I am Alexandre Pinto, and This is How I Work

Today, I am interviewing Dr. Alexandre H. Pinto. Alex Pinto is currently a Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow and Faculty Member at Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY), where he leads the group for Green Chemical Synthesis of Nanomaterials. Alex was born and raised in Brazil, where he took his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Master’s degree in Physical Chemistry, both at Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos (UFSCar), advised by Prof. Emerson R. Camargo. After that, Alex moved to USA, where he took his PhD in Chemistry at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, advised by Prof. R Lee Penn, working on the synthesis of transition metal chalcogenides using microwave assisted reactions. Throughout his career, Alex has worked with the solution chemistry synthesis of transition metal oxides, selenides, and sulfides, and characterization by different techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman and Infrared Spectroscopies, Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy. Since joining Ithaca College, Alex has worked on the application of Green and Materials Chemistry concepts to solve environmental problems, such as remediation of wastewater contaminated by organic pollutants via photocatalysis and solid-liquid adsorption, and development of transition metal oxides for less expensive catalysis of organic reactions.

Current Job: The title of my current position is Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow and Faculty Member, it is a position suited to provide teaching and research advisory experience in an undergraduate institution for recent PhD graduates aiming to pursue a career in undergraduate institutions.
Current Location: I am currently working in the Department of Chemistry at Ithaca College, which is located in the city of Ithaca, in the central part of the New York State.
Current Mobile Device: I own a LG Stylo phone with Android System, I have owned this cell phone since October 2015.
Current Computer: My current computer is a Toshiba Satellite, with an Intel Core I3 processor, 4 GB of RAM memory, and 500 GB hard drive and a Windows 10 operational system. This computer has been with me since Summer 2013. Sometimes it is a little bit slow, mainly when a new update of Microsoft Office or Windows is about to be released, but in overall, it has been fully functional.

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
As previously told, I am currently a Faculty Member at Ithaca College, where I teach generally three courses per semester. Generally, it is a lecture course and two lab courses per semester. Besides that, I manage a research group with undergraduate students. The goal of our research group is to synthesize nanomaterials using more sustainable, less toxic and harmful methods, which complies with a branch of chemistry called Green Chemistry. Then, we use these materials to solve some environmental problems, for instance, wastewater remediation. Talking more in depth, we are interested to study how textile dyes present in simulated wastewater interact with nanomaterials. Currently, we are working with two classes of materials, one of them is the polymer chitosan, which is produced from a material called chitin, found in skeleton of sea animals like crab and shrimp. The second material is the graphene oxide, which is a twodimensional material, very thin and with high surface area, mostly constituted by carbon. Besides our research in nanomaterials and Green Chemistry, we are also starting to do some research in Chemical Education, we are about to submit a paper about this topic, regarding the development and implementation of a course about characterization techniques for solid state materials.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
Besides the regular Microsoft Office package, there are three softwares that I consider essential to perform my job. The first one is called Origin 2017, it is a graphical software, which allows to plot graphs with a publishable quality, and offers more features than Excel. Besides the capability to produce high quality graphs, Origin is essential for my work because it allows me to do curve and linear fitting, as a Materials Physical Chemist, those two features are very necessary to perform my data analysis. The other two essential softwares are used to image treatment, the interesting thing is that both of them are free softwares. One of them is called ImageJ, and the second one is called Gimp. I use ImageJ to adjust contrast, sharpness, and adjust scale bars for electron microscopy images, then, I move to Gimp to increase image resolution and do small adjustments. The great thing about ImageJ and Gimp is that both softwares are free.

What does your workspace setup look like?
The majority of the week I spend in my office at Ithaca College, preparing classes, reading papers, analyzing data and thinking about the next experiments, which you can see some pictures. Then the rest of the time is spent in the classroom, while I am teaching, and in the lab space, where I go few times per
week to perform some experiments by myself.



