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

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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!

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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!

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*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! : ) 

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"Death and Birth of a Vision" by Os Hillman

I was so encouraged by this devotional thought that a friend shared with me this morning that I couldn't help but share it with others as well : )

Today's Prayer
Dear Jesus, You are the key to my happiness. You are the key to my life. You are the key to my future. I have heard You knocking and I'm opening the door. Please come into my heart and guide my every thought and move. Bless me and make me a blessing to others. In Your precious name I pray, Amen.

Death and Birth of a Vision
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1, by Os Hillman

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." - John12:24

Almost every significant thing God births He allows to die before the vision is fulfilled in His own way.

-Abraham had a vision of being the father of a great nation (birth). Sarah was barren and became too old to have children (death). God gave Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age. He became the father of a great nation (fulfillment).

-Joseph had a vision that he would be a great leader and that many would bow down to him (birth). Joseph's brothers sold him to some merchants and he became a slave. Later he was falsely condemned to spend his years in prison (death). God allowed Joseph to interpret the dreams of the butler and baker and later the king, whereupon, he was made a ruler in the land (fulfillment).

-Moses had a vision of leading his people out of the bondage ofEgypt (birth). Pharaoh as well as his own people drove Moses out of Egypt after Moses' first attempt to relieve their bondage (death). God gave Moses signs and wonders to convince Pharaoh to free the people and bring them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land (fulfillment).

-The disciples had a vision of establishing the Kingdom of Godwith Jesus (birth). The very ones He came to save killed Jesus, and the disciples saw Him buried in a tomb (death). God raised Jesus from the dead, and the disciples performed great miracles until the gospel had spread through all the world (fulfillment).

-A grain of wheat has a "vision" of reproducing itself and many more grains of wheat (birth). The grain dies in the ground (death). A harvest springs up out of the very process of "death" in the ground (fulfillment).

Has God given you a vision that is yet unfulfilled? If that vision is born of God, He will raise it up in His own way. Do not try to raise the vision in your own strength. Like Moses, who tried to fulfill the vision of freeing the Hebrews by killing the Egyptian, it will only fail. But wait on your heavenly Father to fulfill the vision. Then you will know that it was His vision when He fulfills it in the way only He can do. 

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Much Needed Update

So it has been an extremely long time since I've written on this blog. There are two main reasons for this:

1) My natural hair-related blog and YouTube channel have grown to dimensions that I never thought was possible and so most of my free time is spent updating those avenues.
2) For the past several months, every time I thought about updating this blog, I wasn't motivated to because I felt it wouldn't be anything positive and would be more like venting which probably wouldn't have been that pleasant to read.

So with that said, I'll try to give a brief update of what has happened since Oct. 2009.

So after my qualifier's exam, I felt like I had more time to truly dedicate to my research, which had been postponed for a bit to prepare for my oral presentation/defense. I have an undergrad who is working for me, and is very dedicated so we were actually able to get quite a bit done during the fall semester. My advisor encouraged us to submit an abstract for a biomaterials conference (boy was that a process in and of itself!)

Writing an abstract is much more complex than the average person would believe. You would think that a 1 page description of your research is something that you could type up in an afternoon, but is quite the contrary! Summing up several experiments, making sure you hit the key points, and including graphs/images that convey your main points is a very time-consuming process and can take several weeks to perfect (especially if it's your first one!). By the end of it, I felt like I had written a serious paper with the amount of time I spent working on it, lol.

Well, the hard work paid off (which would not have been possible without God) and my abstract was accepted! I will be doing a poster presentation at the conference next month and I'm looking forward to my first conference as a graduate student.

The other main news is that I've officially gone through my proposal presentation! I had to prepare a written document outlining what I plan to research during the course of my stay here at the university and present it to my advisors and committee members. That was followed by an oral presentation that was made public to the entire university. Preparing for this was one of the most stressful periods I have ever experienced! In fact, one of my committee members was out of town when I gave the presentation so I actually have to present to him when he returns. In addition to that, I have to make some revisions to my proposal document so I'm not officially done with this proposal process. Once I get my signatures from all of my committee members on my Ph.D. candidacy form and it is turned in to my apartment, I will be breathing a HUGE sigh of relief!

