Ubadah Sabbagh
@neubadah
Followers
10,695
Following
348
Media
1,856
Statuses
14,658
neuroscientist @mit • syrian immigrant • (he/هو) • former @virginia_tech @umkc @mcckansascity • K00 fellow @nih • 2021 @forbesunder30 • 2023 @techreview
Boston, MA
Joined October 2016
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Last Seen Profiles
Pinned Tweet
I don't know which academics need to hear this but it costs 0.00 dollars to be kind. Those are the people I remember and look to work with.
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Confederate flags, Nazi salutes, and Klansmen having their rights protected by a black police officer.
This picture hurts.
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arab uber driver 5 mins after learning I’m a neuroscientist [in arabic]: “habibi are you married?”
“no”
-“i wish i had an unmarried daughter to introduce to you”
“uncle, I’m a neuroscientist not a neurologist, PhD not MD”
-“oh forget it then” 💀
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Recently exhaled a breath I've been holding in for nearly half my life. After applying over a decade ago, I'm finally an American. This means so many things to me.
Foremost, it means I can go back to the middle east, and see my mama and the family, for the first time in 14 years
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Universities filing amicus briefs/lawsuits against new ICE regs by my count:
- Cornell
- Dartmouth
- Georgetown
- Harvard
- Hopkins (forthcoming)
- Michigan State
- MIT
- Northeastern
- Northwestern
- Penn
- Princeton
- Purdue
- Stanford
- U of California
- UMich
- USC
- Yale
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Perhaps it’s worth mentioning now, given the news of three Palestinian students that were shot in Vermont while wearing their keffiyehs (same scarf I’m wearing here, which I’ve worn for years), that I recently was spat at while walking home from MIT wearing it and told “fuck you”
Postdoc Ubadah Sabbagh’s journey from Syria to MIT has been marked by determination, courage, and curiosity. “For me, a scientist is a person who is not only in the lab but also has a unique perspective to contribute to society,” he says.
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🗣normalize PhDs having non-academic careers 👏
The amount of villains in the Spider-Man franchise with a PhD is concerning.
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@PaperFoxx
The asymmetrical drawing and curvature of this neuron's axon tends to conjure thoughts of mischief. This is unhelpful.
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This is why Trump carefully chose a non-specific generic denounciation. No mention of KKK, Alt-right, Nazis, or Charlottesville. Get it now?
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“Our military will soon be at a level that it’s never been before.”
The bunny’s face is all of us.
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Putin: We didn't meddle, ask Trump.
Reporter: But WH hasn't released any info.
Putin laughs: We'll talk to the WH and tell them to fix that.
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Undergrads! No one told me so I'm telling you. Did you know you can get flown out, offered lodging & PAID to do summer research (even w/ no experience)?
First, I want you to learn these two terms:
REU=research experience for undergrads
SURF=summer undergrad research fellowship
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President Biden: "Back in the sixties we used to invest a little over 2% of our GDP in pure research and investment in science. Today it's 0.7%. I'm going to change that."
If the Biden administration brings us back to 2%, that would mean $418.6 billion for research today.
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I present to you the guy Trump's named to run NASA giving a speech on the House floor demanding Obama apologize for funding climate research
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Oregonians golfing while the world behind them is on fire is the perfect metaphor for 2017.
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As my final goodbye to my phd lab, I put oogly eyes on their equipment 😂
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Trump is praising his son by describing him like you do Tupperware.
NEW: Trump statement on Don Jr. "My son is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency.” Read by
@SHSanders45
at WH briefing.
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Showing up to lab meeting with data from the only experiment that worked in the last 2 months
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Toni Morrison said: “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.”
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I spent a lot of time on this in the hopes that graduate students find it to be a helpful resource. A guide for finding, applying for, and choosing a postdoc. Things to think about.
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grad students and postdocs pls I beg you make a google scholar account it takes two minutes, costs zero dollars
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Woah I just realized you can group tabs in chrome 😮. How long has this been a thing?
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The diversity and inclusion committee finally taking action
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My feed’s been filled with folks announcing PhD program acceptances and I love it for them.
For anyone who didn’t get that, I see you & your struggle. My first time, I applied to ~11 programs and got into ZERO. And that wasn’t even *during a pandemic*. You should still be proud!
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Scaramucci has said this on CNN, CBS, and Fox today. Mark the date.
.
@Scaramucci
on POTUS pardon tweet: "He's not going to pardon anybody. He doesn't need to pardon anybody."
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love how in academia “early career” can mean anything from undergrad to professor several years in the job
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I promise applauding and celebrating your colleague's success won't stunt your own, even if you competed for the same award/grant. The job's funner and more joyful when we lift each other up.
