I’ve just returned from the Jones Center at Ichauway, where I was joined by 13 members of my research group for an intensive retreat to discuss science, build field skills, and bond!
Thank you so much to the Jones Center team for making us feel so welcome! It was an incredible treat to learn more about the ongoing conservation research happening at the site—from work on soils and aquatic species to plants, insects, and more.
We especially loved our tour of the entomology lab! 🐞🦋 Here’s a video slideshow of some of the collections we viewed:
We also enjoyed getting out into the piney woods to freshen up on our field skills, including collecting herbarium voucher specimens, operating drones, and documenting ecosystems. Here are some photos from the field.
Join me today at 5 PM ET for our 1st SMART Goal Session
I’m offering this training exercise to any of my Paid and Founding Subscribers to participate in. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to access the PDF of the 43 page activity guide, the time management slide deck, and access the zoom links for the meeting dates. Each step in the guide also includes examples to facilitate brainstorming as we work through the process together. I encourage participants to print it out and we’ll work through it together with check-ins every week.
Here’s the meeting schedule to be held on Zoom (PT: Pacific Time; ET: Eastern time; CEST: Central Europe):
TODAY: Wednesday, 8/19 at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET / 11 PM CEST (1 Hour): SMART Goal Setting. We will review the workbook, set SMART goals, and map out our week 1 plans for meeting these goals. WATCH THE VIDEO RECORDING
Friday, 8/21 at 9:30 AM PT / 12:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM CEST: Time management. The behaviors that make reaching SMART goals possible. WATCH THE VIDEO RECORDING
Fridays 8/28, 9/4, 9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2 at 9:30 AM PT / 12:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM CEST: (30 min): Weekly SMART goal check-ins. These sessions will be an opportunity for the group to discuss their progress and share tips on what did or didn’t work for them. The will NOT be recorded.
What if you can’t make all the sessions? No worries.
I’ll record the first two lectures (8/19 and 8/21) and will make them available to all Paid/Founding subscribers. I will not record the weekly check-ins following these two didactic sessions because I want participants to feel comfortable talking about their goal progress if they wish to.
We will also have a special chat thread in Substack for this group to post in if you wish to engage with the community as we go over our progress and weekly reflections.
I hope you’ll join us in setting SMART goals to make your goals come to fruition!
Yours in health, Dr. Quave
Here are the materials for the SMART Goal 6-week activity:
Cassandra L. Quave, Ph.D. is a Guggenheim Fellow, CNN Champion for Change, Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, recipient of The National Academies Award for Excellence in Science Communication, and award-winning author of The Plant Hunter. Her day job is as Professor and Herbarium Director at Emory University, where she leads a group of research scientists studying medicinal plants to find new life-saving drugs from nature. She hosts the Foodie Pharmacology podcast and writes the Nature’s Pharmacy newsletter to share the science behind natural medicines. To support her effort, consider a paid or founding subscription to Nature’s Pharmacy or donation to her lab research.