With the current state of the academic calendar at California State University – Maritime Academy, faculty who aren’t on what is commonly referred to as “cruise” have quite a long summer: from the fourth week of April to the last week in August. The trade-off is that the semesters are a sprint. None of the usual breaks except for the non-negotiables like Thanksgiving Day, Martin Luther King, Veterans’ Day, and, because this is California, Cesar Chavez Day. And teaching loads are high compared to most colleges/universities.
This means that 90% of research by faculty occurs during the summer. As I piece together what will become my research program at Cal Maritime, I’m endeavoring to catalogue my efforts (as well as a few other things) this summer. It will help me be productive and organized, and hopefully it will make for some entertaining reading as I flail impotently in full view of the Internet. Something for everyone, I’d say.
Constraining Complexity 