Graduation

Finals checklist

Math Problem set 1 - 12-1
Math Problem set 2 - 12-1
CS Problem set - 12-1
CS Exam - 12-5
Math Problem set 3 - 12-8
Math Exam - 12-13
CS Final Project - 12-15
Independent Study Project - 12-15

Professors say the darndest things...

In lieu of real content, I bring you more professor quotes.

Computer Science Professor:

"This actually makes more sense in Greek. Anyone here know Greek? No? I thought maybe if you were Greek. Anyway, in Greek, 'alive' means 'able to die'...or die-able."

Math professor:

"I never read the answers in the book because I don't trust the book."

"Let's imagine we're in a primitive state...like Georgia."

"And then what?! What do you want from me? It's Friday! There may be an infinite number of n's, but I'm not going to keep going. It's Friday!"

(Turning to the last page in his notes in the last minute of class on Friday): "Oh, wonderful! I'm giving homework! Make my day!"

Fun with Professors

The following is a direct quote from one of my professors' lectures*:

And then this precocious young twit, Hans Kamp, comes along. He's really a nice guy...don't quote me. Please don't quote me: 'Hans Kamp is a twit.' You'll probably put it in your blogs or something. That's the problem these days. No privacy in the classroom! One of you might even have a recording iPod or something..."

* Disclaimer: Please note that my professor does not actually believe Hans Kamp is a twit.

Mission Accomplished

Things have been a bit hectic around here for the past couple weeks, and in a moment I'll post photos to prove it. When you last tuned in, I had just submitted my thesis and was preparing for my defense. Overall, the defense went well. I fear that I have been spending a little bit too much time in front of the computer, as my presentation skills appear to have diminished somewhat in the past several years. Either that, or when put into perspective a thesis defense is slightly more important than a debate round and my preparations probably should have reflected that a bit more!

Either way, I survived the defense, and on May 21 I graduated with highest honors! Consider this photo to be more of a soft proof. Inside the diploma cover, I found not only this "temporary" diploma, but an official notice declaring that the diploma did not reflect my recently earned honors, and that a new official diploma would be in the mail shortly. Does this mean that I earned two degrees? No? Oh well, I guess I'll have to go back for more. In addition to the pomp and ceremony associated with commencement, there was also the time honored flocking of friends and relatives. Here, everyone crowds in for a piece of the spotlight with the tired and very relieved graduate (as always, you can click on the image for a bigger one): Mark got into the spirit of the day (school spirit, that is) with his Brandeis blue shirt (forget adding pounds, I'm fairly certain that the camera subtracts inches off my height): After commencement festivities were over, the transition to "life after Brandeis" hit pretty quickly as I finished moving my belongings to the apartment I'm subletting for the summer while working in Cambridge. I'd have photos of that, but I haven't even had time to unpack, let alone take photos because...

The day after commencement, I started work. Four days later, I left work early to travel for Texas for another momentous occasion. After the weekend in Boston, it was Alex's turn for some limelight as the family continued its cross-country progress to attend his graduation (are you beginning to see what I mean about the camera subtracting inches? I'm pretty sure I used to be taller than these guys.): While in Texas, I also learned about knitting socks, worked a shift at Alex's school's all-night graduation party, got a good 5 inches of my hair chopped off, and spent some time listening to Isaac's thoughts (Don't worry Isaac, your own commencement dinner will come before you know it!).:
As you can see, it's been a pretty full two weeks. Eventually I'll bring you some photos of the "senior week" festivities at Brandeis and more updated information about what the next few months will bring. Stay tuned!

Thesis: Part 1 of 2

My thesis is complete and has been turned in. You can see a copy of it here. My defense is Monday, so I'm now off to prepare my presentation for the defense.

For the edification of my peers

Almost everyone I know is counting seconds these days, so I thought I would add this helpful timer. :)

Conference Photo

I spent the weekend at a conference for computer science education. I learned a lot and didn't sleep nearly as much as I should have. The food was wonderful, as was the hotel, but the mass transit to Worcester could be a lot better. Not much else of note. I had a lot of fun, and met some really interesting computer science students and professors.

Since I'm too tired to write a more interesting post, I'll supply you with a photo instead. I don't pretend to pose well for photos!

"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." - Voltaire

A friend of mine recently asked me to read over the speech she had written for her application to be the senior speaker at commencement. Unfortunately, it was not selected for the honor, but she had some very good points in it.