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Once again asking published students and postdocs to please make a google scholar, and consider a website (even if it’s simple).
If you have a website, post it below as an example for others to see how you showcase your work!
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Because facts still matter:
- Adding 100 H-1Bs to the economy produces 183 jobs for Americans
- Adding 100 H-2Bs produces 464 jobs for Americans
- About half of US postdocs (PhD-level STEM researchers) are on J-1s, no science without them
There's no economic argument here.
🚨 Donald Trump is signing an executive order banning the following temporary visas:
H-1B: skilled workers/tech industry
H-2B: Seasonal workers
H-4 spouses of H-1B visa holders
J-1: researchers/scholars
L-1: executives transferring from positions abroad with the same employer.
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What's your manuscript writing workflow? Mine:
1) figures
2) results
3) introduction
4) discussion
5) abstract
X) methods at any time
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I have a travel reimbursement joke, but you’ll never get it.
I have a hippocampus joke, but I forgot it.
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Absolutely blown away and humbled by this community. A total of 130 attendees were at my PhD defense (in-person/zoom). Thank you all so much! And yes...it’s Dr. Ubadah Sabbagh now.
how it started. how it's going.
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To Palestinian students, there or in the diaspora, please feel free to email me if you I can help with:
- grad school apps
- feedback on a grant app
- general science career advice
- feeling alone in your lab and just want someone to listen
Much love ❤️
(contact link in bio)
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A Navy plane with 11 service members crashed into the Sea of Japan this morning and this is the official statement from the president.
It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think..
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Lot of trainees were looking to meet prospective PIs in-person at SfN. Since it’s cancelled, can we start a thread of ppl looking to hire techs, students, or postdocs in the upcoming year?
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🗣️ Grad students and postdocs! 2020 continues to be a rough year. Take a moment to hype yourself up. What's something you did this year that you're proud of?
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Ivanka is 35. Don Jr is 39. Recall the defense of Jr's incompetence & inexperience "he's just a kid". Yet, Ivanka is somehow top diplomat.
Still unclear how Ivanka Trump became the only 30-something WH Special Assistant ever to have a private lunch w UN Secretary General.
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I'm honored (and shocked?) to be named to the
@Forbes
30 Under 30!
Wish I can go back & tell the Syrian immigrant kid living alone w/ no plan other than "get an education" that in 10 yrs he'll be listed alongside these remarkable
@ForbesUnder30
scientists
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Still one of my favorites. Aretha killing it at the Kennedy Center as President Obama tears up and
@Carole_King
freaks out. RIP
#ArethaFranklin
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The custodian who clears my trash bin literally everyday knows all about my science. He’s always curious. He’s looked at fluorescent brains under the scope with me, had ideas abt my grant, and exchanged science books with me. Tbh I might acknowledge him in my dissertation.
Tired: “I hate being mistaken for the janitor.”
Wired: “Janitors play an integral role in making science happen. This should be recognized, and they deserve the dignity of a living wage, good benefits, and the respect of their colleagues.”
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One of my favorite things is that at least once a month a stranger will email me expressing how helpful they found this guide. It's been read 20k+ times since I've published it, and it's time to share it again.
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Wow the numbers in this story. The NIH stripped 75 principal investigators (PIs) from grants as a result of sexual and racial harassment probes. 125 have been barred from peer review. 61 left their institutions.
Good riddance.
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It’s so shameful and frustrating how we conducted ourselves during this pandemic as a society. Staggering failures driven by placing capital over people, individualism over the community. So much pain and death that could’ve been prevented. Still can be.
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Oh and the pic is me seeing the piece of paper that carries all this meaning, that will open up an entire world that has been forbidden to me for reasons outside of my control, for the first time.
I'm so lucky.
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I wish more people understood that the NIH standard for a postdoc salary should be considered a minimum not a maximum. In fact, the NIH itself pays *more* than the NRSA standard if you're working there. Left is if you're a postdoc outside NIH and right is if you're in.
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Accepted invitation to speak on a panel of heavyweights, at a time when only one other speaker was confirmed. When I eventually saw the final lineup, I noticed they’re all men. I pointed it out to the organizers, withdrew, & recommended an expert colleague. Easiest email I sent.
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My interview with the
@washingtonpost
. Definitely not going to stay quiet about this. Thanks for the love everyone.
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At long last, my mom and I saw each other last night for the first time in over a decade. We both told each other we never thought this day would come. Then I woke up to these texts from her at 4am 😭🥹 it’s so great to be back home.
