These days I am virtually fully occupied by many things. One of such a business is the vast demands for reviewing of papers. I may be overdoing, as I was awarded as the top reviewer in the world. The other important job is that I am starting a new course for undergrads on polymer science. For 15 classes, I am constructing the contents, and I am not yet sure what kind of subjects I will deliver… The conference talks are also more than something because I make the contents by myself (I do the coding, simulations, analysis, …). Because I attempt to present something new, I have to make it. Such a strategy nicely works to push my publications, and of course, tough. But the scientific activities are a kind of cure during admin tasks.
Some of the graduate students of my group hosted a group of high school students for their “Super-Science-Highschool” activities. The high school students came to our laboratory for a few days in August to perform small experiments. They brought back the data for the analysis and came back to the lab for the final presentation. I had fun to see the presentation, and further, the reaction by the graduate students. I think they now understand the position of the supervisor ;->
By the way, I have found an interesting movie that may inspire an idea for the open-lab activities for high-school or junior high students in our group. Take a look.