The focus of the speech was (loosely speaking): "Maturity means knowing that deviating from your plan is ok."

In it, she spoke of how she had always (from an almost unhealthy age when Sesame Street was still the best way to spend her morning) said that she wanted to go to a top high school, followed by a top college and then straight on to earn her PhD from another top school before slowing down to think about any other options. For her, it didn't work out that way. She got through the top high school and college, and has decided that it's actually in her best interest to work for a year or two before deciding exactly what she wants a PhD in. Finally, she closed with the idea that our job right now might be less to forge full steam ahead into a plan we made years ago, and more to learn to be flexible and show younger people that it's completely ok to be unsure of where you're headed.

The drive to go to grad school is pretty strong at Brandeis, but a lot of people find that when it comes time to sit down and apply, they aren't really sure what they want to do next. For me, I know what my long term goals are, and had always assumed that the only "correct" path for reaching those goals would be to get my PhD as soon as possible and then start looking for companies to work at.

However, once the stack of rejection letters on my desk began to grow, and my email box started filling with recruiting letters from companies I hadn't even dreamed of being able to work for without at least one or two more degrees, my idea of the "correct path" has started to become a little shakey.

As Voltaire says, doubt isn't pleasant, and it's hard not to doubt your plans and goals when faced with a steady stream of rejections. However, I've had a fair amount of time to philosophize on the matter now, and it's occurred to me that fate has a funny way of pushing you in the right direction sometimes. I ended up at Brandeis almost by chance, and it's been a good experience for me. So really, who am I to argue when life tells me that it's not the right time for grad school and throws other opportunities at me about as hard and fast as you'd imagine the Red Sox pitcher doing?

I've been spending the last month or so polishing my resume and my "work" shoes and looking into some of the other opportunities that have presented themselves. Hours of phone interviews and emails with companies on both sides of the country, some initiated by me and some returned calls after companies whose names I know well had contacted me to discuss options. I'm not sure there's anything more flattering to an undergraduate researcher than being contacted and told, "We're aware of your work, and we'd love to talk about employment opportunities."

Interviews have given me a chance to prove to myself how much I have actually learned in the past four years, and a chance to gain confidence in the fact that I actually can pursue careers now that will help me reach the same final goal I had planned on all along without moving directly into grad school.

I have several plans for the next year or two that I am considering, but I can't go into a lot of detail yet because they're not set in stone. But thanks to Voltaire, I can remind myself that it would be somewhat absurd for me to be certain of the future right now. And I keep thinking of the commencement speech I read which will never be heard: deviating from your plans is not only ok, many times it can be a much more fruitful venture.

Communiversity

Brandeis has an activity every spring called Communiversity. Or, rather, not every spring. It was started in the early 1980's, and lapsed for awhile and was brought back last year or the year before.

In communiversity, anyone who is interested can sign up to teach a class on the topic of their choice. The classes are usually short, meeting between 1 and 3 times for an hour or two in the evenings. They run all kinds of different subjects, and are taught by everyone from students to Brandeis staff members to professors.

This year I signed up for three classes. The first on was Turkish Coffee and Fortune Telling. We learned all of the secrets for making and drinking Turkish coffee, including a lot of the folklore and old wives tales. Then we learned how to drink it in an acceptable manner, and finally we learned the basics of reading our fortunes in our coffee grounds. The class was a lot of fun, and I am always looking for more excuses to go out and drink coffee!

The next class I took was Vegan Cooking, and it met twice. During the classes we talked a lot about what it means to be vegan, what kinds of substitutions are necessary to make vegan food turn out right in the absence of eggs and butter, and the types of dietary necessities that must be met when meats and dairy are cut out of your diet. Meanwhile we learned how to make several delicious vegan dishes mostly by watching because the university doesn't have a very hands-on friendly cooking environment. The first week we made an amazing lentil and potato curry dish and chocolate chip cookies, and the second week we made a sweet potato and lentil soup and chocolate cake. All of the items were extremely good, but I must say that I think I'll stick with non-vegan baked goods and take my vegan food in the form of wonderful soups and stews.

Finally, I took a class on basic chain mail. I taught myself mailing several years ago, so I wasn't expecting to really learn much from the class, but it seemed like a good opportunity to meet some people with similar interests. The class was fun, and the instructor was a nice woman who works in our dining services department in some form or fashion.

