Tara is 5th year PhD Candidate from PEEC working in the Cáceres lab. Her work integrates theory from disease ecology and ecological immunology to better understand the causes and consequences of variable immunity for the dynamics of infectious disease. Tara’s research explores the invertebrate immune response, how it is shaped by environmental factors, and how individual variation in immunity scales up to affect host-parasite dynamics at the population level.
What have you been up to this week?
This past week I cleared two things from my plate (to make space for two more things). I submitted a postdoctoral fellowship application and got my second chapter off to my committee, and then started fleshing out the intro for my third chapter and started working on the NSF postdoctoral fellowship.
What’s a fun thing you did this past week?
I just asked my husband, “Did I do anything fun last week?” and he slowly shook his head “No…….” But with a little bit of digging, I remembered that I got a massage last Friday and drank wine most nights of the week. So that’s two fun things.
Do you have any writing “rituals”? What are they?
It can seem nice to write at the ideal time, and my “ritual” is to be in comfy clothes with music, a cup of tea, a lit candle, and my cat in my lap. But the reality is that if you only ever wait for the ideal writing time, then you’ll never get anything written. I try to write whenever I have opportunities. Airplane rides, bus rides, and short periods of time in between meetings can be great for getting ideas onto paper. I often write as soon as I wake up in the morning over a nice cup of coffee. I also do a lot of writing in my head while I’m walking, working out, or showering. So much of writing is crafting a narrative, and I really enjoy working out that narrative throughout the different parts of my day.
Do you have any pets?
Snow Goose the cat showed up in the forest when I was doing field work in Central Indiana. She had over a hundred ticks on her body, weighed only 6 pounds, and had a severe case of intestinal worms. We’ve had her for just over a year now, and she’s become the queen of our household. She now clocks in at a luxurious 11+ pounds and wants to spend all of her time cuddling in our laps. Her favorite postures include “bread-loafing” and “melting like a marshmallow”. She also loves to sing with a stuffed mouse in her mouth every night at 10 pm.
Snow Goose in all her melty glory.
How do you unwind after a long day of work?
My unwinding routine is to work out at the gym and then cook dinner while drinking a glass of wine and listening to Pod Save America. After we eat, my husband and I hang out on the couch with Snow Goose and watch a show. These days I’m opting for the more mindless ones. We just finished Disenchantment and are now in the middle of Big Mouth. Both amazing. Highly recommend.
Do you have any interesting office decorations?
I have a framed picture of Carla from her high school days.
Any upcoming events you want to mention?
The election! Don’t forget to vote!
What was your biggest struggle this past week?
Self-care. I came up with this beautiful plan for the week that included exercising, eating all of the meals, stretching and meditating. I did manage to exercise and do some stretching, but I don’t think I ate a single breakfast and I definitely didn’t meditate. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Describe your office. If you could change one thing what would it be?
My office is pretty standard. It currently suffers from too little space and too many piles of papers. If I could change one thing, it would have an ocean view. We’re planning to do a writing sabbatical on Vancouver Island this January, so in just a few short months, my home office will look out onto this:
