O.k., so next week I'll be doing some more characterization of my samples. My paper to the Journal of Materials Chemistry got rejected for "not being scientifically interesting enough." So rather than write a separate paper for my last experiment, we'll be including those results in this paper, plus some tensile data, pH values, and maybe transmittance. One thing I really don't understand about my supervisor is his philosophy of taking all sorts of measurements for samples without any particular rhyme or reason. For example, transmittance might be useful if the paper focused on applications where light was important. However, my paper discusses the potential of using my printed materials as implants inside the body...where light doesn't shine. I doubt I will ever understand the idea of just taking lots of measurements then throwing them all together to see what sticks. I like to approach research from the perspective of solving a problem, not just random measuring.
Once I get those new characterizations done, I have to do some minor restructuring of my thesis. Many book conclusions involve a solid discussion to wrap up the book, and I was planning to write a 35-40 page conclusion chapter for my thesis. My supervisor knew about this all along, and was reminded on numerous occasions. Yet, only last week in casual conversation did he tell me bluntly that a thesis conclusion is only supposed to be about 3-4 pages in length. The good news is that the 35 pages I've already written can become a results chapter, because it includes a substantial number of extra results that were not sufficient on their own for a dedicated chapter.
I'm still in a position of having only about 30 pages left to write, but I am SO ready for this thesis to be done!
Regarding our move to Canada, we had to change the shipment of our stuff over to Michelle's name, since she's a Canadian citizen and I'm not. That was a bit of a paperwork challenge this week. We were quoted for 4 cubic meters of stuff, and from the pile it looks like that's exactly what we have. If we had known when we started how much of a pain it is to immigrate to Australia, we would have shipped and accumulated much less.
I also booked our airline tickets this week, and it's a good thing I did. The baggage rules have changed yet again. It used to be that for international flights that passengers were allowed 2 suitcases, a carry-on, and a laptop bag. Now, only 1 suitcase is allowed. Because our shipment of stuff won't be picked up until tomorrow, we had a day to reduce our clothing by half, and we'll be adding 2 extra suitcases full of clothes to the boat shipment.
We have also been lucky and have managed to sell all our furniture and nearly everything else we had. The only outstanding items are our washer and dryer, but I'm confident those will get sold soon. The last thing I'll sell will be our car, but since we'll need it for moving back into our old apartment, I'm considering waiting until mid-September for that.
We fly to Canada on the 25th of September, and that's where we will settle down for good. International moves are a real pain, so we don't plan to ever do this again.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
What a change one month can make...
I finally got some good results from a last experiment, and now that thesis chapter is written. Currently, I'm writing the last 4-6 pages of my conclusion chapter, then on to deal with some revisions and the final 30 pages of the thesis. I'm in a very good position to have my thesis ready to submit by mid-September.
A month ago, I still had hopes things would work out for us to be able to stay in Australia. What I found, though, was that funding seems to be getting increasingly tight here. Since you can count all of Australia's major universities on two hands, that means any prospects at all for a new PhD graduate without 15 publications is slim to none. When I submit my thesis, I get a new student visa that lets me stay until graduation, but without a job, there's no money to live on. We technically could have lived off Michelle's income while I spent time job hunting, but if I came up empty-handed after several months, that would be a waste of time and money. I need to get on with my new career.
So after the bittersweet moment when we came to the realization that we would have to leave Australia, we started making plans to move to Canada. The plan is to live with Michelle's parents for perhaps a year while I look for a job and we build up our savings. This arrangement takes a great deal of financial pressure off me, so I can take my time finding the right opportunity and not "just a job" because I need a paycheck. With further reflection, I know this is the right decision. The research group I'm in is starting to become micromanaged in the same manner as the I.T. jobs I hated, and I know I would not thrive in such a stifled environment. Additionally, post-doc salaries here have dropped from around $70K to $50K. It's hard enough living in Australia on student-level funding, but without full residency benefits, trying to support a young family on $50K is unrealistic.