Overall, I was thrilled with the opportunity to get out and meet some new people and try some new things (and avoid doing homework!). We got a good laugh at most of the classes because almost all of the people in attendance were seniors. Everyone commented that they figured that they should get out and do some fun things on campus before they graduated and began to regret doing nothing but sitting at home studying!

Snapshots

I haven't had much in the way of words to share lately, but I do have some recent snapshots I thought I would put up here. (Sorry, none of them are of me though!)

What's on your bookshelf?

This is the rather eclectic set of books I have sitting on my desk right now (click on the photo for a larger image if you want to read the titles!). The interesting thing about senior year is that everything really starts to converge.

As a Freshman they tell you to take a variety of subjects, and just think about choosing interesting things and worry about a major later. Senior year you're still choosing interesting things, but if you're lucky they suddenly all start being related to each other and you have some idea of what your interests will combine to become. The books on my desk range from fiction to pop science to classroom texts. The books I have for class this semester are interesting because they are almost interchangeable. My Bioinformatics class, my machine learning class and my thesis are all highly correlated, and I can almost use all of the books as references for each the other classes. My thesis is finally starting to get the attention it deserves from me now that my grad school applications are all finished, and I was excited to find out that I can probably incorporate some of my thesis research into projects for each of my other classes.

The other photos I have right now are a few sweet snapshots of a friend of mine whom you probably haven't seen in awhile. She's a bit camera shy, so I don't get decent photos of her very often! I promise she isn't dead in these photos, she's just irritated that I am flashing my camera in her house!

WHY are you bothering me?!

Graycie (sic) enjoys a waffie from her friends in Texas.

Posters

Scholastic conferences are opportunities mainly for researchers to present their work through seminars and papers published in the conference proceedings. I think generally papers published in the conference proceedings and talks are limited to professors and the occasional graduate student. However, the glory isn't limited only to those with PhDs and private offices. Many conferences offer an opportunity for undergraduates and grad students to do poster presentations.

A poster is about 5 1/2 feet wide by 3 1/2 feet tall. They generally explain your research through words and big glossy pictures. As far as I can tell, there is a time at conferences during which students stand by their posters and interested viewers can wander through the "poster room" and talk to students about their work. At some point, the students are asked to leave, and the posters are judged by a panel. Students who present posters write an abstract (generally limited to a page or two) about their work, which is then published in the conference proceedings.

When I resurrected Brandeis Briefs, I noted that the purpose of this blog is mainly for the sharing of news I might have with an extended group of interesting parties with whatever other random ideas and thoughts I decided to toss into the mix. It's been awhile since I had any reportable news, but I'm glad to say I finally have something of note! My abstract submission, tentatively titled Interactive Analysis of the Structure and Organization of a Large Collection of Neuron Models, has been accepted to the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges - Northeastern Region (ie, the CCSCNE).

So, I'll be presenting a poster that is larger than I am at the conference in April. I don't have a lot of details yet, but it sounds exciting. There will be a lot of other posters to see and talks to go to. According to the proceedings listings, there will be "Birds of a Feather Sessions" (which I can only imagine are pretty much what they sound like). There will be vendors and students and professors galore. A fun time should be had by all!

I wear many hats

Today, I am a composer.

As you might know, I am taking an electronic music composition class. In order to graduate, I had to take a creative arts class at some point, and Brandeis doesn't offer things I'm used to taking (like photography). So, I had to bite the bullet and take painting or music or something. I chose "Electro-Acoustic Music Composition" or "Laptopping" for short.

During the course of the semester, we learned about many different kinds of electronic music, and a lot about the history. We participated in a recreation of an electronic music concert from the 60's that involved a whole lot of old tape decks, and our class walking around the art museum changing out tape loops.

We did a lot of composing and working in the digital studio, and somewhere along the way I gained some respect for composers and electronic music. I have spent more hours in the studio banging my head on the desk while I wonder why the computer isn't working than I really care to think about. It's been awhile since I sat at a computer and had NO IDEA what it was doing or why. Or why sound wouldn't play out of the studio speakers. Or why my saved file turned out to be empty.

As the semester draws to a close, we as students are innundated with final projects and exams. As our final project for my music composition class, each of us was to compose a piece for a concert that we held this evening. Ten of us debuted new pieces, and it was truly an experience to behold. Most of us played pre-recorded pieces, but one student played a live piece for electronic music and harmonica. One student took samples from a play he is involved with, and made a piece that is part surreal electronic music and part radio drama. Everyone had different techniques they had come up with, and every piece was individual and interesting...if not the kind of music you would sit down of an evening to relax with.

