JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING I'm sure you've heard that song "What a difference a day makes, twenty-four little hours. ..." I can't tell you how true that song is. Fall semester was rough. Not always because the demands of those five classes got me down (which they did occasionally)--but mo...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING The first opportunity to really prove to the professors in the department how smart I may be, and that I am as smart as the other first-year students, is fast approaching. Let me explain ... In my department we have cumulative exams every 2 months or so, each wi...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING A year ago (see Chapter 3), I started taking my cumulative/qualifying/comprehensive exams: six fabulous questions on any topic within (or without) the curriculum. Answer four of them well enough, and the faculty passes you. If you're not up to par for that parti...
Educated Woman, Postdoc Edition, Chapter 17: End of the Road 4 July 2008 After more than 6 years of monthly columns and postgraduate research, Micella Phoenix DeWhyse celebrates her Independence Day--and we're sad. Educated Woman, Postdoc Edition, Chapter 16: Still Perky After All These Years 30 May 2008 As she prepares to take that final stroll away from the bench and out into the world, Micella...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING INDEX OF ARTICLES I'm back for another installment as summer comes to a close. Last time, I talked about my fear of screwing up my life and how the lack of feedback from my advisor about progress, achievement, areas for improvement, and so on feeds into this fea...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING INDEX OF ARTICLES Well, as you've seen from the previous chapters, it's been a trying year. I'm offering myself up once again for inspection and critical evaluation. This time it's communication as it relates to mentoring and teaching. I've come to an interestin...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING After 1 year and eight chapters about my life as a graduate student, I wonder about my place in the world. One would have thought that staying on top of my research would have barred from my mind all thoughts beyond my current scope of employ. But alas, I cannot...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING I'm standing on the brink of my third year of graduate school and I've realized something very important: There is a body of research out there that would make me want to get up in the morning, thrilled to be alive. I'm just not working on it. What to do? I now ...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING INDEX OF ARTICLES I'm back for another installment as summer comes to a close. Last time, I talked about my fear of screwing up my life and how the lack of feedback from my advisor about progress, achievement, areas for improvement, and so on feeds into this fea...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING Here in Micella-land, I am desperately trying to finish a fellowship application for one of those prestigious awards that go to only two people each year. For some this would be a deterrent. But hey, I'm a glutton for pain, and maybe, just maybe, the committee w...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING For those of you that have not been following along with the saga that is my life in graduate school: Last month I talked about my adviser, Jeff, and the bruises he suffered as a result of an abrupt departure by one of my labmates. I think that one reason she ch...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING As the soap opera continues and the world turns, the drama of Chapter 24 (George's impending departure) and Chapter 25 (Daphne's abrupt resignation) has subsided some, but the latest casualty of war--not a fatality, fortunately, just an injury--is my advisor, Je...
Out of the night that covers me, black as a pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever Gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance: I have not winced or cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloodied but unbowed. --From Invictus by William Ernest Henley Hello folks, back again for another installment of this trip called graduate school. For those of u...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING One year down and, hopefully, only four more to go. It's amazing how quickly time passes. I finally got that master's degree (although it's not yet hanging on the wall). And I am eyeball deep in research, but coming up for air every few months to take another qu...
JOIN MICELLA PHOENIX DeWHYSE--GRAD STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE--AS SHE MAKES HER WAY THROUGH GRAD SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING INDEX OF ARTICLES Well, since I've given myself enough of a head start on my job search to take my time--or enough rope to hang myself--I guess the question is now where the heck to start looking. Attempting to begin a job search without a clear picture of the c...
