Today I'm reviewing Section 4: 1D Compression and Consolidation in Soil. This involves marking a text and then solving related example problems to check my understanding. This is sometimes draining work, but this morning (thanks to the delicious pizza from yesterday?) I was so focused I lost track of time and almost missed lunchtime ballet class. One of my goals this term is to increase my attention span (useful when you have 30+ scientific papers to read through on a monthly basis and weekly "dry" academic talks). Ballet helps with that! Plus it's something I look forward to. Coming out of Mission 31 I was in great shape, but now thanks to English pub food and being a graduate student who doesn't really cook I'm starting to lose it.
I'm eager to settle on a thesis topic, but my supervisor has stressed that in the next few weeks it's important to keep an open mind, get an overview of the field, and have a solid understanding of basic concepts. So I'm learning and being patient. Possible topics include offshore wind energy and/or developing control systems for test equipment in the civil engineering lab. I want my thesis to have broad implications in technology-based exploration, and affect how we use technology to better manage the ocean. I may collaborate with the computer science department. Much is still uncertain.
As an aside, I finally discovered Ed Sheeran's new album (the one that came out half a year ago); it makes a lovely working soundtrack.
Finally, as usual at Oxford, there's plenty to look forward to this evening. Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg are speaking at the Oxford Union. Schmidt is talking about the book he co-authored, "How Google Works," but I wish he was talking about his family's ocean foundation. I had the pleasure of exploring the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel the Falkor while it was docked in Woods Hole two years ago. The Schmidt Ocean Institute is an example of how ocean exploration is funded from the private sector -- see New York Times article about Wendy Schmidt. Even though I'm studying for a degree in the technical side of things, it's important to keep a perspective on who will care about the research and how funding is coming into the field. Never a dull moment, there's more salsa dancing later in the evening with other Marshall Scholars so it'll be plenty fun. My plan is to go to sleep all danced-out and be laser-focused again in the morning for Section 5: Strength of Soils.
I'm eager to settle on a thesis topic, but my supervisor has stressed that in the next few weeks it's important to keep an open mind, get an overview of the field, and have a solid understanding of basic concepts. So I'm learning and being patient. Possible topics include offshore wind energy and/or developing control systems for test equipment in the civil engineering lab. I want my thesis to have broad implications in technology-based exploration, and affect how we use technology to better manage the ocean. I may collaborate with the computer science department. Much is still uncertain.
As an aside, I finally discovered Ed Sheeran's new album (the one that came out half a year ago); it makes a lovely working soundtrack.
Finally, as usual at Oxford, there's plenty to look forward to this evening. Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg are speaking at the Oxford Union. Schmidt is talking about the book he co-authored, "How Google Works," but I wish he was talking about his family's ocean foundation. I had the pleasure of exploring the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel the Falkor while it was docked in Woods Hole two years ago. The Schmidt Ocean Institute is an example of how ocean exploration is funded from the private sector -- see New York Times article about Wendy Schmidt. Even though I'm studying for a degree in the technical side of things, it's important to keep a perspective on who will care about the research and how funding is coming into the field. Never a dull moment, there's more salsa dancing later in the evening with other Marshall Scholars so it'll be plenty fun. My plan is to go to sleep all danced-out and be laser-focused again in the morning for Section 5: Strength of Soils.