First, let me tell you a little bit about my piece. I took the data I am using for my thesis, simulated activity of lobster neurons, and wrote a program to turn it into what is called a midi file. If you're not sure what that means, it's not very important to the story: suffice it to say that I made big files of numbers into something you could listen to. Then I took them into a program that reminds me of PhotoShop for sound, and edited and played with the files. Finally, I put them together in the piece that I composed for the concert.

So it is related to my neuron data, but it is not "what a neuron sounds like." I have altered a lot of the sounds, and arranged them into a composition that I think is interesting, if not Mozart. All in all, I was glad to have taken this class. It allowed me a chance to see a side of Brandeis I would never have dreamed of, and to gain a new understanding for artists, musical or otherwise.

If you would like to hear the piece I composed, I have added it to this journal entry. If you've gotten this far, it's probably loaded by now! You will want to turn the volume on your computer up, because I recorded it rather quietly (don't forget to turn them back down when you're done!). When you are ready, hit the play (triangle pointing to the right) button on the small console below. Thanks for listening!

Neuronal Melody

Completion

You've probably noticed the new addition to the sidebar to the right. I'll use it to track the grad school application process over the next few months. Most applications are due within the next couple weeks, and they'll be sending out decisions in March or April, so the sidebar probably won't change very much for awhile (at least, after I finish sending in applications!).

As you can see, I've got my work cut out for me as I finish these up and follow up to make sure all of the parts get to the right places. My final projects are also due next week, so everything is coming nicely to a close, if busy.

Just wanted to give an update to say thanks for all the emails and notes of encouragements I've been getting. I appreciate all the good thoughts, but am up to my ears in completing projects and applications. I hope to be almost done with everything in a little over a week, and will go back to more informative and interesting posting then!

Time flies

My goodness, I haven't posted any updates since October! Here's a quick rundown of things that have been taking up my time these days:

1) Thesis, thesis, thesis. I'm finally to the point where I am doing interesting programming and simulations again, so every spare moment I'm not doing something else I find myself staring at neuron behavior again. Everyone else in my lab has a tendency to wax reminiscent about the days when they would do research at 2 am, and I think, "You are mentioning this in past tense?"

2) Grad school applications. Finding good schools, finding people to write recommendation letters, writing personal statements...hopefully by the middle of next semester I will know where I'll be moving next year.
Along with this goes:
a) Studying for the GRE. Forget the SATs, this is probably the most important test ever.
b) Grant applications. Have to find some way to eat while I continue school...

3) Classes? Oh yeah, them... I've been working on some big projects for classes, too. My group in my music class recently debuted our "composition" for the class. Next month we'll be having a concert with each of our individual pieces. Eric and I are starting a project for our Cognitive Computer Science class this week, and I just finished several assignments for my operating systems class.


In the meantime, since it was Halloween last week, I went to several parties. Mark and I carved a pumpkin with a rather frightening dremel pumpkin carving tool. I managed to dye my forearms orange and little bits of pumpkin spewed everywhere. It was a very exciting evening.

Only at Brandeis...

Sometimes things happen around here that cause the students in attendance to shake their heads, sigh, and exclaim, "Only at Brandeis!"

One such moment was the other evening when Mark was over to watch a movie with us. He was making a snack for everyone when he suddenly froze with the food about 2 inches away from a plate and said, "Wait! Is this a kosher plate?" Only at Brandeis.

Other things that happen only at Brandeis are really strange (to most other universities) holidays and "Brandeis Days." This week we don't have classes on Tuesday and Wednesday because it is Rosh Hashanah. In fact, we have three of the four Tuesdays off for various holidays. Because this kind of thing tends to make professors who teach Tuesday classes rather cranky, we have to make up for the missed days. In light of this, Monday was actually a Brandeis Tuesday. YOUR calendar may have said Monday, but around here we were all doing Tuesday things all yesterday.

Starting your week out on a Tuesday is a really strange feeling. You feel as if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time all day. Even stranger is coming back from a two day weekend, going to class for a day, and having another two days off. Not that any of us are going to complain! One of my housemates, Eric, is taking the opportunity to visit Yale as a possibly grad school option. The rest of us are hanging out. We slept a little later than usual, did some homework, took a more leisurely lunch than usual, and have been finding a happy medium between vacation and getting homework done.