What is your best advice for productive academic work?
Be self-driven. Science is made of ideas, but ideas themselves do not translate in results. Most people who chose a scientific career, usually have a lot of ideas, either good or bad ones, but, in general, all of them are worthwhile. However, many ideas are never put in practice, and to put an idea in practice, I consider that the researcher needs to be self-driven, because there will be a lot of factors and people trying to demotivate you around this way. So, the researcher needs to find their inner strength, take the ownership of their idea, and do everything that is feasible to make it work.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I do not have any sophisticated device for this purpose. I am still in the phase of my career that I rely a lot on my memory to remind me about appointments. One thing that I do routinely is to take a blank paper sheet when I first arrive in my office in the morning and write as bullet points all the tasks that I have to do for that day. Then, after I have completed a certain task, I cross that off the list. This simple action to cross the task of the list, although simple, gives kind of feeling of accomplishment.

About the research, I rely a lot on the lab notebook, and monthly or every other month, I gather the results obtained by the students or myself in a certain project and write a results outline, where I paste the graphs and briefly write how those results could be interpreted, and which are the remaining questions to be answered in order to make the project as close as possible to be a cohesive story, and hopefully become a paper manuscript. I feel these outlines very helpful when it is time to write a manuscript for a paper.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
No, I do not use any other technological tool besides laptop computer and cell phone in work and daily life. Also, by looking at how long I have owned my current laptop and cell phone, you might have noticed that I try to keep my devices for as long as they continue working. I am not the type of person interested to buy immediately the latest model of a computer or cell phone.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
I have always worked hard in my academic life, and one thing that I consider that essential is preparation. So, I always have tried to be prepared for when a possible opportunity could show up. Besides that, take the initiative and propose ideas that people probably would not expect from you. In a positive and humble way, I can say that I am proud to be on this point of my career so far. When I look back and see that I was the first person in all sides of my family to obtain a College education, and now I am teaching and researching in the USA, and having my work recognized is something that shows how far education, preparation and dedication led me in my life and career. I think this is one of the reasons I like teaching and academic life in general, because in the academy is where knowledge is seen as worthwhile. And that is the reason why I hope to continue researching, teaching and somehow trying
to be a good example to the student generations that will come.

What do you listen to when you work?
I am the type of person that prefers the complete silence while doing something that requires attention. If I have something to listen, like song or video, I totally lose the concentration. So, when I am seriously studying I do not listen anything.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
In this moment, I am not reading any book outside the scientific field, unfortunately. However, this is a habit that I intend to retake in a foreseeable future.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
For sure I am an introvert, in all fields of my life and relationships, but I see any professional activity as an opportunity to leave my introvert side away. Surprisingly, I have never felt uncomfortable talking to audiences, like classes or conferences, actually, I greatly appreciate talking in public. I think this one of reasons why I like teaching and give oral presentations, it seems that in those situations I am the extrovert person that I think I would like to be in all other fields of my life. In summary, I would say that being an introvert does not influence much in my working habits, despite influencing in most of the other fields in my life.

What is your sleeping routine like?
I sleep about 5 to 6 hours per night, generally from 11 PM to 5:30 or 6:00 AM.

What is your routine work like?
I arrive in my office right before 8 AM, this semester most of classes I teach are in the morning. They start at 8 AM or 11 AM. When the class starts 11 AM, I can work in my research activities for a while. The afternoon is filled with either by class preparation, paper reading, writing, and experiment planning. I generally leave my office around 6 PM. Until last semester, I used to go to my office and work during the weekends. For this semester, I have done the commitment with myself to avoid as much as possible going to the College in the weekends, to spend more time with my family. I am happy that so far, I have accomplished this goal.

What's the best advice you ever received?
This advice it was not given personally to me, but I heard it in a lecture more than 15 years ago, I was still in high-school that time, and to have heard this statement early in life made the difference in my professional career. The statement says: “Things like space, opportunity, and prestige will not be given to you. You have to conquest them.”

I am Rasheda Weaver, and This is How I Work

Today, I am interviewing Dr. Rasheda L. Weaver for the "How I Work" series. Dr. Weaver is an Assistant Professor of Community Entrepreneurship in the department of Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont (UVM). She is also the Co-Director of UVM’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community. She conducted the first large-scale study of the social, economic, and legal activities of social enterprise (businesses that have a social and/or environmental mission) in the United States. Her research analyzes how entrepreneurship may be utilized as a strategy for poverty alleviation and community economic development. In her free time, Dr. Weaver is an avid salsa dancer and loves to make spicy Caribbean food for her husband and son.

