Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 1d

Nearly a week and still stuck on a “Decision in Progress” status… I’ve never experienced a stall like this at this stage! By the time I get a decision it’ll be four full months, which seems unusually slow even for these unprecedented times 🫠🫠🫠

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 7d

After 3+ months in review, the status on the lab’s first manuscript has finally progressed.

Cue the anxiety spike to every email until the decision comes. 😅🤔😂

🤞🤞🤞

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Jun 22

I interrupt your doomscrolling for some happier news: my lab’s first paper is on bioRxiv!!!

This study is our initial foray into describing the effects of time-varying cholinergic neuromodulation on neuronal microcircuit dynamics.

#NewPI #neuroskyence #compneurosky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 2d

The first time my Dad duties have helped my work: my baby girl’s poop explosion just reset my brain enough to write the perfect sentence for an idea I had been agonizing over for the previous hour 😂😂😂

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 7d

The anti-jinx never fails.

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 7d

Omg this worked back into happy anxiety mode GO TIGERS

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 7d

In all my years of having my mental health disproportionately determined by sports (yes I’m aware of the problem!), I’ve never felt so… RESIGNED to the end of a once promising season like I am with these Detroit Tigers.

May this skeet anti-jinx them into playing actually competitive baseball.

Chris Vannini @chrisvannini.com · 7d

Watching the Tigers lose the way everyone knew for months they were going to lose, after being told it was fine, is frustrating, gotta say. No leadership.

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 7d

After 3+ months in review, the status on the lab’s first manuscript has finally progressed.

Cue the anxiety spike to every email until the decision comes. 😅🤔😂

🤞🤞🤞

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Jun 22

I interrupt your doomscrolling for some happier news: my lab’s first paper is on bioRxiv!!!

This study is our initial foray into describing the effects of time-varying cholinergic neuromodulation on neuronal microcircuit dynamics.

#NewPI #neuroskyence #compneurosky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

www.biorxiv.org

2

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 7d

In all my years of having my mental health disproportionately determined by sports (yes I’m aware of the problem!), I’ve never felt so… RESIGNED to the end of a once promising season like I am with these Detroit Tigers.

May this skeet anti-jinx them into playing actually competitive baseball.

Chris Vannini @chrisvannini.com · 7d

Watching the Tigers lose the way everyone knew for months they were going to lose, after being told it was fine, is frustrating, gotta say. No leadership.

1

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 14d

First grant as a Dad submitted!

Ok, it was an LOI.

But on newborn-addled levels of sleep and time to work, I’m still counting this as a big win… regardless of the outcome 😀

#AcademicSky #neurosky #compneurosky #NewPI

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Sep 7

Agreed. This is one of those situations where one would hope secure(ish) tenured faculty would carry the water for their more vulnerable non-tenured colleagues. One can dream…

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Sep 7

Counterpoint: the never-ending gluten-free fad creates so many more options to those of us who ACTUALLY have Celiac 😂

apple.news/AGhFj5SStQb2...

Should You Be on a Gluten-Free Diet? — Scientific American

Unless you have celiac disease, there are few health benefits to a gluten-free diet This article was made possible by the support of Yakult and produced independently by Scientific American‘s board of...

apple.news

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Sep 7

This snippet is from an article on the “AI bubble” (apple.news/AYexgL6UdTrO...), but next time a University proposes slashing support staff in response to budget challenges we should all wave it in their faces.

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Sep 2

See? I wasn’t kidding! 😉

bsky.app/profile/rich...

Duke Basketball Roundup @dukeroundup.bsky.social · Sep 2

We're back with Episode 747 to recap a weekend of college football! @richcompneuro.bsky.social joins @blazindw.bsky.social to discuss #Duke and the rest of the big results from the weekend.

traffic.megaphone.fm/RRTET2036729...

1

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Sep 1

Anti-jinxing this until the cows come home.

1

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Aug 31

This is gonna be fun. #GoBlue

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Aug 29

“That easy A’s would lead students to phone in their coursework should have been predictable. What’s surprising is that the system has also failed to reduce stress. The percentage of first-year students who have received counseling has nearly tripled in the past decade.”

apple.news/AlZopGWfBSL-...