I must say though, having the main oral presentation over with is still a GREAT feeling! I was so nervous but I invited some of my classmates from my program and from other departments to ensure I would have "some" smiling faces in the room,lol. It can be very intimidating presenting to those who already have their Ph.D's in various areas, and are EXTREMELY knowledgeable in their fields when you are just starting your journey to get to where they are. Once again, I know that it was only by the grace of God that I was able to make it through the presentation without throwing up in the middle of it or even fainting! I get soooo nervous when it comes to public speaking! Hopefully in my next update, I can gladly say that I am OFFICIALLY a Ph.D. candidate working towards my dissertation in my next update once I get all my committee member signatures : )

In other news, I finally get to attend my FIRST National Society of Black Engineers Conference! I'm very excited about this because I was a NSBE member all throughout college and even served on the E-board, but never had the chance to go to a conference. The conference this year is in Toronto so that's definitely a plus for me as I've never been to Canada! Another plus is that this is an all-expenses paid trip since I'm going to actually represent and recruit for my university. Talk about a blessing and a privilege! : ) That trip is actually at the end of the month so it gives me something to look forward to and work towards.

I guess I'll end this post with an important lesson that I've learned so far in my Ph.D. journey: BALANCE. Maintaing a balance between your social and academic life is a MUST if you want to retain your sanity!!!

Hopefully its not another several months before I have the chance to update again...

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Grading Endless Papers!

So as a TA, I was given the responsibility of grading 100 quizzes! These quizzes have been such a pain to grade and it's a shame that this is how I am spending the first minutes of my bday : ( I'm so tired and have so much to accomplish this week, including a test on Thursday. I have to present a review on a journal article tomorrow for lab meeting. Didn't even have time to study for my exam today. I'm celebrating my bday on Thursday because of my exam Thursday...blah blah blah

Moral of the story: I need a break before I go insane!!!!!!!!!

Updates:

12:27a (10/7 aka my bday): why can't college students write their names legibly!! and how do you forget to put your name on your paper...*SMH*!!!

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My First Lecture!

So as a graduate student, I am required to be a teacher's assistant (TA) for one of my advisor's classes. When I did this last year, I was only required to really help out with the labs, grade papers, and the lectures were done by the professor. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was sent an urgent email saying that my advisor was going out of town and he needed someone to teach his class...2 days later! The senior graduate students in my lab were going to be busy, so guess who got slammed with the responsibility...yes, MOI! Little ol' me that shies away from public speaking at all costs (especially in front of large audiences)!

Well, I had no choice really, so I sucked it up and confirmed with my advisor that I'd be able to teach is 100 student class! He sent me a copy of his notes for the class, which were of course only 3 pages long full of diagrams (because experienced professors can just talk from the top of her head and be 100% correct...most of the times hehe). I knew that wasn't going to fly for me though, so I went through and rewrote my own personal notes, reminded myself of some of the details of some concepts, and tried to prepare myself for any potential questions the students would ask.

On the day of the class, I reminded myself that I had a B.S. degree already in Materials Science & Engineering and these kids could not boast the same...therefore I was the AUTHORITY,lol! That made me feel a bit better going in. My dad joked and said if some student tried to show off and ask a question that made him feel smart and wanted to challenge...that I could bust out with something TOTALLY over his head...which I could certainly do after taking courses like (Crystallography, Structure & Defects), Thermodynamics of Materials, Kinetics of Phase Transformations, Advanced Biomaterials, Polymer Characterization...you get the idea,lol.

Well to my surprise, as soon as opened my mouth and began to teach, I felt at ease and really enjoyed explaining the concepts, writing on the board, and answering the questions of the students! When I went in, I didn't think I would have enough material, but near the end of the class, I found I could have spoken for another 15 minutes or so. What really encouraged me was when students seem to be nodding their heads when I was explaining something, or when a student would say, Oh okay I get it now , after answering their questions. One of the undergrad students that I did know, after class came up and told me that I did a really great job of explaining the material and that everything was clear. SUCCESS!!

I am really excited I had that opportunity, and it has reopened to me the possibility of going into academia and teaching once I complete my Ph.D. I still don't think my ultimate goal would be to become a tenured professor though. I want to teach just for a while and ultimately be working in industry. I'm a very practical person that way but I would love to help inspire and teach those behind me! We shall see...

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