tentative thesis titles

[aliki]

I'm always envious that my sister, also a Ph.D. student in the biological sciences, makes $10,000 more a year than I do. It never seemed fair, even accounting for the cost of living being higher in NYC.

Till today. When I realized that her tentative dissertation thesis title sounds WAY cooler to any grant institution handing out money than mine does.

My title is: Ecological role of the Mullica River-Great Bay Estuary in the life history of striped bass, Morone saxatilis.

Her title is: Molecular Strategy of HCMV US2-mediated MHC class I Destruction.


You see? I sound like some Jacques Cousteau sipping wine and enjoying the marine environment, while she's off saving the world by curing cancer or something.

Comments

[aparecida.livejournal.com]

Anything so minuscule that it can only be studied indirectly or by electron microscopy is sexy to grant institutions right now. Especially if it has acronyms and involves "molecular," "genetic," or "biochemical."

[aliki.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. When I worked at Mt Siani, my project was an electron microscopy study of the GnRH neuron and how neurotransmitters were released. Very well funded.

[aparecida.livejournal.com]

Electron microscopy, acronyms, and biochemistry! It's like a trifecta of Words That Make Grant Institutions Get Boners!