MS Graduation, and reflections on reflections

May 19, 2024

Last Tuesday I finally finished my masters degree. I may not have gotten quite as much done with my current battery work as I would have liked, but I am still fairly proud of what I put together. A generally applicable coupled theory is quite a bit more difficult to set up than I had initially thought, but what I have is a pretty good start; I'll post it as a note very soon. Anyway, I am happy with that work, and the fact that I have somehow managed to maintain my 4.0 over the course of the degree. Some people have said to me that a 4.0 is actually somewhat embarassing as it signals that a person does not have much else going on in their life, or that they don't really understand the material and they are just doing what needs to be done to get an A. However, I manage to also work full time, maintain a (very) ametuer track career, keep my fiancée happy (I hope), and keep up with my research. Maybe a not-so-humble brag, but in heindseight that statement is really starting to sound like some grade-A copium to me for an inability to do as well as they could (or think they could) have. That, or the latter option is correct and I have no clue what I'm doing. On second thought, it is likely that both options are correct.

On a less exciting note, it seems good things have not yet been in the cards for me this year. Beginning from the most obvious, my track season had been off to a so-so start, with modest success in triple jump (first at some JC meets and a nice third place finish at a UC-Davis open, with no finishes outside the top 5). However, my main event, pole vault, had not been going so well. Sure, I had secured a bunch of top five finishes and an appearence at a very high profile meet (Brutus Hamilton, where I promptly no-heighted), but the bars I was clearing were pathetic, to say the least. To make matters worse, just as I thought things were turning around in practice, I broke my foot in a very preventable way. Looks like I'm going to have to wait until next season in order to show off my progress; a shame. To literally add insult to injury, a lot of work I had done for funding for my PhD ended up going nowhere, and I am still currently in a state of limbo in many ways. At least my status as a PhD student is secure.

Regardless, I am still confident that good things are coming my way soon enough. I am still motivated to jump higher and further, still motivated to try and find ways to do things others have not thought of in my work and research, and still motivated to be the best I can be for my friends and family. Someday, I'll look back and it will all have been worth it. For now, it looks like I still need to prove myself. Fine by me.

Below are some picture from graduation: one of my parents, brother and me, one of my fiance and me, and one of Prof. Govindjee and me.

-TJC