General:
Current Job: Assistant Professor of Community Entrepreneurship
Current Location: University of Vermont
Current mobile device: Samsung Android
Current computer: Mac Desktop and MacBook Air

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I am in my first year as an Assistant Professor in the University of Vermont’s Department of Community Development and Applied Economics. Since arriving, I was also offered and accepted the position of Co-Faculty Director for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
My Macbook Air is essential to my workflow because I travel a good deal and I try to stay out of the office when I am not teaching to focus on research days.

What does your workspace setup look like?
I alternate between work, office, and a café. I work in the office on teaching days and 1 day for research meetings, but I usually spend two days working from home or a café. I also have mini-writing retreats during the semester where I just work in a coffee shop near a scenic area or walking trail and take hiking/site-seeing breaks during my writing sessions.



My Office Desk (The week before classes when I am syllabus prepping)



Home Office



Café Work

What is your best advice for productive academic work?
Consistency, compassion, self-awareness.
I am consistent in that I get my work done. I may not write every day at the same time, but I try to ensure I write or work on my research every day. There is never a day throughout the work week where I do not do something involved with my research.

In regards to compassion, I focus on excellence as opposed to perfection. Excellence to me involves: 1) completing a task (e.g. writing and submitting a journal manuscript, completing a lecture) and 2) reflecting on the task over time. I usually do not complete any research, teaching, or service task without just getting it done and then putting it aside for a few days to reflect on it, make changes, and then sent it out to the world. Essentially, I accomplish every responsibility I have immediately/ as soon as possible, put it aside to see if it reflects my vision for it, and then move on to the next thing. I try not to dwell on any one project/task because that often leads to time wasted.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
My Publication Pipeline (shown below) helps me stay productive. It is on a bulletin board that I see every day. I left the names of each article out of the photo for anonymous peer-review purposes.



My Tenure-Track Portfolio keeps track of my work for promotions, reviews, and positive self-affirmation.



Also, on Fridays I make a list of all the things I have to do the following week (e.g. attending meetings, manuscript writing, teaching). I then create an agenda for each task and stick to it! I upload my class agendas to Blackboard, send agendas for my meetings, and set writing goals. This way, everyone that works with me knows what to expect and I have already prepped for my meetings for the week. It saves so much time and energy.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
Not really, though I probably should. I feel like I should make better use of Evernote and some reference management tool, but I have not come around to doing it yet. I would like recommendations of any time-saving and organizational software.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
Positivity, friendliness, a strong sense of self-confidence and self-awareness, and pretty cool dancing skills. My dad is a dancehall DJ and my aunt used to sing with Bob Marley. I’m a positive and free spirit. I get along with almost every person I meet.

What do you listen to when you work?
I love Pop and R&B, as well as reggae and salsa, but it depends. When I am writing, I usually listen to Whitney Houston, Ed Sheeran, Jason Mraz, or Alicia Keys. Essentially, I like music that speaks to my soul, but not so much that it will make me want to dance while writing. However, before any kind of presentation including a regular day in class, a conference, or a keynote presentation, I like to listen to Beyoncé, Katy Perry, or something upbeat and empowering. These types of songs help me unwind so I can be the free-spirited and open-minded person that I naturally am. After a conference, I usually try to attend a local salsa or reggae club as a treat. Dancing is one of my favorite things to do and I’m of Jamaican and Cuban descent so this kind of music helps me let go, be myself, and just have a good time after all the great work I just did.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
I just read Trevor Noah’s book “Born A Crime” and I love it!
I usually read when I traveling using audiobooks.

I also love, love, love Thoughtfully Magazine. It’s all about self-care and positivity. The issue in the picture below is particularly amazing.



Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
I’m an extrovert, however every now and then I need alone time to be creative and to focus. I’m very friendly, fun, and outgoing. This influences my work in that I see the classroom as a fun experience. My students often describe me as “energetic” and say that I make learning fun and cool. I do not aim for this, I just always focus on being myself because not being myself would make me nervous (food for thought). In regards to alone time, I like to get up early to write by myself and I often work alone. I sometimes like to work in groups (e.g. writing groups) as long as we stick to working for the most part. Because I am so outgoing, I can get distracted, but if I notice that I will usually just leave and come back to a group once my work is done.

