Mollie Woodworth
@molliebatmit.bsky.social
Developmental neurobiologist studying the retina, assistant professor at Bates College. She/her, mom of 2. Has not been atMIT in lo so many years.
May everyone be blessed to have a collaboration where one of you can get the words from their brain to the paper and one of you can shape existing words into something wonderful.
February 5, 2026 at 8:21 PM
May everyone be blessed to have a collaboration where one of you can get the words from their brain to the paper and one of you can shape existing words into something wonderful.
Finals week, chaos muppet professor version:
1. Forgot I had a student coming to take the exam early, had only finished writing 75% of it when they showed up
2. Printed 15 exams for my 20-person genetics class
3. Trying to rectify #2, I printed the exams for my physiology class and handed them out
1. Forgot I had a student coming to take the exam early, had only finished writing 75% of it when they showed up
2. Printed 15 exams for my 20-person genetics class
3. Trying to rectify #2, I printed the exams for my physiology class and handed them out
December 12, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Finals week, chaos muppet professor version:
1. Forgot I had a student coming to take the exam early, had only finished writing 75% of it when they showed up
2. Printed 15 exams for my 20-person genetics class
3. Trying to rectify #2, I printed the exams for my physiology class and handed them out
1. Forgot I had a student coming to take the exam early, had only finished writing 75% of it when they showed up
2. Printed 15 exams for my 20-person genetics class
3. Trying to rectify #2, I printed the exams for my physiology class and handed them out
Writing the NIH research strategy section:
4th yr PhD student (R01): 4 weeks, working together with another PhD student; all day, every day
3rd yr asst prof (R15): 4 weeks; while teaching 3 classes (1 new prep), service work, research + supervising 8 students in lab
4th yr PhD student (R01): 4 weeks, working together with another PhD student; all day, every day
3rd yr asst prof (R15): 4 weeks; while teaching 3 classes (1 new prep), service work, research + supervising 8 students in lab
October 16, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Writing the NIH research strategy section:
4th yr PhD student (R01): 4 weeks, working together with another PhD student; all day, every day
3rd yr asst prof (R15): 4 weeks; while teaching 3 classes (1 new prep), service work, research + supervising 8 students in lab
4th yr PhD student (R01): 4 weeks, working together with another PhD student; all day, every day
3rd yr asst prof (R15): 4 weeks; while teaching 3 classes (1 new prep), service work, research + supervising 8 students in lab
I have spent time this summer overhauling my reading system (previous system: throwing PDFs into a black hole titled “Papers to Read”). It’s working! Except that every paper I read leads me to download 3 more.
July 18, 2025 at 4:43 PM
I have spent time this summer overhauling my reading system (previous system: throwing PDFs into a black hole titled “Papers to Read”). It’s working! Except that every paper I read leads me to download 3 more.
We're hiring a tenure-track biochemist at Bates this year! I'm on the search committee and am happy to field ?s about the department or STEM faculty life at a SLAC. Come teach enthusiastic undergrads and do research as part of our fantastic community! apply.interfolio.com/170205 #chemsky #chemjobs
Apply - Interfolio
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apply.interfolio.com
July 18, 2025 at 4:31 PM
We're hiring a tenure-track biochemist at Bates this year! I'm on the search committee and am happy to field ?s about the department or STEM faculty life at a SLAC. Come teach enthusiastic undergrads and do research as part of our fantastic community! apply.interfolio.com/170205 #chemsky #chemjobs
Submitting some rec letters for the SfN Trainee Professional Development Award travel grants. How you know SfN has been to this dealing-with-academics rodeo before: "Recommendation letters over one page will void the entire application."
June 23, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Submitting some rec letters for the SfN Trainee Professional Development Award travel grants. How you know SfN has been to this dealing-with-academics rodeo before: "Recommendation letters over one page will void the entire application."
I got really into spices (which has completely changed my cooking and eating habits) because I read The Devil and the Dark Water, a murder mystery that takes place on a Dutch ship coming back from Batavia in 1634.
Why do I know about how California saved the French wine industry? I read Tim Powers. Why do I know as much as I do about Emperor Justinian and the Byzantine empire? Because of Guy Gavriel Kay
Am I an expert in these? Absolutely not, but I know more than the average bear.
