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Natalie Wright, Ph.D.

@coereba.bsky.social

1.5K followers 270 following 960 posts

Ornithologist, evolutionary ecologist, morphologist, mom, knitter, reader, lover of bananaquits. she/her 🏳️‍🌈 Associate Professor of Biology at Kenyon College. wrightlab.org

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · Jan 22

Hi! I’m an ornithologist at a small liberal arts college studying the ecology & evolution of bird anatomy & flight. Follow for fun bird trivia, discussions on effective teaching & mentoring, knitting, & my kids’ hijinks.

Yes, I AM holding a kingfisher sternum in my profile pic. Thanks for noticing!

I am smiling, looking into the camera while holding a kingfisher sternum.

A trogon - a bird with bright red belly and iridescent green chest, face, and back - sits on a branch.

A tiny hummingbird sits on a small branch with its wings extended, just having landed or about to take off.

A pair of swallow tanagers sit near each other, preening. The green female has her right wing extended with her head in her armpit. The blue male holds the edge of his tail in his bill.

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 1d

I have never been jealous of a Nobel prize winner before….

Jason Shepherd @jasonsynaptic.bsky.social · 2d

#goals

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Reposted by Natalie Wright, Ph.D.

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 2d

The new Wiley journal review system is an absolute nightmare. Editorial assistants have been replaced by a clunky, AI-enabled website that makes it harder to find and invite reviewers. Associate editor workloads have increased. I'm not convinced the invitations to reviewers are even going through.

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Reposted by Natalie Wright, Ph.D.

Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 2d

"Sorry I was late to class, professor, there's a moose charging people by the student union" god I missed Alaska

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 6d

Your time is and always will be your most limited resource. Hire students to do tasks you don’t need to do yourself, like unpacking new supplies and organizing the lab.

Create a shared doc where students write down anything & everything they need you to buy for the lab.

Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 6d

Yup.

Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 6d

They will lose any chance they have of the troops supporting if they close the commissaries.

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 7d

I do both raisins and chocolate chips. The combo is perfection.

Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 7d

I love these cookies. They’re so good.

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Reposted by Natalie Wright, Ph.D.

Kinsey Brock @doc-brock.bsky.social · 8d

Don’t use ChatGPT to reach out to prospective PhD advisors.

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 11d

Ha! Doesn’t help with that. I guess my friend’s cats prefer sneakier puzzle play than yours.

Reposted by Natalie Wright, Ph.D.

Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 11d

Alright fellow nerds, I know the best minds of our generation have been on the case for years, but has anyone made a really GOOD jigsaw puzzle app for iPad?

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 11d

My neighbor with cats bought a jigsaw puzzle tray that has a plastic cover for when you’re not working on the puzzle. Also little drawers for sorting pieces & it rests on a lazy susan so the puzzle can be twirled around. It’s fantastic. And her cats can’t steal the pieces.

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 12d

List three things you can talk about for three hours without prep:

1. Bird flight

2. Bird anatomy

3. Knitting socks

Alice (SHE/HER) Sato, MD PhD @asato4kids.bsky.social · 12d

List three things you can talk about for three hours without prep:

1. Vaccines

2. Quirky fun travel experiences I only had because of my kids’ interests

3. Costume creation without a pattern

Though tbh I could do vaccines for the whole 9 hours if anyone let me

Amy McConville @onelungamy.bsky.social · 12d

List three things you can talk about for three hours without prep:

1. Tuberculosis.

2. Neighbours (the Aussie soap).

3. Cats.

Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 12d

Regardless of being able to teach around it, clearly the law is awful and infuriating.

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 12d

I wonder if profs could get around it by saying “I am legally required to teach you that there are only 2 sexes, male & female. And oh hey, 1-2% of people are born intersex! And also XXY people exist. And also androgen insensitivity syndrome exists. But the law says there are only two sexes.”

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 14d

Today Bandit helped one of my students take an exam, and she told him he is the bestest dog ever & perfect in every way. He is proud of the job he’s doing as the unofficial Emotional Support Beagle* for Kenyon’s Biology Department.

*only 70% actual beagle

A puppy lays on a dog bed looking up at the camera adorably.

Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 17d

This has to be a large part of it.

Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 17d

As someone whose mother has both season tickets to U Florida football and a Disney annual pass, the college football hobby costs more, provides many fewer hours of entertainment, and causes much more heartbreak.

Reposted by Natalie Wright, Ph.D.

Ethan White @ethanwhite.weecology.org · 17d

One thing I always try to do as a reviewer/editor when recommending a change is to think about whether or not the resulting improvement to the paper/software justifies the amount of time I think it will take the author to address it. The bigger the ask, the greater the need in order to justify it.

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 19d

Teaching at other institutions, I was constantly inundated with “Will this be on the test?” If I answered no, students immediately turned their attention to information that would be on the test. The culture at Kenyon is focused on learning because it’s fun & interesting. I love it.

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 19d

One of my absolute favorite things about teaching at Kenyon College is I almost never get asked this question. My students are excited to learn, and while they want good grades, they’re focused on learning rather than test-taking.

PHD Comics @phdcomics.com · Sep 6

"is this going to be on the test?"

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 19d

Yes, it is horrifying and worrying. I feel for our students.

Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 19d

They’re on different visas.

That being said, this year our international office has been advising our international students not to leave the country, especially during the semester, bc things are changing so much there’s a real risk they won’t be able to return.

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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 20d

This is a shocking luxury.

Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 23d

This works bc the in-class exams are worth much more of their grades, & they care about doing well on the exams. If they use AI to ace the quizzes, but don’t learn the material, they’ll fail the class. I make this clear. So I’m not worried about occasional AI cheating on quizzes.