What's your sleep routine like?
I try to get to sleep by 10p.m. and wake up around 5a.m. or 6a.m. depending on whether or not my toddler son wakes me up at night haha. This gives me time to wake up early for 20 minutes of yoga and meditation, 30 minutes of writing, and time to prepare breakfast and lunch (I make salads and smoothies for lunch in the morning plus prepare my son’s lunch) before my husband and son wake up.

What's your work routine like?
I teach 2 days per week and I only focus on teaching on those days. I prep for class, teach class, and then write notes for the next class. I usually try not to meet with anyone on these days. I come to campus an additional day each week for research and other meetings.

What's the best advice you ever received?
“Being a professor is like being an entrepreneur.” In our research, we must be innovative and productive to generate knowledge that is of value.
“In order to be “here” for students, you need to be “here.”” In other words, if I spend all my time focused on teaching and advising, I will not be productive enough in my research to be “here” at the university for my students in the future.

I am Kimberley Mitchell, and This is How I Work

Today, I have the pleasure of inviting Kimberley Mitchell in the "How I Work" series. Kim is a registered nurse and has been an instructor in the nursing department at Red River College in Winnipeg, Canada since 2002 where she has primarily taught the least nursey stuff possible: research methods and academic writing. She also acts as faculty writing mentor and all-round advice giver. Kim is also currently a PhD student at the University of Manitoba in the College of Nursing where she is plotting her doctoral thesis to explore the Theoretical Construction and Measurement of Writing Self-Efficacy. She has designed, completed and published several studies exploring writing self-efficacy in nursing students. In 2016, Kim created the persona and blogs at https://academicswrite.wordpress.com and tweets @academicswrite in order to inspire, share, and create a community of practice related to academic writing, research, and instruction.

General:
Current Job: Instructor, Red River College
Current Location: Winnipeg, MB Canada
Current mobile device: iPhone 8+
Current computer: MacBook Pro

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I am a doctoral student at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. My home department is nursing as I have been a registered nurse since 1997 and working in nursing education at a teaching focused institution since 2002 shortly after I finished my Masters degree. It took me this long to do my PhD (I started in 2016) only because I didn’t need it and I was enjoying life and the ample free time my flexible job allowed me. But the research bug crept back into my life around 2011. The most common question I get related to my nurse educator status is: “Did you ever do “real” nursing?” To which I tell them that what I do is REAL nursing, educating the future practitioners, but I did practice in a hospital for 5 years after my nursing degree and worked in Cardiac and Vascular surgery and Intensive Care. As an educator, I taught academic writing in our department from 2005-2015 and I have been teaching research methods since 2007.

In 2011 I decided that since I had developed this first year writing course for our nursing students that I should start collecting evidence as to if it was successful. I decided to focus on writing self-efficacy. I’ve done 3 studies on my local student population related to writing self-efficacy, developed an instrument, and did an analysis of all the writing self-efficacy instruments that have been used in research. These studies taught me that to increase my knowledge, the only solution was to do my PhD. My PhD focus is nursing education. I am carrying on with work in writing self-efficacy and re-developing my instrument to measure it and doing some other philosophical work in that area as well.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
Microsoft office. I write. A lot. So my main tool is Word. But I also make use of Exel for data entry and I’ve been learning SPSS and most recently Rstudio for doing latent variable analysis.

What does your workspace setup look like?
I alternate between home and office. Currently, as I type, I am at my Red River College office but I have a PC laptop here which I hate. I much prefer working on my Mac. My workspace is really uninteresting as it is just a desk and a computer and not much of a view.



What is your best advice for productive academic work?
I am known for being extremely efficient and productive. And I don’t really know if I have any tips for anyone that would actually work for them. I just do what I do and I don't think about it a whole lot. I never stop thinking. I just don’t procrastinate. I mean, I do procrastinate but I really consider that ‘thinking time’ rather than procrastination. I’ve put off duties like writing up assignment guidelines, for example, and then when I sit down to write them out, I can hammer out a first draft in about 30 minutes because the whole thing is usually pre-written in my head. That doesn’t necessarily work for academic writing.

