Free, multi-platform pro-like applications for students

Free software is software that gives you the user the freedom to share, study and modify it. We call this free software because the user is free

– Free Software Foundation

 

Going through graduate studies (or even undergraduate studies), is about creativity, hard work and learning not to loose information, not to drop the ball on ideas and projects. In order word, part of it is also about being able to put your ideas to work for you in an efficient manner. In the following are a few applications to help you along the way. Of course, nothing precludes the good old pen and paper. I personally really enjoy my Lamy 2000 fountain pen and a Leuchtturm 1917 whitelines notebook (but this is for another post!).

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Université Laval medical physics professors and students in action at AAPM2017

This week, our students and faculty are involved in 17 presentations at the AAPM meeting in Denver, Colorado. This include Best In Physics (Therapy) Marie-Ève Delage. Overall 2 general poster presentations, 5 poster discussions (ePoster), 3 SNAP Oral, 5 oral presentations and two symposium presentations.

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How much time does it really take?

To present a scientific subject in an attractive and stimulating manner is an artistic task, similar to that of a novelist or even a dramatic writer. The same holds for writing textbooks.
– Max Born

When a graduate student come to me with the big news that its abstract has been selected for an oral presentation, my first reaction is a big congratulations and the second is to already set a deadline for a first version of the talk. Because of the abstract, you already know the content, what needs to be presented. But crafting an effective 7, 8 or 10 minutes presentation is a complete new game.
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Advice to new graduate students

  • Invest time in learning tasks/project management – start here.
  • Review all of your tasks/next action weekly
  • Set time aside to review your projects/goals on a regular basis (at least monthly for projects and quarterly for goals).
  • Set time aside to do something else: sport, tricot, …

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A 75 min presentation on Organizing Creativity

From the author of  Organizing Creativity, Daniel Wessel, here come an overview of the book in 75 minutes!

As I have said before, this is a must for all graduate students. I cannot recommend enough that you take the time, listen to the presentation and afterward download (free!) and read the book for more in-depth information.

Quite frankly, this book is so good that I bought the printed (color) version. Yes, a paper version, call me a romantic…

An interesting resource for PhDs, postdocs and early career researchers

I recently came across the following document by Professor Alan M Johnson, which appears to be distributed freely by Elsevier and entitled “Charting a Course for a Successful Research Career: A Guide for Early Career Researchers – 2nd edition“.

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