Checking In

I know I haven’t been cued in for a month or two, but I figured I’d give ya’ll an update.

First and foremost: I’m defending next week, March 2nd! So I’m very, very nearly done with this phase of my life. (About time, too, as I’ve been in college for just over a decade straight, now).

It’s been a rough winter. Family’s been sick off-an-on about 75% of the time. That and dissertation prep has meant that I basically only leave the house for chores and work. People keep running into me, confused, thinking that I had graduated already.

I’m also TA’ing two classes this semester: Human Information Processing, at the graduate level, and Senior Design, where I’m directly managing 11 teams working on outside consulting problems.

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Good luck! You can do it :grinning:!

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Hey man, great to hear from you! Good luck on the defense, I know you’ll rock its socks.

Your schedule sounds exhausting. I’ll have an extra cup of coffee for you today.

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Is this an Americanism? I’m not sure that I know what it means.

I’m not sure if it’s an Americanism or not. When completing a doctorate, you produce your dissertation, or thesis. The last formal phase of the process is a public presentation with a question and answer panel, which is referred to as a “defense”, because you’re defending the work in your thesis.

It’s basically me arguing with the 4 people whose signatures I need that the work I’ve done is sufficient to justify getting a PhD.

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I just hope I’m ready for the snake fight portion.

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Oh my god, the snake fight is the funniest thing I’ve read this month!

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:astonished: Well, how good is your dissertation?

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Better than some, worse than others.

It’s a bit like Chess Boxing. There are people who can outbox me and people who can outplay me. It’s hard to do both.

I’m not too worried, though, as I’ve got decent training in fencing and now its legal to open carry swords in Texas. I’m just trying to decide between a heavy fencing rapier or a claymore. The former’s more my background, but the latter gives me more of a Longbottom finish to my defense.

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I adore you!

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:sweat_smile:

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Phew! I was worried there for a second :wink:.

You’re gonna do great!

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Mischief managed.

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WooooooHooooooooo!

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Figured I’d update everyone on two big changes in the pipe:

1.) This is somewhat past-tense, but since June, I’ve been a post-doctoral researcher with Texas A&M’s Applied Cognitive Ergonomics Lab, working on eye-tracking studies and some of our PTSD wearables research.

2.) I just accepted a position as a Research Scientist in Canberra, Australia. So, sometime in the next month or so, I will be packing up my wife, daughter, and what bits of my life I can manage to move to the other side of the world! It’s not a UX research-focused role, but rather more of a detailed human subject study position more in line with my academic research, but I’ll likely be able to work on many of the same skills.

Wow! Amazing! Congratulations.

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How exciting Trey! I’ve missed you around here the last couple of months.

Congrats on the new job.

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