Monday, April 3, 2006

Directed Project/Thesis Defense

The thesis defense was succesful. I was looking forward to it. Tanya and Nikhil accompanied me for the presentation. Mark set up the projector, Dr.Newton, Dr.Latif, and Dr.Newton entered Knoy 569. I introduced all to Nikhil and Tanya. Dr.Elliott played with Niknil and said that they were gathered to meet with him and my presentation was just a side show.
After everyone settled, the proceedings began. The light was dimmed, and I began. After about three slides into the presentation Nikhil started acting up. Tanya took stolled him out and waited in the lobby.
For the next hour I was in the groove, slide after slide I talked and answered questions interactively. At one point, during the presentation Dr.Newton murmed, "This is important work". The professors were satisfied.
At the end of the presentation, the lights were switched back on. Everyone was beaming with satisfaction. Dr.Newton asked if she could use the statistical part of my paper to teach her six hundered level course. I responded before she could complete her request with a confident smile and a blunt "YES". She commented further to the department head that this is definitely worth a PhD. Dr.Elliott, my chair said he was very pleased with the work and saw no issues. He offered to co-author an artcile to be published in a scientific journal. Dr.Latif, the department head, said that I was young and I should consider teaching, if I ever decide to teach at Purdue, even part-time, this would be a great help. He asked me what I thought of the program and I answered honestly. Mark took down my feedback, not sure why. Over all it was a satisfactory defense. I am quite pleased with myself.