I am very old school in my paper writing practices. I read paper copies of articles. I take handwritten notes of those articles. I thematically analyze the articles as I am taking notes often because my ideas form during reading and then are transformed and thickened by writing.

I’m very efficient. I look for the quickest way to get things done and I tend to not dither over decisions. All things that are truely time saving. My brain just "sees" how things should be organized before I go to organize it and it helps me to work faster.

I work very independently. Meaning, I know some folk that can’t seem to make a decision or implement a change without checking in with someone or getting approval. I don’t need any of that. I do what I do and I face the consequences later if I've done something inappropriate -- which is both often, and rare at the same time. There... those are my productive work paradoxes.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
Mostly in my head. I know what I need to get done and when it needs to get done by and I tend to only work on 2 things at a time. I do have a magnet board with some listed papers I would like to tackle but it is kind of outdated right now. I mentally block off time to complete a particular task.

For example, I have a factor analysis paper I want to write about my original questionnaire and I hope to have it done by mid April. I have three papers at journals right now in various stages of the review process. I have a systematic review I am working on unrelated to my PhD life that is being conducted with work colleagues and that one will go out before the end of the month. I have a educational innovation paper I wrote on a whim last week and I would like to have that one submitted before the end of the month too but it is the second priority from the systematic review. I have another paper I want to revise but I’m still percolating on. I had a meeting last week about team writing an editorial but that is usually a day of writing and it is collaborative writing so less time consuming overall. I’m involved in about 4 research projects as a team member all in various stages of completion. So I may have lied when I said I only work on 2 projects at once. I have about 11 I am involved in but really only 2 sit at the top of the priority list on any given day and I only allow 2 of them to "call for my attention" at any given time. It’s complicated but all academic life is complicated and I am pretty sure that is normal.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
Nope.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
My efficiency and my writing skills. I’m not a perfect writer. No one is. But I have a thorough metacognitive understanding of writing. I can diagnose writing issues easily. Mostly other people’s writing issues. With my own writing issues, I tend to have a bit more trouble. Also because I have been teaching research methods for 11 years, I have a very well honed understanding of a variety of research methods.

What do you listen to when you work?
I rarely listen to anything but when I do it is usually whatever is on my iPhone in iTunes which is mostly 90s grunge or sappy pop from the same era.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
I have two books going at once at the moment. Both are things that I don’t “have” to be reading but yet neither is pleasure reading. One is William Zinsser’s On Writing Well and the other is Connelly and Clandinin’s Narrative Inquiry. Nursing is a very article based discipline so I am finding it a tough conversion to look at books. Most of the classic writing literature is in book form not in article publications. Because I am taking a measurement course right now, I am also reading a lot of Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis Studies.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
I’ve done the Myer’s Briggs surveys numerous times and I sit right on the border of Introvert and Extrovert so the answer changes depending on my mood. I’m not shy but I do have social anxiety. My extroverted side was out in full force yesterday at the office where I talked several people’s ears off till I think they wanted to get rid of me. But I could also quite happily live in the forest on a lake and never see people for days on end and be lost inside my head writing. When I was writing as a young adult, I could often be swayed away from the pen by a phone call from a friend saying, “Hey let’s go out!” That’s probably why I never finished any of the writing I started at that age. I could easily be pulled away from it to socialize. Now in my 40s I would be more likely to say, "no thanks, I need to write."

What's your sleep routine like?
My ideal biorhythm is from about 9 am to 1 or 2 am but I often don’t get to live up to that. But I rarely work past 8 PM. I never work in the middle of the night or early in the morning. I am in bed by 10 or 1030 and lights out by 11. My partner has a strict routine and it is a good relationship practice (especially in my busy PhD student life) to go to bed at the same time so I follow his routine. But I could easily sit up and write till 1 or 2AM. When I wrote my novel that's what I did and because of it I started drinking coffee at the age of 35. But the only time I could write was when my children went to bed and I had rare children who slept and were in bed by 7PM so it worked. They were about 5 and 3 at that time. The writing got done from 7PM until I hit a brick wall. The house didn't get cleaned. It ended my marriage. But I was writing and it was one of the happiest times of my life.