Yesterday we had a garage sale and got rid of many of our things. Some furniture and appliances didn't sell, so those are on ebay now. This coming Friday, a freight forwarder will be picking up about 4 cubic meters of stuff to ship to Canada. Then a couple days later, we move out of our apartment into some temporary housing. (Short story: shitty construction; owners sued and won; now repairs are being done.) The temporary place is going to be a serviced apartment somewhere in Wollongong proper. Due to the timing of my thesis submission and the termination of my student funding on 15 September, we won't be going back to our old apartment. We will be arriving in Canada sometime in late September.
A month ago, I still had hopes things would work out for us to be able to stay in Australia. What I found, though, was that funding seems to be getting increasingly tight here. Since you can count all of Australia's major universities on two hands, that means any prospects at all for a new PhD graduate without 15 publications is slim to none. When I submit my thesis, I get a new student visa that lets me stay until graduation, but without a job, there's no money to live on. We technically could have lived off Michelle's income while I spent time job hunting, but if I came up empty-handed after several months, that would be a waste of time and money. I need to get on with my new career.
So after the bittersweet moment when we came to the realization that we would have to leave Australia, we started making plans to move to Canada. The plan is to live with Michelle's parents for perhaps a year while I look for a job and we build up our savings. This arrangement takes a great deal of financial pressure off me, so I can take my time finding the right opportunity and not "just a job" because I need a paycheck. With further reflection, I know this is the right decision. The research group I'm in is starting to become micromanaged in the same manner as the I.T. jobs I hated, and I know I would not thrive in such a stifled environment. Additionally, post-doc salaries here have dropped from around $70K to $50K. It's hard enough living in Australia on student-level funding, but without full residency benefits, trying to support a young family on $50K is unrealistic.
Yesterday we had a garage sale and got rid of many of our things. Some furniture and appliances didn't sell, so those are on ebay now. This coming Friday, a freight forwarder will be picking up about 4 cubic meters of stuff to ship to Canada. Then a couple days later, we move out of our apartment into some temporary housing. (Short story: shitty construction; owners sued and won; now repairs are being done.) The temporary place is going to be a serviced apartment somewhere in Wollongong proper. Due to the timing of my thesis submission and the termination of my student funding on 15 September, we won't be going back to our old apartment. We will be arriving in Canada sometime in late September.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Never-Ending "Last Experiment"
My thesis is nearly all done. Out of a total of eight chapters, four have been written. Out of these four, one needs major revisions, the other, minor. Of the remaining four, the conclusion is half written, and the introduction and materials chapters are the easiest yet to write. The final outstanding chapter is another results chapter, based on a "last experiment." For me, this is the most difficult part of the entire PhD experience.
The difficulty is compounded by the demand that the experiment be something unique and original that hasn't already been done. This is not at all easy when you have only two and a half months left of funding, and three months left on the student visa (and a supervisor who is less than helpful sometimes and seemingly always on holiday). One experiment has undergone four attempts, but the materials that are the subject of the study are just not robust enough on their own to get reliable, consistent results. Conducting polymers are fickle. Adding to the frustration is sloppy software on some of the characterization equipment. (If there are overt software bugs, can you truly trust your data given that there may very well be covert bugs, too?)
If the data analysis suggested by my supervisor shows crap again, then I am going to drop that experiment and try another. Last night I went into the lab and got started, and I think the samples I made are pretty good. If it really turns out that way, then I will do electrical characterization (first on dry samples, then with hydration and added chemicals) as well as electron and optical microscopy. I think tensile testing of soft materials sucks, so I'll stay away from that. (There are still too many engineering problems to be resolved for tensile testing soft materials: like how do you tightly clamp wet hydrogels and not get slippage or damage the material? I don't have time do solve this engineering problem, as my PhD will be in chemistry.)