Am I an expert in these? Absolutely not, but I know more than the average bear.
June 15, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I got really into spices (which has completely changed my cooking and eating habits) because I read The Devil and the Dark Water, a murder mystery that takes place on a Dutch ship coming back from Batavia in 1634.
Dear random Mainers who stop me in Whole Foods to chat about my college hoodie: I have a particular set of skills, acquired over a long career (growing up Midwestern, being a cheerleader). You will call Susan Collins and yell about university funding by the time I’m done with you. Not sorry.
April 27, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Dear random Mainers who stop me in Whole Foods to chat about my college hoodie: I have a particular set of skills, acquired over a long career (growing up Midwestern, being a cheerleader). You will call Susan Collins and yell about university funding by the time I’m done with you. Not sorry.
In the midst of end-of-semester stress, senior thesis mentoring, (badly) balancing research and teaching, and *waves hands at surroundings*, I am grateful to be given the opportunity to see the work through the eyes of my students.
April 18, 2025 at 1:16 AM
In the midst of end-of-semester stress, senior thesis mentoring, (badly) balancing research and teaching, and *waves hands at surroundings*, I am grateful to be given the opportunity to see the work through the eyes of my students.
This was my first science job -- NIAAA, summer of 2003, studying the genetics of alcohol use disorder. An incredible and formative experience for me, and one I'd hoped some of my students would be able to have this summer.
BREAKING:
The NIH summer internship program (SIP) has been officially cancelled, across all institutes.
It’s a sad loss for the brightest science students in America, for American science, and for future cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. 🧪 1/
The NIH summer internship program (SIP) has been officially cancelled, across all institutes.
It’s a sad loss for the brightest science students in America, for American science, and for future cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. 🧪 1/
NIDA has announced it, but all the NIH summer internship programs are likely cancelled.
Sorry college students interested in STEM jobs, sorry high school students looking at science 🧪 careers. Trump and Musk are cancelling your futures.
Sorry college students interested in STEM jobs, sorry high school students looking at science 🧪 careers. Trump and Musk are cancelling your futures.
February 27, 2025 at 3:15 AM
This was my first science job -- NIAAA, summer of 2003, studying the genetics of alcohol use disorder. An incredible and formative experience for me, and one I'd hoped some of my students would be able to have this summer.
Taking my bits of joy where I can: when the thesis students accidentally put their personal events on the shared lab calendar
January 24, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Taking my bits of joy where I can: when the thesis students accidentally put their personal events on the shared lab calendar
Needed to propose a new neuroscience course for the fall (when I'm teaching a 3-load so I can take pre-tenure leave in the winter). Stroke of genius: realized I could repurpose a bunch of my Human Physiology material from when I was a biology adjunct simply by proposing a course on the hypothalamus.
January 17, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Needed to propose a new neuroscience course for the fall (when I'm teaching a 3-load so I can take pre-tenure leave in the winter). Stroke of genius: realized I could repurpose a bunch of my Human Physiology material from when I was a biology adjunct simply by proposing a course on the hypothalamus.
Hooked my neural development students on day 1 with my favorite development quote: "Between the fifth and tenth days [in the mouse] the lump of stem cells differentiates into the overall building plan of the embryo and its organs. It is a bit like a lump of iron turning into the space shuttle...
January 11, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Hooked my neural development students on day 1 with my favorite development quote: "Between the fifth and tenth days [in the mouse] the lump of stem cells differentiates into the overall building plan of the embryo and its organs. It is a bit like a lump of iron turning into the space shuttle...
Me, starting my reappointment dossier teaching statement: how can they possibly expect me to write five whole pages about my teaching philosophy
Me, six pages in: how can they possibly expect me to write only five pages about my teaching philosophy
Me, six pages in: how can they possibly expect me to write only five pages about my teaching philosophy
December 18, 2024 at 2:33 PM
Me, starting my reappointment dossier teaching statement: how can they possibly expect me to write five whole pages about my teaching philosophy
Me, six pages in: how can they possibly expect me to write only five pages about my teaching philosophy
Me, six pages in: how can they possibly expect me to write only five pages about my teaching philosophy
SLAC life: last day of class today, got to science briefly in the lab, submitted a conference abstract with a student, inhaled cafeteria dinner, sang first soprano in the choir’s fall concert
December 7, 2024 at 3:44 AM
SLAC life: last day of class today, got to science briefly in the lab, submitted a conference abstract with a student, inhaled cafeteria dinner, sang first soprano in the choir’s fall concert
Reasons I became a professor:
1. So I could blast Christmas music in my own lab the day before Thanksgiving
1. So I could blast Christmas music in my own lab the day before Thanksgiving
November 27, 2024 at 3:28 PM
Reasons I became a professor:
1. So I could blast Christmas music in my own lab the day before Thanksgiving
1. So I could blast Christmas music in my own lab the day before Thanksgiving
Reposted by Mollie Woodworth
When I was 5, I loved science, which I took to be planets and magnets and chemicals and shit.
