There and Back Again
Thorin: Where did you go to, if I may ask?
Gandalf: To look ahead.
Thorin: And what brought you back in the nick of time?
Gandalf: Looking behind.
― The Hobbit, or ‘There and Back Again’
Note: This is, above all else, a new job announcement.
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According to the Hedonometer (a fascinating algorithm-device that tracks social sentiment based on social media posts), May 31— as the worldwide protests in response to racialized police violence were taking shape— was the saddest day of 2020. Since then, society appears to have slowly inched back towards the average level of happiness, though we are not there yet (and have a long way to go).
Insofar as social media sentiment is a reasonable barometer for how the world feels (and it is), then the last few weeks in particular, but 2020 more generally, can be described as a heavy time for many people.
In concert, the events of 2020 have inspired me to reconsider many things about myself, my role as a citizen, member of my community, and how I execute my duties as a scientist and intellectual.
As change has been a theme for many of us in the COVID-19 era, it is an oddly convenient time to introduce large life changes. Consequently, I write to announce that that I am revolutionizing (yes, the “R-word”) many things about my life in science: from my target questions, to who I recruit to join what I am building, and how we will interact with the world.
Chief among the changes, however, is where this will take place:
Effective July 1, I will join the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University as an Assistant Professor.
The “public” beans were spilled on this news, inadvertently, on June 12, when I published an article in Scientific American with a byline that revealed this.
Somewhat surprisingly, I received a bunch of emails and messages from colleagues, asking “ummm….what?” (none negative in tone, but surprised, curious, speculative).
When I was approached about this, I responded with faux-sheepish-embarassment (as if I got exposed somehow). This response was sorta cheesy & disingenuous: many people have known about this news for months, and it had already begun to leak through friends and colleagues.
But my formal plan was to announce this on July 1, my first day at my new job. I wanted to wait for several reasons:
1. I didn’t really think people would care. One thing I will never be guilty of is overestimating the degree to which random people care about my career. Some might say that I’m a hypocrite, because here I am, communicating the specifics of the news. The difference, of course, is that you’re reading an article. In order for anyone to be this far down in the article, you’d have to care. All good.
And this is much different than a tweet, where several thousands of people receive the products of my brain/clicking finger instantly and without solicitation. (though I suppose that if they follow you, they signed up for access to your random announcements…whatever.)
2. Announcements about a new job would have been disrespectful to my current job. As of June 15, 2020, I am a proud employee of Brown University and its Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. That is where I work. That is who I represent. And I work hard because I have appreciated the opportunity to work there, and respect my colleagues, my students, have a job to do.
That said, it is appropriate to update close colleagues on career moves. I just thought that, all things considered, why not wait until I’ve actually moved? This is subtle career etiquette stuff. My preference. I’m not projecting a standard onto the world.
3. Given the state of things, I felt like it would be insensitive to announce a new job on twitter. The main reason I didn’t say much ahead of time, however, is rooted in the national mood: during these times, where so many people have lost their jobs, where so much about our well-being as a society feels up-in-the-air, I felt that it was inappropriate to announce this type of a job switch.
Again: this is just my preference for my situation: this is not a treatise on job announcement etiquette. In my case, I’m moving from one wealthy institution to another, in a time of great social unrest and economic anxiety.
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So what you’re reading is partly a job announcement. Partly a declaration (or more accurately, a preview of a declaration) of my re-arrival.
“Re-arrival.” Yeah, that’s the word.
During a recent radio interview, I spoke briefly about how I conduct my science biographically. That is, I look for a connection between my life and the concepts in my work.
Among many things, my research group studies the peculiar interactions between entities and organisms: genes, parasites and hosts (for example). Part of me is attracted to this because, since the beginning, I’ve been trying to understand how and where I fit into this profession.
No, no, no — this isn’t a “woe is me” declaration. I benefit from an enormous amount of privilege these days. And this privilege is my point:
I can engineer my scientific space to be governed how I want to: not only by diversity and inclusion principles in the standard sense (which are important), but also by the broader (and somewhat related) creed that we do the best work when we can be ourselves.
This is the new mission objective of the OGPlexus:
“Be yourself. Unforgivably so.”
The institutional move is not a random one: I return to the department where I conducted my dissertation work. During the interview/recruitment process, several of my new colleagues (faculty at Yale) spoke about how “we know you, Brandon.”
That is: I don’t have to explain every aspect of my personality, the way that I do my job.
And that is one of the key strengths of the place — and the idea — that we consider “home,” isn’t it?
Our feelings can be conflicted about it, and yet it remains home. We don’t have to explain ourselves. We don’t have to operate fearing a stranger’s gaze.
After a decade-long quest, the Dark Sun returns.
An older, possibly wiser, probably happier, and definitely more authentic version, that is.
-Brandon.
PS:
I would like to thank all of my colleagues at Brown University. Special thanks to the Department of Ecology of Evolutionary Biology, the Center of Computational Molecular Biology (CCMB), and STEMJazz.
In addition, I want to thank my colleagues and friends at the University of Vermont. And of course, I want to thank many individuals at Yale for making this happen.
Lastly, I want to thank my collaborators, and current and incoming members of my group. Your kindness and support are not to be taken for granted.
Let’s go make history.