All I need is for one last experiment to work and give me some good results. If my latest idea does not work, then I have to keep cycling through ideas until I get something that does work...and I have just under three months max in which to do it.
The difficulty is compounded by the demand that the experiment be something unique and original that hasn't already been done. This is not at all easy when you have only two and a half months left of funding, and three months left on the student visa (and a supervisor who is less than helpful sometimes and seemingly always on holiday). One experiment has undergone four attempts, but the materials that are the subject of the study are just not robust enough on their own to get reliable, consistent results. Conducting polymers are fickle. Adding to the frustration is sloppy software on some of the characterization equipment. (If there are overt software bugs, can you truly trust your data given that there may very well be covert bugs, too?)
If the data analysis suggested by my supervisor shows crap again, then I am going to drop that experiment and try another. Last night I went into the lab and got started, and I think the samples I made are pretty good. If it really turns out that way, then I will do electrical characterization (first on dry samples, then with hydration and added chemicals) as well as electron and optical microscopy. I think tensile testing of soft materials sucks, so I'll stay away from that. (There are still too many engineering problems to be resolved for tensile testing soft materials: like how do you tightly clamp wet hydrogels and not get slippage or damage the material? I don't have time do solve this engineering problem, as my PhD will be in chemistry.)
All I need is for one last experiment to work and give me some good results. If my latest idea does not work, then I have to keep cycling through ideas until I get something that does work...and I have just under three months max in which to do it.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Waaa, waaa, waaa
I managed to complete three chapters of my thesis before the baby was born. Chloe Alana Mire was born on 2 May 2010 at about 1:10 a.m. She weighed 3145 grams, and measured 49 cm. While it was great that Michelle got to spend 5 days in hospital, with immediate assistance when needed, she was glad to come home. Since arriving at home, Chloe has been doing all the normal baby things and growing regularly. She's now a month old, and typically has about six hours of unsettled periods each day. As much of a pain as that is, it is certainly better than complete silence from her.
Since her birth, I've spent most of the time helping Michelle out with incidental stuff (which is a lot when there's a baby!). Finally, about a week ago, I was able to really get back into finishing my thesis. I completed revisions on one chapter and sent it on to my co-supervisor, and I'm now almost done with my fourth chapter -- which puts me at the halfway mark. I deliberately chose to write the most difficult chapters first, and I think now that was a great decision. The remaining chapters are a bit of fluff, because I'm not really discussing results, but rather, doing an introduction of work similar to my project, and a conclusion to tie everything together. I could write that kind of stuff over half a bottle of wine.
What's more challenging is finding a post-doc. I don't particularly want to go back to America, because the salary will be too low (~US$50K/year, minus US$10K/year for family health insurance = $40K/year for a 60-hour workweek -- not a respectable salary for someone with a PhD in the hard sciences plus ten years of I.T. experience!). Australia is still appealing, but international students really are treated like shit here, and it doesn't matter from what country. Australia views international students as cash cows and nothing more. Unlike Australian students, who get a several thousand dollar youth allowance around the time they finish high school, half-price concessions on public transport, no visa deadline looming over them for completion of studies, and so on -- international students get no assistance and pay full price for things like public transport. The scholarships provided by universities here are less than the minimum wage, and (modest) rent is expensive enough to consume 3/4 of that. Further, international students still pay taxes on income over A$5K/year, but get none of Australia's social benefits. And once an international student completes a course of study, there are numerous ridiculous hoops to jump through in order to stay here. The impression is that Australia just wants as much cash as they can shake out of international students, then kick them out of the country regardless of whether or not they could fill a need for Australia's industry or research interests. What's sadder is the mediocrity of Australian students, despite all the handouts. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't recommend Australia to anyone who is still a student. Established professionals who are recruited here are treated with a whole lot more respect, and will be paid a proper salary to cope with the high cost of living here.