Soon I realized science was a collective human activity, and these were just the objects of its attention.
Anyway, whenever I read an OpEd on how science isn't political, I think "Are you 5 years old?"
Soon I realized science was a collective human activity, and these were just the objects of its attention.
Anyway, whenever I read an OpEd on how science isn't political, I think "Are you 5 years old?"
November 22, 2024 at 4:32 AM
When I was 5, I loved science, which I took to be planets and magnets and chemicals and shit.
Soon I realized science was a collective human activity, and these were just the objects of its attention.
Anyway, whenever I read an OpEd on how science isn't political, I think "Are you 5 years old?"
Soon I realized science was a collective human activity, and these were just the objects of its attention.
Anyway, whenever I read an OpEd on how science isn't political, I think "Are you 5 years old?"
Data collection going on in my office: I bought a variety pack of Japanese Kit-Kats, and everybody is ranking them on a 1-5 scale. Conclusions: I am an easy grader; students will eat infinite Kit-Kats
November 15, 2024 at 1:44 PM
Data collection going on in my office: I bought a variety pack of Japanese Kit-Kats, and everybody is ranking them on a 1-5 scale. Conclusions: I am an easy grader; students will eat infinite Kit-Kats
Annoying thing about starting a new lab: you know you need a thing, you know what it does, you just don't know what it's called so you can order it. (Definitely not related: those butterfly needles with a stopcock so you can attach two syringes for perfusion are called...?)
November 12, 2024 at 2:09 PM
Annoying thing about starting a new lab: you know you need a thing, you know what it does, you just don't know what it's called so you can order it. (Definitely not related: those butterfly needles with a stopcock so you can attach two syringes for perfusion are called...?)
Particularly aggressive of the campus bookstore to come at the faculty by asking, during fall midterm week, which textbooks we're using for winter.
October 22, 2024 at 2:33 AM
Particularly aggressive of the campus bookstore to come at the faculty by asking, during fall midterm week, which textbooks we're using for winter.
Reposted by Mollie Woodworth
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, it's going in the syllabus.
September 22, 2024 at 2:01 PM
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, it's going in the syllabus.
A tremendous mystery afoot in my office: I never see anyone take candy from my candy bowl, yet I am having to refill it nearly daily now that students are back on campus.
September 12, 2024 at 2:11 AM
A tremendous mystery afoot in my office: I never see anyone take candy from my candy bowl, yet I am having to refill it nearly daily now that students are back on campus.
Roasted by one of my research students as I set up for the first day of my seminar course: “Why does it matter where the students sit? You’re just going to pace around the whole room anyway.”
September 5, 2024 at 4:47 PM
Roasted by one of my research students as I set up for the first day of my seminar course: “Why does it matter where the students sit? You’re just going to pace around the whole room anyway.”
Made the mistake of opening my work email on Labor Day, two days before the first day of classes; an hour of reading and commenting on docs later, now considering throwing my laptop directly into the grill
September 2, 2024 at 6:18 PM
Made the mistake of opening my work email on Labor Day, two days before the first day of classes; an hour of reading and commenting on docs later, now considering throwing my laptop directly into the grill
My goal for year 2 of my faculty position is to encounter the blank space on the mouse cage card that says “PI _____” and not have to mentally scroll through my mentors before remembering that it’s my name that goes there
August 17, 2024 at 12:57 AM
My goal for year 2 of my faculty position is to encounter the blank space on the mouse cage card that says “PI _____” and not have to mentally scroll through my mentors before remembering that it’s my name that goes there