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When I applied for citizenship there was this question on page 12 of the N400:
"Have you EVER advocated (directly or indirectly) the overthrow of any government by force or violence?" [all caps is in the form]
Meanwhile Americans themselves are doing it and what's the response?
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Some of us don't get to truly choose where we live.
I came at 16 and lived on my own for fourteen years away from family. Missed milestones, war in syria, etc. It wasn't easy at all. BUT
I've also built a life in the US I could never have in my wildest dreams thought possible.
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i swear the NIH could double its $43 billion budget if they charged $1 for every time a scientist clicks "forgot password" in eRA commons
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We now have over 200(!!) Black scholars in neuro fields featured on , and the numbers are literally increasing by the hour.
Looking for new recruits, mentors, speakers, collabs?
@BlackInNeuro
is now a (searchable) resource for you.
Pls share w/ colleagues
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Iranian women have been taking off their headscarves and waving them on the ends of sticks in public places in protest against a law that forces women to wear the hijab in public. Here’s a grandmother doing that with her cane.
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Einstein was a civil rights activist & defender of W.E.B. Du Bois.
You misquoted him and your father thinks Fredrick Douglas is still alive
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Bit of news. I'm very excited to announce that I'll be joining Guoping Feng's group at the McGovern Institute (
@mcgovernmit
) at
@MIT
as a postdoctoral fellow!
I look forward to hearing the great and terrible things you all have to say about Boston.
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I present to you Trump's nominee to run NASA, giving a speech on the House floor demanding Obama apologize for funding climate research. Bridenstine's nomination was approved in committee today in a party-line 14-13 vote.
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Had a convo with someone who didn't know this so here's an annual reminder. If you're a URM undergrad, grad, or postdoc in a lab with a major NIH grant (including DP1, DP2, DP4, DP5, R00, R01, R03, R15, R21, R35, etc) you can possibly apply for a diversity supplement.
Why do it?
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If you're angry, disappointed, saddened by the complete lack of justice in the
#BreonnaTaylor
case today, remember that our Black colleagues live with these feelings day after day for years. They're expected to watch the news then show up to work in an environment of indifference
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Undergrads, gather round. Time for my annual YOU CAN GET PAID TO DO RESEARCH FOR THE SUMMER public service announcement.
Here's a long thread I wrote on this before, full of resources from me and others.
Undergrads! No one told me so I'm telling you. Did you know you can get flown out, offered lodging & PAID to do summer research (even w/ no experience)?
First, I want you to learn these two terms:
REU=research experience for undergrads
SURF=summer undergrad research fellowship
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🗣️ Grad students, if you're on the market for postdocs and get an offer, ask for relocation costs! There's nothing wrong with asking.
This is my first time as an adult actually owning things worth moving and its so freaking expensive.
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Hi, are you an undergrad?
Do you
-like neuroscience?
-like research?
Did you know you can
-get a PhD & get a $30k+ stipend to study brains🧠
-apply for free if you're low income (many programs dropped GRE requirements)
I didn't at this time in my senior year.
@AcademicChatter
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Can’t stop watching. I’m in awe. We sent a probe to the sun and now I’m looking at its view - which includes Mercury, Venus, the Milky Way, Saturn, Earth, and Jupiter (in that order) - on a little handheld screen on my couch after eating a shawarma
NASA's Parker Solar Probe plunged deep into the Sun's corona & passed directly through streamers of solar plasma. The view out the window was...staggering.
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MAJOR UPDATES: by my count, over 250 colleges & universities have filed an amicus brief or lawsuit opposing the new guidance from ICE.
First up - the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration filed an amicus curiae brief today in support of the Harvard/MIT lawsuit
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I sat with 8 Nobel laureates and 1 Wolf Prize winner yesterday speaking with policy makers. Every single one emphasized the importance of betting on basic science, on the serendipity & luck in research.
There are basically two types of science: applied, and not yet applied.
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{\__/}
( • . •)
/ >🧪 yes, I can do that experiment for you.
{\__/}
( • . •)
/ > 📝 yes, I can edit that manuscript for you.
{\__/}
( • . •)
/ > 🤝 yes, I can serve on that committee.
(\__/)
(•ㅅ•) im rly bad at saying no.
</ \>
{\__/}
( • . •)
/ >📈 yes, I can build that model for you.
{\__/}
( • - •)
📈< \ wait, what inferences are you going to make with it?
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In Idlib, Syria, 40mi from Aleppo where I’m from, and in the last battlegrounds still held by rebels, a city still being bombed by their govt and by Russian warplanes, an artist paints a mural honoring George Floyd on what was once the wall of a family home. ❤️
#BlackLivesMattter
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The words of this Arabic poem have been ringing in my head a lot recently.
