Summer’s Over?

August 14th, 2010

I can't believe it really, but this summer's over.  I left Stanford last Monday and headed back to Houston to prepare for and work at Rice's freshmen orientation week.  My project didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted it to.  After doing all the splitting measurements and running them through an inversion written by a previous PhD student, the results were inconsistent, unlikely, and unconstrained :(  So, I am struggling a little to write an abstract and poster that describes this result in a positive and informative way and also including more general information about the project (to take up space haha).  It's going to be a lot harder to work on this away from Mairi and Simon but I will get it done.  

Looking back on this summer and the goals I had for myself, I couldn't have asked for a better experience.  I have learned so much about the research process, the amount of time it takes, the steps you have to go through, and that things don't always work out.  One of my goals was to learn to use Splitlab and Matlab, and while I can't say I really used Matlab for anything, I am a Splitlab pro.  Okay, maybe not pro but highly capable.  In general, I feel like my knowledge of programming has improved, thanks in part to some generous lessons from other interns and grad students in my office.  The field work was actually one of the best parts of the summer.  Spending 3 weeks in Elko is not something I would like to do again any time soon but I did learn a lot and got the chance to bond through manual labor with the people I would be working with the rest of the summer.  I learned how seismic equipment is installed, saw the amount of planning and work that goes into it, saw some beautiful places, fulfilled my fieldwork requirement, and learned how to change a tire (or a few).

I think the most valuable thing I learned this summer came from conversations with other grad students and interns about grad school.  They gave me some great advice about choosing a grad school, taking the GRE, applying, meeting advisors, etc.  That's something that I didn't have any clue about and to get insight from people who had just gone through the process and ended up at a great school like Stanford was very helpful.  I also felt very reassured that this summer project, despite the fact that my results weren't groundbreaking, would be a huge advantage for me when I apply.

My goal for myself as of now is to continue to keep this project as a priority so that I can create a quality poster and abstract for AGU.  

I would like to say thank you to Michael and IRIS for giving me this great learning opportunity, to Rob for all his help and hard work, and to Mairi Litherland and Dr. Simon Klemperer for their support and guidance.  I can't wait to see everyone again in December!