Last updated: 2024-09-25.
Research
Last year, I decided that this would be the main focus when I got back to Brazil. FAPESP has a Young Investigator grant that I can apply to and it would offer a great way to bootstrap a research group. Plus, there are enough funds to make it easy to bring my PhD student at Liverpool to São Paulo a couple of times. This is taking up a large amount of time because I’m having to figure out how everything works at FAPESP and come up with activities and things to fund with the project. I’m also just now adjusting to life back in Brazil and getting settled in my role.
My research productivity hit a slump during the pandemic and the worse of times in Liverpool and is only now picking back up. This means that I have a gap in my publication for 2022 and 2023, which grant reviewers have picked up on (and ignored the extenuating circumstances that I stated…). So I decided to focus on wrapping up some old and current ongoing papers and get them submitted as soon as I can before I try to submit anything big to FAPESP. This will increase my chances of getting the grant. I’m also hoping to get more motivated by science, focusing on the interesting bits and leaving the pointless search for money and numbers aside for a bit.
Getting back into Fatiando
For the last 2 years, I barely found the time to work on Fatiando a Terra, which is my passion project and probably one of my greatest contributions to geophysics. This year, I decided to dedicate more time to the project and allow myself at least 1 day per week to work on the project. If this move to Brazil was about finding a better work-life balance, having time to do the work I enjoy the most must be a part of it.
Software Underground
I have been in the Software Underground for a while now but only recently have I started taking a more active approach. I really think the SwUng can be the best professional society out there in my field and I want to put in the work to make this happen. This means organizing the society so it can handle transitions of the board and figuring out what our long-term goals are as a society.
Music
I spent the last 4 years without any social activities outside of work and family. This year, I returned to the choir I used to sing in back during my days as an undergrad at USP over 15 years ago. This one is particularly fun because the barriers to entry are small (or I wouldn’t be in it) and they take songs from many different cultures from around the world. I want to reconnect with music and people who aren’t work colleagues and this has been a wonderful way to do it. It means time away from home but we’re managing.
I’m also hoping to pick up my guitar and ukulele more often. It’s not always easy when I want to be in bed by 21:00 but I think it’s worth it. Part of this also needs me listening to more music so I don’t get bore of playing the same tunes for the past 20 years. I’m even considering signing up for some music lessons if I can find the time.
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