Travelled for Deposition as Expert Witness

I have not posted much this last week since I had to travel to Hartford, Connecticut for a deposition as an expert witness. It is a bit of a grueling process to be questioned by a lawyer for six and a half hours, mostly because I find myself becoming a bit frustrated in spending so much time explaining things to someone who understands so little. The teacher and the science enthusiast in me wants to succeed in explaining the science. If the matter goes to court, the expert witness function is perhaps best served if the opposing side's lawyer does not understand anything. None of the cases I have been involved in have ever gone to court however, so perhaps my efforts to explain the science leave the opposing counsel with sufficient understanding that they realize they must settle out of court.

In any case, the whole effort took enough time away from the lab that I could not spend time writing on this blog. It does not help that we are effectively a bit short-handed while I train a new scientist employee and await the imminent graduation of another scientist getting a M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering.