for a last paper to publish. One agreement I have with boss M is to publish one more, and I haven't quite decided which idea I'm going to pursue for it.

At the moment I have three options:

(1) An extension of a previous paper, entailing that I design and perform synthetic experiments. This will enable me to perform tests on a methodology I had presented before, and report an evaluation on its performance. Difficulty: relatively easy. Publication probability: not likely for a really good journal, likely for a journal of lesser impact factor.

(2) The simulations in option (1) can be used for a different report altogether. This means using the same code I can write for (1), but keep track of different quantities for analysis. The analysis would require me to learn some more theories. Difficulty: moderately hard. Publication probability: less likely to get published soon coz of the fewer options for theoretical journals.

(3) A different methodology that I have yet to finish developing. This would be the most interesting of all options, as I expect most of our peers in the field to find it useful. Difficulty: Very hard. Publication probability: Very likely in a nice journal.

With only months to go, I am left with a prioritisation problem. I want to do all three plans (and some other side projects that merit attention) but I also have to think which will help me best for the thesis.

Less than two weeks to think long and hard about this.