Cheshirical Insights

In Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland, Alice happens upon a cheshire cat. After striking up a conversation with the feline, she asks the cat which path she should take. The cat asks, "Well, that depends on where you want to get to." She responds, "Oh it really doesn't matter, as long as..." His reply "Then it really doesn't matter which way you go."

The process of choosing an advisor in graduate school is governed by the same principle. If you do not know where you are headed, the choice of an advisor is very difficult because all are equally attractive, each getting you closer to somewhere.

I've been struggling with my decision. The department here ay UW-Madison is called the Department of Chemical AND Biological Engineering. Hence, there is biological engineering here, an area in which I am not familiar. Some aspects of biological engineering are quite fascinating; modify viruses to inhibit the spread of disease or engineering strains of bacteria that produce ethanol, etc. However, others such as working with embryonic stems cells or studying methods to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, while fascinating, are not appealing due to ethical implications and killing mice, respectively. In all of these areas, I lack the background in biochemistry and cell culture that so many of my classmates have. Consequently, I am prone to consider advisors working in the more traditional aspects of chemical engineering.

I realize that my strength is in the area of computation and modeling. I'd like to do some experimental work as well but would not want to spend all day working in a lab. Unfortunately, a happy medium can be hard to find here at UW. I've met with James Dumesic, a world renowned catalyst expert and James Rawlings, an expert in process control algorithms. Both are working on interesting projects. Professor Dumesic seems a tad quirky; my meeting with him seemed a tad awkward. Professor Rawlings was much easier to talk with. I realize, however, that working with him would mean spending all of my time in front of a computer. Again, not quite what I have in mind. However, currently I'd have to say that he is my top choice. A strong computational background as well as a knowledge of computer programming fundamentals would be advantageous in any field.

There still are many other professors with whom I will be meeting. Ideally, by the end of the week, I will have most of the information that I need, gathered from meeting with Professors, talking with students, and reading journal articules, in order to make an informed decision. While that decision need not be made until October 2, I will want to ponder my choices extensively.

To continue my habit of posting photos as well, I've included a photo of me behind the Chicago temple, just after my single's ward finished performing baptisms for the dead.