By the time I graduate, I will have (pending acceptance) five papers published, and another one or two in the works. That's a decent number for a recent PhD graduate. I've been looking at possible post-doc positions in Europe and Canada, and have applied to all that seem appealing and that I'm qualified for. One thing that is somewhat frustrating is that I want to do research in tissue engineering/regenerative medicine -- but many of those labs want biologists more than materials scientists/engineers. Fortunately, I will have a short-term contract once I hand in my thesis which will hold me over financially until graduation (my scholarship stops the moment I submit my thesis -- my top-up scholarship stopped right at the 3-year mark with no advanced notification to me...which is typical of most Australians' communication skills). A number of good post-doc positions have deadlines in the first few months of the year. Due to the timing of my thesis write-up, I missed those deadlines this year -- but I will apply for them next year and I will be in a stronger position anyways.
I'm sure I will land a nice position somewhere. I just wish it wasn't such a big unknown at this time.
Since her birth, I've spent most of the time helping Michelle out with incidental stuff (which is a lot when there's a baby!). Finally, about a week ago, I was able to really get back into finishing my thesis. I completed revisions on one chapter and sent it on to my co-supervisor, and I'm now almost done with my fourth chapter -- which puts me at the halfway mark. I deliberately chose to write the most difficult chapters first, and I think now that was a great decision. The remaining chapters are a bit of fluff, because I'm not really discussing results, but rather, doing an introduction of work similar to my project, and a conclusion to tie everything together. I could write that kind of stuff over half a bottle of wine.
What's more challenging is finding a post-doc. I don't particularly want to go back to America, because the salary will be too low (~US$50K/year, minus US$10K/year for family health insurance = $40K/year for a 60-hour workweek -- not a respectable salary for someone with a PhD in the hard sciences plus ten years of I.T. experience!). Australia is still appealing, but international students really are treated like shit here, and it doesn't matter from what country. Australia views international students as cash cows and nothing more. Unlike Australian students, who get a several thousand dollar youth allowance around the time they finish high school, half-price concessions on public transport, no visa deadline looming over them for completion of studies, and so on -- international students get no assistance and pay full price for things like public transport. The scholarships provided by universities here are less than the minimum wage, and (modest) rent is expensive enough to consume 3/4 of that. Further, international students still pay taxes on income over A$5K/year, but get none of Australia's social benefits. And once an international student completes a course of study, there are numerous ridiculous hoops to jump through in order to stay here. The impression is that Australia just wants as much cash as they can shake out of international students, then kick them out of the country regardless of whether or not they could fill a need for Australia's industry or research interests. What's sadder is the mediocrity of Australian students, despite all the handouts. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't recommend Australia to anyone who is still a student. Established professionals who are recruited here are treated with a whole lot more respect, and will be paid a proper salary to cope with the high cost of living here.
By the time I graduate, I will have (pending acceptance) five papers published, and another one or two in the works. That's a decent number for a recent PhD graduate. I've been looking at possible post-doc positions in Europe and Canada, and have applied to all that seem appealing and that I'm qualified for. One thing that is somewhat frustrating is that I want to do research in tissue engineering/regenerative medicine -- but many of those labs want biologists more than materials scientists/engineers. Fortunately, I will have a short-term contract once I hand in my thesis which will hold me over financially until graduation (my scholarship stops the moment I submit my thesis -- my top-up scholarship stopped right at the 3-year mark with no advanced notification to me...which is typical of most Australians' communication skills). A number of good post-doc positions have deadlines in the first few months of the year. Due to the timing of my thesis write-up, I missed those deadlines this year -- but I will apply for them next year and I will be in a stronger position anyways.
I'm sure I will land a nice position somewhere. I just wish it wasn't such a big unknown at this time.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Thesis writing
So it's finally near the end of my journey for a PhD. I'm writing up my thesis. I just finished my last experiment this past weekend. Even though it was a holiday weekend, it was nice to work in the absence of interruptions. I've already written three core chapters of the thesis, so that's about 1/3. There are certainly revisions on those first chapters, but the bulk of the work is done. In about 4 weeks, our daughter will be born. Although I wish things had worked out such that I would be done writing my thesis by that time, it all happened differently. I'll just be finishing up the writing during the baby's first two months in this world.
