Coronavirus: free time due to lab closures

[waterguy]

I'm a PhD student who was almost entirely focused on lab work this semester, and with labs closed for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus, I'm finding myself with a bunch of free time. I only have one class and I considered studying for my doctoral exams a little early, but don't feel like I'm in the right spot mentally right now to do that. With that in mind, I'm thinking of learning Python or some sort of other programming language. I'm aware of all the resources out there to start learning, but does anyone have suggestions on how to find a good dataset to start working with? I'm in the water resources sector. Anything related to water, sanitation, agriculture, climate change, etc. would be interesting. Other suggestions for how researchers like me can stay productive and learn skills would be great too, thanks!  

[Sigaba]

On 3/19/2020 at 10:52 AM, waterguy said:

I considered studying for my doctoral exams a little early, but don't feel like I'm in the right spot mentally right now to do that.

I recommend focusing on tasks and activities that lead towards the objective of being in the right frame of mind so you can start preparing for your quals as soon as possible.

Preparatory tasks can be as uncomplicated as thinking about what you'll wear when your taking exams, to reading threads/posts on this BB about preparing for quals, collecting the materials you will want to read, and so forth. You can also work on setting up a daily routine that you'd like to use when you do start studying. 

I recommend that you do what you can now so that you won't have to sit there during your exams, trying to figure out a question, while thinking "Shit. I would like to have back those weeks I spent developing skills and knowledge that are no use to me right now."