Scott Rich, Ph.D.
@richcompneuro.bsky.social
1.1K followers 780 following 190 posts
Assistant Professor, UConn Department of Physiology and Neurobiology Computational Neuroscientist studying neuronal heterogeneity | Proud Duke and Michigan alum | Views my own | richlab.pnb.uconn.edu
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richcompneuro.bsky.social
I interrupt your doomscrolling for some happier news: my lab’s first paper is on bioRxiv!!!

This study is our initial foray into describing the effects of time-varying cholinergic neuromodulation on neuronal microcircuit dynamics.

#NewPI #neuroskyence #compneurosky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Omg this worked back into happy anxiety mode GO TIGERS
richcompneuro.bsky.social
In all my years of having my mental health disproportionately determined by sports (yes I’m aware of the problem!), I’ve never felt so… RESIGNED to the end of a once promising season like I am with these Detroit Tigers.

May this skeet anti-jinx them into playing actually competitive baseball.
chrisvannini.com
Watching the Tigers lose the way everyone knew for months they were going to lose, after being told it was fine, is frustrating, gotta say. No leadership.
richcompneuro.bsky.social
After 3+ months in review, the status on the lab’s first manuscript has finally progressed.

Cue the anxiety spike to every email until the decision comes. 😅🤔😂

🤞🤞🤞
richcompneuro.bsky.social
I interrupt your doomscrolling for some happier news: my lab’s first paper is on bioRxiv!!!

This study is our initial foray into describing the effects of time-varying cholinergic neuromodulation on neuronal microcircuit dynamics.

#NewPI #neuroskyence #compneurosky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
richcompneuro.bsky.social
In all my years of having my mental health disproportionately determined by sports (yes I’m aware of the problem!), I’ve never felt so… RESIGNED to the end of a once promising season like I am with these Detroit Tigers.

May this skeet anti-jinx them into playing actually competitive baseball.
chrisvannini.com
Watching the Tigers lose the way everyone knew for months they were going to lose, after being told it was fine, is frustrating, gotta say. No leadership.
richcompneuro.bsky.social
First grant as a Dad submitted!

Ok, it was an LOI.

But on newborn-addled levels of sleep and time to work, I’m still counting this as a big win… regardless of the outcome 😀

#AcademicSky #neurosky #compneurosky #NewPI
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Agreed. This is one of those situations where one would hope secure(ish) tenured faculty would carry the water for their more vulnerable non-tenured colleagues. One can dream…
richcompneuro.bsky.social
This snippet is from an article on the “AI bubble” (apple.news/AYexgL6UdTrO...), but next time a University proposes slashing support staff in response to budget challenges we should all wave it in their faces.
richcompneuro.bsky.social
See? I wasn’t kidding! 😉

bsky.app/profile/rich...
dukeroundup.bsky.social
We're back with Episode 747 to recap a weekend of college football! @richcompneuro.bsky.social joins @blazindw.bsky.social to discuss #Duke and the rest of the big results from the weekend.

traffic.megaphone.fm/RRTET2036729...
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Anti-jinxing this until the cows come home.
richcompneuro.bsky.social
This is gonna be fun. #GoBlue
richcompneuro.bsky.social
“That easy A’s would lead students to phone in their coursework should have been predictable. What’s surprising is that the system has also failed to reduce stress. The percentage of first-year students who have received counseling has nearly tripled in the past decade.”

apple.news/AlZopGWfBSL-...
The Perverse Consequences of the Easy A — The Atlantic
In the era of grade inflation, students at top colleges are more stressed than ever.
apple.news
richcompneuro.bsky.social
The podcast I make semi-regular cameos hosting interviewed Jon Scheyer today. Not surreal at all.
dukeroundup.bsky.social
We’ve teased it, and now here it is: on Episode 745, we sit down for an exclusive interview with #Duke head coach Jon Scheyer! Available now wherever you get your podcasts!

traffic.megaphone.fm/RRTET4918873...

@blazindw.bsky.social | @ffsn.bsky.social
richcompneuro.bsky.social
If @mgoblog.bsky.social can be excited for college sports after this, then I feel so much less guilty about my plans to use football season to ignore the dismantling of American science for at least one day a week.

Worth a read by everyone, sports fan or no.

Go Blue.

mgoblog.com/content/stor...
The Story 2025: Please Put The Car In Park
things fall apart; put them back together
mgoblog.com
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Every mentor I ever had warned me about this, and I STILL wasn’t prepared for how much of my life is emails.

Especially when I’m lecturing to ~300 young premeds…
dlevenstein.bsky.social
The thing about being a PI they never warn you about is how the email becomes a flood.

Just kidding they all warn you about that and guess what turns out it's true.
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Welllllll there goes any optimism I had after the congressional budget news.

I’m not sure how we’re supposed to survive amidst all this chaos, independent of needing money to do the actual science.
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Tenure-track job postings specifically for COMPUTATIONAL neuroscience are few and far between. Great to see one here!
marklaubach.bsky.social
The Neuroscience Dept at American University is hiring for a tenure-track position at the Assistant level with expertise in Computational Neuroscience. Apply by Sep 15:
american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/AU/job/Main-...
#FacultyJobs #AcademicJob #Neuroscience #CompNeuro #AI #ComputationalPsychiatry
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meani...
american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
richcompneuro.bsky.social
A reminder: Black Mirror concepts are meant as warnings, NOT AS SUGGESTIONS! 🤦‍♂️
jimacosta.bsky.social
At 4p ET/1p PT, I’ll have a one of a kind interview with Joaquin Oliver. He died in the Parkland school shooting. But his parents have created an AI version of their son for a powerful message on gun violence. Plus TX Rep. @jamestalarico.bsky.social - see you soon on Substack and later on YouTube.
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Ummm… is this good news?!??
angierasmussen.bsky.social
There are still many ways that the MAHA movement can crush the NIH, but the Senate Appropriations Committee—including most of the GOP—grew a spine & rejected one of the biggest ones yesterday: a full rebuke of proposed budget cuts & reorganization of the NIH.

open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...
Appropriations Senators Retain Vertebrate Status
Even Susan Collins voted to fully fund NIH and CDC and give no money to MAHA
open.substack.com
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Also (minus the one obviously dated bit) this exchange lives rent free in my head:

youtu.be/uqyDP_6yFFM?...
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Life in #AcademicSky in a nutshell. Futurama science for the win, always.
richcompneuro.bsky.social
No easy answers 😖😠😡
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Sincere question about this (purposefully?) confusing policy: as a #NewPI am I better off stalling some grant resubmissions until this stabilizes? Are the funding rates this year going to be so low that it isn’t worth it?

#AcademicSky #NeuroSkyence
angierasmussen.bsky.social
This forward funding scheme is a prime example of how the administration is weaponizing bureaucratic processes to destroy NIH. It seems on the surface to be reasonable, but in reality the effect will be devastating cuts to funding new grants.

It’s the path to scientific stagnation.
jeremymberg.bsky.social
If this all sounds like a calculated plan to reduce the size of the federally funding biomedical research enterprise, I believe that is exactly what is it.

The notion that this "facilitates efficient management" of grants and the appropriation is, to use an official NIH term, horseshit.

/fin
richcompneuro.bsky.social
Not what I want to read about my alma mater.

As researchers we need to do better not only making the broad argument for our importance, but the SPECIFIC one that higher education needs us.

E.G., future doctors need exposure to biomedical research as undergrads, etc…
richcompneuro.bsky.social
When I begrudgingly left 🇨🇦 for my (wonderful!) TT job, one way I justified the decision was how challenging it was to get CIHR funding.

Now, I think most US neuroscientists would kill for a 15% funding rate, even with all the caveats considered…
drjkhokhar.bsky.social
15.4% success rate in the CIHR Spring Project Grant Competition (with equalization): 435/2814 grants funded!