We have been fortunate, lately, with our finances. I've picked up 3 side jobs, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect for those. But it certainly adds to the schedule of thesis writing. Nevertheless, it's just the way life is, sometimes. During times like this it has also been a relief to have spousal and parental support. In about 8 months I will have my PhD and be getting back on my own two feet again.
We have been fortunate, lately, with our finances. I've picked up 3 side jobs, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect for those. But it certainly adds to the schedule of thesis writing. Nevertheless, it's just the way life is, sometimes. During times like this it has also been a relief to have spousal and parental support. In about 8 months I will have my PhD and be getting back on my own two feet again.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
So much has happened, and more to come...
The roller coaster of the final 6 months of my PhD is well underway. So much has happened, and there's still lots to do.
December ended with a mad rush to get purchase orders through before offices closed for the holidays. For me, the year ended a bit flat as far as my research was concerned. There just wasn't anything exciting for me to wrap up my thesis with, just some ho-hum stuff to make it all appear like a cohesive body of work.
On the positive side, Michelle's pregnancy has continued on in textbook fashion. We both feel very fortunate that IVF worked for us on the first try. It was the biggest financial gamble we have taken, and we were sweating all along until the pregnancy reached cruise control. We effectively spent our entire savings on this, so it was a big relief to see it has worked out.
For the holidays, we booked a cottage in the Blue Mountains. Originally, we booked 7 days, but soon afterwards we encountered the financial pain of our depleted savings on top of Michelle's 20% pay cut for the last half of 2009. (A special thank you to George W. for royally fucking up the U.S. economy!) We tried to cancel the reservation altogether, but the owner insisted on retaining the booking. In the end, she compromised and shortened our booking to 4 days and 3 nights, and we were glad to have the getaway. The cottage was in Katoomba, and we could walk to town. We did a nice hike in the mountains from Katoomba to Luera on xmas day. The walk was a good workout -- about 900 steps down the cliffs and back up at the end of the walk. A day or so later, we went to Jenolan Caves.
Work started up again on the 4th of January. A considerable amount of my time that month was occupied with bureaucratic nonsense. I had to file for an extension of my scholarship, since I knew I would not be done by the 15th of March. (And still, the biggest question for me is: if it's really so unusual for students to complete their PhD's in exactly 3 years, as all my superiors keep telling me, then why aren't the scholarships, visas, and so on, not framed around reality?) Compounding the nonsense was the last-minute notification I got from the director of our research group that my top-up scholarship could not be renewed. Australians do have a real problem with communication. I sent an angry email to my supervisor about this cut in funding, and he worked to set up a project for me (building him a custom printer system) to commence when the top-up ends. Additionally, I'll be doing lab demonstrations again this year. So after all that, I had to file a request for confirmation of enrollment, which I needed to renew my student visa. And since I am going to be around Wollongong for at least another 6 months, I had to submit a form to get a new parking permit, with my supervisor's and the dean's signature (for a parking permit!). My primary scholarship got renewed and I got my confirmation of enrollment, so I renewed my student visa this week. That was probably the most impressive turn-around I've seen here. I had my visa renewal the day after the application was submitted. And we didn't have to undergo new health checks, submit further documents, etc.