The Perverse Consequences of the Easy A — The Atlantic

In the era of grade inflation, students at top colleges are more stressed than ever.

apple.news

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Aug 28

The podcast I make semi-regular cameos hosting interviewed Jon Scheyer today. Not surreal at all.

Duke Basketball Roundup @dukeroundup.bsky.social · Aug 28

We’ve teased it, and now here it is: on Episode 745, we sit down for an exclusive interview with #Duke head coach Jon Scheyer! Available now wherever you get your podcasts!

traffic.megaphone.fm/RRTET4918873...

@blazindw.bsky.social | @ffsn.bsky.social

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Aug 22

If @mgoblog.bsky.social can be excited for college sports after this, then I feel so much less guilty about my plans to use football season to ignore the dismantling of American science for at least one day a week.

Worth a read by everyone, sports fan or no.

Go Blue.

mgoblog.com/content/stor...

The Story 2025: Please Put The Car In Park

things fall apart; put them back together

mgoblog.com

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Aug 20

Every mentor I ever had warned me about this, and I STILL wasn’t prepared for how much of my life is emails.

Especially when I’m lecturing to ~300 young premeds…

Dan Levenstein @dlevenstein.bsky.social · Aug 19

The thing about being a PI they never warn you about is how the email becomes a flood.

Just kidding they all warn you about that and guess what turns out it's true.

5

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Aug 7

Welllllll there goes any optimism I had after the congressional budget news.

I’m not sure how we’re supposed to survive amidst all this chaos, independent of needing money to do the actual science.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Aug 7

Well, this is a huge Executive Order power grab...

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

1/3

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

www.whitehouse.gov

1

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Aug 6

Tenure-track job postings specifically for COMPUTATIONAL neuroscience are few and far between. Great to see one here!

Mark Laubach @marklaubach.bsky.social · Aug 5

The Neuroscience Dept at American University is hiring for a tenure-track position at the Assistant level with expertise in Computational Neuroscience. Apply by Sep 15:
american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/AU/job/Main-...
#FacultyJobs #AcademicJob #Neuroscience #CompNeuro #AI #ComputationalPsychiatry

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meani...

american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Aug 4

A reminder: Black Mirror concepts are meant as warnings, NOT AS SUGGESTIONS! 🤦‍♂️

Jim Acosta @jimacosta.bsky.social · Aug 4

At 4p ET/1p PT, I’ll have a one of a kind interview with Joaquin Oliver. He died in the Parkland school shooting. But his parents have created an AI version of their son for a powerful message on gun violence. Plus TX Rep. @jamestalarico.bsky.social - see you soon on Substack and later on YouTube.

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Aug 2

Ummm… is this good news?!??

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · Aug 1

There are still many ways that the MAHA movement can crush the NIH, but the Senate Appropriations Committee—including most of the GOP—grew a spine & rejected one of the biggest ones yesterday: a full rebuke of proposed budget cuts & reorganization of the NIH.

open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...

Appropriations Senators Retain Vertebrate Status

Even Susan Collins voted to fully fund NIH and CDC and give no money to MAHA

open.substack.com

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Jul 30

Also (minus the one obviously dated bit) this exchange lives rent free in my head:

youtu.be/uqyDP_6yFFM?...

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Jul 30

Life in #AcademicSky in a nutshell. Futurama science for the win, always.

4

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Jul 23

No easy answers 😖😠😡

Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · Jul 23

Sincere question about this (purposefully?) confusing policy: as a #NewPI am I better off stalling some grant resubmissions until this stabilizes? Are the funding rates this year going to be so low that it isn’t worth it?

#AcademicSky #NeuroSkyence

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · Jul 23

This forward funding scheme is a prime example of how the administration is weaponizing bureaucratic processes to destroy NIH. It seems on the surface to be reasonable, but in reality the effect will be devastating cuts to funding new grants.

It’s the path to scientific stagnation.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jul 22

If this all sounds like a calculated plan to reduce the size of the federally funding biomedical research enterprise, I believe that is exactly what is it.

The notion that this "facilitates efficient management" of grants and the appropriation is, to use an official NIH term, horseshit.

/fin

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