I initially created this blog to write about my research interests but I haven’t gotten into the habit of updating it regularly. Part of the reason is sheer lack of time (research grows more and more time-consuming by the week, although I have made little actual progress) and distraction.

But my second year of graduate school is beginning in a few weeks, and I wanted to sit down and make a more serious commitment to updating this blog. I’m going to be a graduate student instructor (GSI) for a course in genetics in the fall, and I suspect that might provide more material. I wanted to outline, however, some personal academic goals, both science-related and not.

For research

• Revive journal club
  
• Update this blog once a week with links to interesting papers (and hopefully some discussion)
  
• Read Uri Alon’s An Introduction to Systems Biology: Design Principles of Biological Circuits
  
• Read Michael Lynch’s Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits
  
• Self-study biostatistics
  
• Master the R-qtl package

For school

• Apply to NSF, Hertz and Soros
  
• Take teaching seriously
  
• Decide on topic for outside proposal (by September)

For self

• Learn Python and Unix bash shell programming
  
• Learn 漢字
  
• Practice translating Korean poetry/short stories
  
• Read all unread purchased books
  
• Keep up book club

An ambitious list of resolutions always means that I will fail to keep more than half of them, but I hope that writing it down in a post will help me stay on track.