Michelle's parents shipped us a really nice pram (stroller for you Americans), but that was another hassle. We had a great deal of difficulty trying to find reasonable shipping rates from Canada to Australia. The pram is a BOB Revolution, and has top feedback from customers. It's made for real jogging, and for people with very active lifestyles. It's not sold here in Australia at all, and similar prams here cost around $900! After a great deal of internet searches, I found a shipper in Canada who gave Michelle's dad a very reasonable quote for a 1-week shipping time -- but the catch was we would have to pick it up at the Sydney airport. When the pick-up day came, we went to the airport, and had to pay a "paperwork fee" to the package processing office, then we had to clear it through customs and quarantine. Customs required us to pay a 10% GST on the value (even though it was less than $1000), so whatever. After a 6-hour errand, we had our pram, and it's every bit as nice as we hoped.
In the middle of all those things, I was writing my manuscript for the ICONN2010 conference in Sydney. I did a couple of quick experiments to round out the details for that paper, and wrote most of it within a couple of days. Since Paul Calvert has been here and is listed as an author on this paper, I gave it to him for review. He immediately found some critical points lacking, and we discussed those at length. With his feedback, I did some more detailed analysis on my data and samples, and added the crucial parts to the manuscript. So now that is done and ready to submit.
It has been great having Paul here. His extensive experience and advice has been very valuable to me. He has been a surrogate supervisor to me these past 6 months, and without his help, I don't think I'd be as confident about my thesis. My supervisor is o.k., but he's really inexperienced. Paul has been teaching him plenty, as well. For the past year, I've often felt my supervisor was too busy chasing his own career to truly help me along, and that's been hard to cope with.
The baby's due date is the 6th of May. Between now and then, I have two more major experiments to do, two conferences to attend, and a full thesis to write. I am hoping to have the thesis ready to submit by the time the baby is here. That period of time will be one of more bureaucratic encounters. The reason I won't be trying to submit the thesis before the baby is born is because there is no bridging funding after the thesis is submitted. My scholarship comes to a dead halt at that moment. What usually happens is students get a contract, which pays better than the scholarship, which tides them over at least until graduation. But, if I jump onto a contract too soon, then I don't think I will have the flexibility to stay home with Michelle during the first two weeks or so after the baby is born. Further, it appears we can get the Australian baby bonus since I am an overseas student here on a university scholarship -- but I'm technically no longer a student once I've submitted the thesis, even if I haven't yet graduated.
When I am ready, I get the thesis hard-bound and ready to submit, then I meet with the director to arrange my contract. Ideally, he will sign the contract on a Friday for me to start that Monday, then I officially submit. That timing keeps me from experiencing a gap in income. Then my student visa automatically becomes a bridging visa which lasts until graduation. I'll be applying for a few post-doctoral positions, so depending on how those work out, I may start my next real job before graduation. So much is going to be happening this year!
December ended with a mad rush to get purchase orders through before offices closed for the holidays. For me, the year ended a bit flat as far as my research was concerned. There just wasn't anything exciting for me to wrap up my thesis with, just some ho-hum stuff to make it all appear like a cohesive body of work.
On the positive side, Michelle's pregnancy has continued on in textbook fashion. We both feel very fortunate that IVF worked for us on the first try. It was the biggest financial gamble we have taken, and we were sweating all along until the pregnancy reached cruise control. We effectively spent our entire savings on this, so it was a big relief to see it has worked out.
For the holidays, we booked a cottage in the Blue Mountains. Originally, we booked 7 days, but soon afterwards we encountered the financial pain of our depleted savings on top of Michelle's 20% pay cut for the last half of 2009. (A special thank you to George W. for royally fucking up the U.S. economy!) We tried to cancel the reservation altogether, but the owner insisted on retaining the booking. In the end, she compromised and shortened our booking to 4 days and 3 nights, and we were glad to have the getaway. The cottage was in Katoomba, and we could walk to town. We did a nice hike in the mountains from Katoomba to Luera on xmas day. The walk was a good workout -- about 900 steps down the cliffs and back up at the end of the walk. A day or so later, we went to Jenolan Caves.
