Mo ichido

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 years after starting at the DTC the fateful day everybody has in the back of their mind has arrived.  The viva is scheduled for 2pm on Thursday.  I’ve read the thesis a dozen times over Christmas, read papers, and chewed over the “viva survivor” websites.  I’ve got a list of corrections to submit on the way in, which might negate the horrendous pile of typo’s that were left in the insane rush to submit on time.  I’m still not sure how to answer some of the more generic questions with politically correct answers, but I’ll ponder some more tomorrow.

I didn’t get any publications out of the work so I’m expecting a rough time from the examiner.  Personally, I believe that no publications shows there was some serious problems, and I would question no contribution to the field, which is the essence of a Ph.D.  However, sometimes things just don’t go well.  It’s science.  I did what I could within the boundaries of the available resource and time.

It’s been a crazy ride in academia over the past few years.  I’ve had some pretty dark days but have met some truly excellent people along the way, and attended some excellent conferences.  I got to engage in scientific debate with people from all over the world, and learned a lot from everybody I met.  I certainly wouldn’t recommend a Ph.D to people who don’t enjoy inflicting damage on themselves.  I guess I would sum up the essence of it by paraphrasing JFK’s Rice University speech:

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not only because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

I’ll try and continue posting on the blog, irrespective of the result.  I will have more time to write about the stuff I’m reading, and you never know, perhaps even continue in the field!  I would like to get more into Matlab and modelling what I was doing, so I might be able to post some dry stuff.

Anyway, back to the thesis.  Cheers to all who commented on the blog over the years.

See you on the flip side.