I'm an OFFICIAL Ph.D. Candidate!

Made it to the next step in my Ph.D. journey...

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Grad School Spirit (courtesy of PhD Comics)

Thought this was extremely relevant as I have yet to attend ONE SINGLE athletics event on my campus (and this is my 3rd year here)! It's pretty funny because at my undergrad institution, I would wait in line for hours or brave the cold bleachers to see our basketball or football team play...by myself! Oh well... 

Check out more of PhD Comics here

Please excuse the "DUST" : )

The site is currently under reconstruction so there may be a few broken links here and there. You can still read all the posts, which can be accessed from the archive bar on the right. Thanks for dropping by!

Monday, April 11, 2011

I'm an offical Ph.D. Candidate!

Several proposal drafts later along with practice presentations and presentation of the final proposal...

I am OFFICIALLY a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science & Engineering (BY THE GRACE OF GOD ALONE!)

Although it was a stressful process, God blessed me with a wonderful advisor and labmates who were eager to help me in constructing a well thought-out proposal document and presentation.

This second go-around, I felt much more confident in the material I was presenting and was able to keep my nerves at bay! The main attendees at my presentation were my committee members and a visiting member from my internship experience, which I think helped to calm my nerves. One of my committee members actually had to attend via Skype, which turned out well despite my fears of the feed going out in the middle of my presentation and other crazy technical difficulties lol.

This happened on February 25, and since then I have been busy with my classes (really enjoying biochemistry!) and with lab work. I actually have one more class to take this fall semester that will satisfy my course requirements and then it's 100% lab work all the time until I can start writing my dissertation and defend! I really can't believe that's the next step now...did I mention that God is good!!

Even though the dissertation is the next step, I have to remind people that the progress of my research dictates when I actually finish lol. Research is dynamic and unpredictable so I could very well have 2-3 years ahead of me. I'm not complaining though...just taking it one day at a time and trusting God every step of the way!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

*tap tap tap* Is this mic still on?

Yea..it's been a long while since I last checked in. Let's just say that my 2010 spring & summer weren't so ideal. To make a long story short, I left the lab and advisors I was previously with (for reasons I'll keep to myself) and decided that I needed a new focus. At the time, I wasn't sure if that meant to switch to another lab, leave my program and find a job in industry/government, or switch directions altogether. While I was at this crossroad, I was involved in a serious car accident where another car ran a red light and ended up totaling my car and almost taking my life (just suffered one broken bone in my hand). I could only thank God for His mercy that day!

Needless to say, that put a pause on my activities for a while. However, in the middle of the summer (2010) semester, I was able to find another lab to work with. With this new research focus, I was able to complete an internship that allowed me to dive headfirst into my new research area, which immersed me into the area of microbiology. I'm really interested in my new project, however, since this is a completely new area for me and I'm working with an entirely new lab and advisor, I'm required to go through the proposal process again. Yes, the same proposal process that I vented about before, saying it was "one of the most stressful periods of my life".

I'm in the process of writing my first proposal draft and it's not easy. Yes, I've gone through the process before, but it's a completely new area of research for me, which requires some heavy investigation into the published literature in a shorter amount of time (compared to the first go-around). I can't lie when I say I've been discouraged at times at the fact that I have to go through this again and even doubtful if this is the right path for me. When I really stop and think though, God worked so much out for me to be where I am today and I just have to hold fast to His promises. A couple of verses just came to mind:


Philippians 1:6  "...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus"

2 Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."


I pray to God for the strength to complete the task at hand and I will be sure to share my testimony once I'm through with this phase again! : )