What's your work routine like?
There is a lot of talk on Twitter on work-life balance which I respect but I find it doesn’t work for me to have strict “I only work from 9-5” rules to structure my work life. I work when my head is in that head space and I don’t when it isn’t. I'm not a pleasant person to be around if I have some writing or other task itching in my brain and I'm being kept from it by some obligation or other mundane task. I find my best work hours are between 10AM and 8PM. I don't watch much TV. My work routine can only be described as unpredictable.

I live outside of the city of Winnipeg which means about a thirty minute to one hour commute to get to work or to get to school. Sometimes I work at home -- whenever I can but that is not often these days. I teach 2 days a week currently and those days are spent at my Red River office. I usually have to be at the university for some student related activity for minimum one other day of the week. I will set up office in the grad lounge on those days or the research office depending on what needs to be done. My kids don't go to school in the town I live in, so they get driven into the city with me which often means I do a split work day. My office hour time is done by about 3PM and then I drive to pick up the kids and do grocery shopping and run errands and take them home. The kids are 16 and 14 now. Then I work for another hour till dinner, and, many evenings, after dinner for another couple hours.

I work when work calls, and I do life when life calls. sometimes that means working all evening or weekend and sometimes that means going for a three hour bike ride at 10AM on a Tuesday morning. As long as deadlines are met, I don't tend to fret about it much. I don't much let a clock dicate when either happens. The writing muse doesn't always appear because a clock says it should. And sometimes life needs to happen at 10AM instead of at 5PM. (editors note: sometimes there are spousal complaints). It is a crazy work life but it works for me. It is hard to describe to others. My solice is in the fact that at my current job I have 44 days of vacation a year to use and I tend to do nothing but leisure time, and read, most of the summer.

What's the best advice you ever received?
I don't know if this falls in the category of advice per se, but I've been teaching undergraduate nursing for 15 years and I had a mentor for the first 12 of those who was in the same office as me (before she retired) who really inspired my approach to learning. As the writing instructor we had many conversations about plagairism and she was also the adminstrator who had to have conversations with students when their assignments were suspected plagiarism. She always used to say, "Would we rather be police? Or would we rather teach?" And the first time I heard her say that it changed my thinking. Of course I would rather teach! I changed my pedagogial choices after that. I really don't think much about or every go hunting for plagiarism. Students are less likely to plagiarise if you are in their face about their writing process. So find a way, in every assignment, to make sure that every one of your students has to look you in the eyes with respect to their writen work.

I am Margaret Breidenbaugh and This is How I Work

Today I am interviewing Margaret Breidenbaugh for the "How I Work" series. Born and raised in Ohio’s first capital, Chillicothe, Margaret Breidenbaugh completed her undergraduate work in music composition and vocal performance at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. A search for her German roots necessitated learning to read nineteenth-century German handwriting. An opportunity to process German collections for Cincinnati Museum Center followed. In 2014 Margaret stumbled upon an anonymous travel diary on eBay, a purchase which changed the course of her professional life. After confirming the identity of the writer, Margaret began work on a historical fiction manuscript about German noblewoman Marie von Bonin’s factual 1855 trip to Paris. She received sage advice about this project from Stanley Planton, historical consultant to Dan Brown. As a second-year M.A. History student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Margaret researches nineteenth- and twentieth-century German social and cultural history, especially women’s conceptions of identity and agency. Her current research is a companion to her historical fiction project, and argues that Bonin saw her travels as an opportunity for intellectual and personal growth. Recent training includes an internship at Cincinnati Museum Center with James DaMico, Curator of Photographs and Prints, and a California Rare Book School workshop, “History, Identification, & Preservation of Photographic Materials,” taught by photograph conservator Gawain Weaver. Margaret’s future plans include continuing to teach voice lessons, completing and publishing her novel, and managing an archive or special collections library.

General:
Current Job: 1) Graduate Assistant, Havighurst Special Collections, Miami University; 2) private voice instructor
Current Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Current mobile device: iPhone
Current computer: Apple 27" desktop and 12" laptop

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
At present I have two jobs, which means I have to be very conservative and efficient with my time. I am a full-time graduate student in the Department of History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, I hold a 20-hour-per-week assistantship with Miami U's Special Collections Library, and I teach private voice lessons part-time. I also volunteer at Cincinnati Museum Center's Geier Collections and Research Center. I usually have more than one research project going, all of which have to do with German women, identity, and agency in the 19th and 20th centuries. My primary focus is my thesis project, which examines the life of Marie von Bonin, a young noble woman who kept a travel diary during the summer of 1855. I use her diary as evidence of subversion of social norms about women's experiences with travel, courtship and marriage, and education.

The greatest moment of my research life so far! This is me kneeling beside the final resting place of Marie von Bonin, the young German noblewoman I began researching in 2014

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
I do pretty much everything on Google Drive. I cannot imagine not being able to pull up my work wherever I go. I use Docs for writing and teaching materials (which I convert to Microsoft Word for submissions), Sheets for longterm planning and budgeting, and Slides for conference presentations.

What does your workspace setup look like?
I have four workspaces! All four have a computer. Three have a mug warmer. One has a piano! Since school is on break, my home office is my primary one. I just purchased modular shelving, folders, and small boxes to organize all of my work and personal papers, which are then arranged by subject and chronology on my shelving. My school office is currently a mess, but I decided not to stress about it until classes resume at the end of this month. My voice studio is my third office, and I have a fourth workspace at Cincinnati Museum Center, where I am processing a collection for the photo curator, James DaMico.

My home office with my two workspaces, a traditional desk for typing and a large table for reading or spreading out research materials

My home office with my modular shelving where I store research materials (papers, books, photographs, etc.)

This is my history department office. Not pictured: storage above my desk for everyday items like paper, pens, wet wipes, coffee - all the essentials! On the bulletin board to my right are two maps: France and Prussia in the mid-1850s. Photo courtesy of Austin Hall.

This is my Special Collections library workspace. I work at different stations depending on my project. These are papers relating to a past president of Miami University, Philip Shriver. It is an honor to help preserve his legacy.

What is your best advice for productive academic work?
Every night, write out a work plan for the following day. Every Sunday night, sketch out a loose idea of what you want to accomplish during the entire week. If I did not do this, I would let too much unscheduled time get away from me.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I use a physical planner to sketch out longterm projects. It is color-coded, of course! Orange is school, green is bills/appointments, purple is teaching voice, light blue is fun stuff. I put due dates on monthly calendars and then write weekly goals on daily pages. I am always looking ahead so there are no surprises.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
I use my iPad in my voice studio to share videos with students. It fits perfectly on a music stand and has a pretty powerful speaker.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
I can read 19th-century German handwriting fluently. I also have extensive formal music and theater training, including paid work as a living history actor. I can sight read almost any sheet music with no issue, which I think would serve me well working as a music librarian (possible future career goal).

What do you listen to when you work?
Nothing. Music is my other, equal passion, and I find myself unable to avoid singing or humming along, even if the music is instrumental. I do like working in noisy coffee shops, however. I find the din helps me focus.

What are you currently reading?
I am not reading anything fun at the moment. I need to get back into the habit. I love a good Harlan Coben novel.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
I exhibit characteristics of both, and when I feel one way or the other seems to be arbitrary. I am not sure how this affects my work habits, to be honest. Great question that I will ponder!

What's your sleep routine like?
I drink WAY too much coffee, a behavior I have tried to curb this year with no success, so I tend to get around 5.5-6 hours of sleep a night. This often means I am tired throughout the day, or I let myself sleep in and miss out on precious research and writing time. Definitely something I need to address before spring semester starts!

What's your work routine like?
I tend to block out 2-3 hours for each activity. I prefer to read in the morning and write in the afternoon. For many people this might seem counterintuitive (better to write when you are at your freshest) but reading comprehension is something I have always struggled with. It takes all receptors firing at once to get the gist of what I'm reading. Writing comes naturally to me, so I don't stress about it nearly as much.

What's the best advice you ever received?
Learn to say no! It is okay not to take on every opportunity that comes your way. You'll enjoy better results with the projects you do take on, and your mental health will thank you for it.