"In order for me to write poetry that isn't political,
I must listen to the birds,
and in order to hear the birds,
the warplane must be silent"
/Marwan Makhoul
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This is insane. The US president is thanking the Russian president for retaliating to sanctions imposed by the United States Congress.
According to
@KellyO
, Trump just now said he thanks Putin for kicking US diplomats out of Moscow, saying, `We want to reduce our payroll.'
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The virus isn’t interested in your politics, in your fear, or your freedom. It only wants your cells.
But these are the consequences of politicizing public health. We’re hitting 8 million cases today.
Please listen to scientists
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I've declined a few invitations to give talks abroad over the years due to my immigration constraints. So this this is also to say: moving forward I'm very open to traveling to talk about my research and other works if any colleagues out there would like to have me 👀😅
Recently exhaled a breath I've been holding in for nearly half my life. After applying over a decade ago, I'm finally an American. This means so many things to me.
Foremost, it means I can go back to the middle east, and see my mama and the family, for the first time in 14 years
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Jim Bridenstine is a climate science denier and has no scientific credentials. His nomination to lead NASA must not be confirmed.
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In the
@washingtonpost
, I write about the recent move to suspend visas programs that attract foreign talent America needs. They create jobs, do ground breaking science, and enrich our society and culture. We should be welcoming them, not turning them away.
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People, I know Trump doesn't care abt terror against Muslims. But the outrage mustn't die just bc we've come to expect this from our leaders
A domestic terrorist set off a bomb in the Dar AlFarooq mosque in MN this weekend.
Suspect still loose.
Deafening silence from Washington.
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The teacher told him that if he didn’t do his work, his “friends will form an angry mob and lynch him”. She was swiftly fired, of course.
Just kidding. This is America. She just had to do cultural sensitivity training.
White teacher in Ohio told 13-year-old black student he would be lynched if he didn’t do his work
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Trump just named Jon Huntsman to be US Ambassador to Russia.
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@LACaldwellDC
@SpeakerPelosi
@SpeakerPelosi
@TeamPelosi
@DNC
This is INCREDIBLY irresponsible. Even if the Capitol physician signed off, it's inappropriate. Besides the fact that you can't count on individuals to behave safely, this is tone deaf, shows terrible leadership & sets a bad example for the country
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Dissertation finally submitted ✅
Cost: 50,666 words, one appendectomy, and gallons of coffee
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Finally have a passport now, and a week from today I'll be on my way to seeing my family :)
Recently exhaled a breath I've been holding in for nearly half my life. After applying over a decade ago, I'm finally an American. This means so many things to me.
Foremost, it means I can go back to the middle east, and see my mama and the family, for the first time in 14 years
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idk how to find what’s most liked but here’s this
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To indicate to postdocs discussing inadequate pay & working situations that they needn’t live in expensive cities to do good science 1) misses the point entirely; 2) is dismissive; and 3) almost blames the PDs for trying to thrive in deeply flawed systems not of their own making
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This is when it happened. I posted about it inexplicitly but after I saw the news from VT I felt like being more direct. I think folks should know that people they’re close to may be experiencing hate in their same community and they have no idea.
Fears of rising antisemitism, islamophobia, and anti-arabness are valid and shouldn’t be dismissed; experienced it this week in boston myself (I’m fine). If you mentor or teach affected students, know it’s on their minds rn.
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Make no mistake, moving to suspend the H-1B visa and these other programs will:
- save no jobs (well-documented labor shortage in STEM fields)
- cause significant damage to science & medical research for quite a while
- cause economic damage in the long run
- galvanize xenophobes
H1b visas are for "highly skilled" workers, ie those often with advanced degrees. The jobs left vacant will likely not go to "poor Americans" who wouldn't qualify for them, and will result in the loss of a ton of tax and consumer dollar to the US economy.
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Fears of rising antisemitism, islamophobia, and anti-arabness are valid and shouldn’t be dismissed; experienced it this week in boston myself (I’m fine). If you mentor or teach affected students, know it’s on their minds rn.
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I’m at a huge conference for neuroscientists right now & wanted to attend a session on “Adressing the issues facing women in science.”
Place is so packed they wouldn’t let anyone else in. A reminder that women in science experience sexism & harassment. We must do better.
#SfN17
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House of Cards is basically a documentary at this point.
I used to roll my eyes at "House of Cards"--its political scandals were just too implausible. After Trump, I take that back.
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It’s come to my attention that apparently other people don’t know watermelon goes really well with feta cheese?
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annual reminder to grad students and postdocs pls I beg make a google scholar account it’s free and takes 2 mins
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