Well, it's been a long week. I've been into campus a few times, but it's hard to concentrate on doing anything once I'm there. Maybe that'll get better once classes begin next week and there are more people around and things seem a little more normal.

Dr. Jack's wife and children are still hospitalized, but the girls may be released soon. So that's a bit of good news.

I had a couple of good conversations today. I met with the graduate dean (also a biologist with an appointment in my department) to talk about where my research and program might go from here. I still feel like things are up in the air, but I'm slightly more confident about where they might land. My broader ecological interests are still intact (community structure and function, effects of urbanization), but I may have to be flexible when it comes to what I want to use to answer those questions (spring systems, biofilms).

I also spoke with a professor on my doctoral committee who expressed to me the department's commitment to doing everything they can to ensure that all of us -- there are over a dozen of us in Dr. Jack's lab -- get the resources and support we need to complete our programs, if that's what we want to do. "You guys weren't just his students... You're our students, too." I know that this is a really hard time for the faculty as well; it's remarkable how everyone's pulling together to help each other out.

The collaborative nature of science is something I really like, but when something like this happens, it can have a huge effect on so many people in addition friends and family: students, colleagues, graduate committees at other institutions, co-investigators on grants, engineers, educators... I guess that's what community's all about, though, and it does help when you're not alone.