My PhD work is reaching the really stressful part now, where I have to tie it all together into a cohesive thesis. I have an idea of what I need to do, but due to the nature of my overall project, true scientific characterization is a bit of a trick. My project has been mostly a series of engineering problems up to this point. I haven't done much real science. I was tasked to print materials beginning with an inkjet printer. I quickly ran into frustrations due to the materials I was asked to print. Inkjet printing simply did not work reliably or very well to begin with. When I checked with other researchers in the field, I found out they had already done much of this work in the years prior. This added to my frustration. Why was I asked to spend a significant amount of time unknowingly repeating other people's unpublished (i.e., failed) work? I would have liked a project that was truly new.
Anyways, through the course of events, I got some inspiration to build a custom printer based on a CNC milling machine. Leave the milling bits off, and connect a syringe or inkjet cartridge, and you have a printer. So I solved the problem of setting up a system that was far more flexible with a wide variety of materials, with no need to modify the materials themselves in order to print them into a repeatable structure. Now I can make all sorts of structures, but other than an optical microscope or profilometer, we don't really have proper tools to scientifically characterize them. Without the characterization, I don't have a thesis, and this has left me feeling once again frustrated with my supervisors.
In all this, I've learned that the title of supervisor is a misnomer. There really is no supervision, particularly for a PhD. The supervisor(s) will be more than eager to jump in the spotlight and take a share of the credit if a student does something noteworthy; but if anything fails, it's all the student's fault and the supervisors claim immunity. It's a very frustrating position to be in, and I am eager for it to be done. Maybe once I have the PhD, I will be treated more professionally.
Books have been a great solace, and I've been going through many of the ones I shipped here back when all this began. Additionally, having a couple of good digital cameras has given me another outlet, which, in such a beautiful country, is a perfect hobby. I've been sorting through some of the nicer photos and turning them into artwork. Awhile back I read about the site RedBubble, where people can sell their art. I finally set up an account for myself today, and I've posted the slideshow widget on the blog for those interested. There are only 3 photos at the moment, but I've got lots more I'll be adding over the next few months.