Work started up again on the 4th of January. A considerable amount of my time that month was occupied with bureaucratic nonsense. I had to file for an extension of my scholarship, since I knew I would not be done by the 15th of March. (And still, the biggest question for me is: if it's really so unusual for students to complete their PhD's in exactly 3 years, as all my superiors keep telling me, then why aren't the scholarships, visas, and so on, not framed around reality?) Compounding the nonsense was the last-minute notification I got from the director of our research group that my top-up scholarship could not be renewed. Australians do have a real problem with communication. I sent an angry email to my supervisor about this cut in funding, and he worked to set up a project for me (building him a custom printer system) to commence when the top-up ends. Additionally, I'll be doing lab demonstrations again this year. So after all that, I had to file a request for confirmation of enrollment, which I needed to renew my student visa. And since I am going to be around Wollongong for at least another 6 months, I had to submit a form to get a new parking permit, with my supervisor's and the dean's signature (for a parking permit!). My primary scholarship got renewed and I got my confirmation of enrollment, so I renewed my student visa this week. That was probably the most impressive turn-around I've seen here. I had my visa renewal the day after the application was submitted. And we didn't have to undergo new health checks, submit further documents, etc.
Michelle's parents shipped us a really nice pram (stroller for you Americans), but that was another hassle. We had a great deal of difficulty trying to find reasonable shipping rates from Canada to Australia. The pram is a BOB Revolution, and has top feedback from customers. It's made for real jogging, and for people with very active lifestyles. It's not sold here in Australia at all, and similar prams here cost around $900! After a great deal of internet searches, I found a shipper in Canada who gave Michelle's dad a very reasonable quote for a 1-week shipping time -- but the catch was we would have to pick it up at the Sydney airport. When the pick-up day came, we went to the airport, and had to pay a "paperwork fee" to the package processing office, then we had to clear it through customs and quarantine. Customs required us to pay a 10% GST on the value (even though it was less than $1000), so whatever. After a 6-hour errand, we had our pram, and it's every bit as nice as we hoped.
In the middle of all those things, I was writing my manuscript for the ICONN2010 conference in Sydney. I did a couple of quick experiments to round out the details for that paper, and wrote most of it within a couple of days. Since Paul Calvert has been here and is listed as an author on this paper, I gave it to him for review. He immediately found some critical points lacking, and we discussed those at length. With his feedback, I did some more detailed analysis on my data and samples, and added the crucial parts to the manuscript. So now that is done and ready to submit.
It has been great having Paul here. His extensive experience and advice has been very valuable to me. He has been a surrogate supervisor to me these past 6 months, and without his help, I don't think I'd be as confident about my thesis. My supervisor is o.k., but he's really inexperienced. Paul has been teaching him plenty, as well. For the past year, I've often felt my supervisor was too busy chasing his own career to truly help me along, and that's been hard to cope with.
The baby's due date is the 6th of May. Between now and then, I have two more major experiments to do, two conferences to attend, and a full thesis to write. I am hoping to have the thesis ready to submit by the time the baby is here. That period of time will be one of more bureaucratic encounters. The reason I won't be trying to submit the thesis before the baby is born is because there is no bridging funding after the thesis is submitted. My scholarship comes to a dead halt at that moment. What usually happens is students get a contract, which pays better than the scholarship, which tides them over at least until graduation. But, if I jump onto a contract too soon, then I don't think I will have the flexibility to stay home with Michelle during the first two weeks or so after the baby is born. Further, it appears we can get the Australian baby bonus since I am an overseas student here on a university scholarship -- but I'm technically no longer a student once I've submitted the thesis, even if I haven't yet graduated.
When I am ready, I get the thesis hard-bound and ready to submit, then I meet with the director to arrange my contract. Ideally, he will sign the contract on a Friday for me to start that Monday, then I officially submit. That timing keeps me from experiencing a gap in income. Then my student visa automatically becomes a bridging visa which lasts until graduation. I'll be applying for a few post-doctoral positions, so depending on how those work out, I may start my next real job before graduation. So much is going to be happening this year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)