General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA very happy announcement!
We just returned from Cambridge, MA where we witnessed our daughter give her PhD Thesis Defense in Physical Chemistry at MIT.
Lots of happy smiles and tears from Mom (but of course I cried!)
And yes, we DO have a doctor in the house!
Side note: she is like her mother - very progressive and politically active!
pandr32
(11,631 posts)Congratulations!
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)I'm sure she will have a distinguished career!
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)is that she wants to teach at a college level (not university) so that she can mentor students as she was mentored.
She could make a lot more money in industry or at a bigger school in the future, but that's not why she is doing this.
She's off to do a post-doc job for a few years before she finds the college position.
We are immensely proud of her. She's bright, certainly, but she works her butt off!
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)She will feel fulfilled and take joy in what she does. That is the most important thing!
murielm99
(30,777 posts)do work their butts off. Many people think it just comes to them.
Congrats. I love it when parents brag about their great kids.
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)Just don't get me started about my other fabulous daughter!
murielm99
(30,777 posts)I also have two fabulous daughters and a fabulous son.
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)Our young people may save us from ourselves some day.
Good job Mom!
murielm99
(30,777 posts)This is your thread and your turn to brag.
asiliveandbreathe
(8,203 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)You must be very proud!
spanone
(135,900 posts)MelissaB
(16,420 posts)This is a HUGE accomplishment.
Hekate
(90,865 posts)Finishing a doctoral dissertation and defending it are damn hard work. I hope she takes a moment to just enjoy the achievement.
Botany
(70,614 posts)Congrats to the whole family.
Mrs. Overall
(6,839 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)to you and especially your daughter.
renate
(13,776 posts)A PhD?
In physical chemistry?
From M I freaking T??????
Color me impressed!!! Congratulations and well done to her!!!
I refer to it as M I freaking T too!
Her work is far above my pay grade - but I actually understood a great deal of her presentation. She will be a good teacher.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,600 posts)Both attending MIT and getting her PhD are significant accomplishments.
dlk
(11,582 posts)aggiesal
(8,938 posts)Dolt45 quit, resigned, kicked out, ...
But, this is fantastic news.
Congrats!
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)I'm reading prognosticators recently who expect him to drop out of the 2020 race. Pence would pardon him and Barr would have his back. Maybe not so far fetched at this point. Although that would still leave him open for state charges in New York.
Somebody needs to check for a piece of paper on his desk with a list of countries without extradition treaties!
NNadir
(33,574 posts)It's great to add another to our under appreciated science.
My boy is thinking Grad school at MIT, although he's a few years off. He's Mat Sci, and I'd love it if he got to work with their Nuke people.
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)She felt that MIT was a good place to go for grad school, but undergrad would not have been right for her.
So many people in different chemical fields with whom I have discussed this have said "Oh, P-Chem! I hated P-Chem."
Not her!
NNadir
(33,574 posts)...he should apply to for undergrad but he declined to do so.
The Ivys, I think are great for Grad school, since the faculty's focus is research, not teaching, usually.
He's at a very good research school and is getting a fabulous education, but he's among people who are psychologically similar.
Happily for him, his advisor has taken him under wing, and he's having a tremendous experience being guided into research.
There is so much angst involved in undergraduate Ivy admissions, that it can be a killing field.
In my life I've seen a number of young kids get chewed up by the process, exceptionally bright kids too.
Your daughter did it right and you have every right to be extremely proud.
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)My daughter went to Wellesley and because it's not a university, there are no graduate students. This meant that the research assistants are all undergrads. She had so many outstanding opportunities to do work that is traditionally done by grad students. When she graduated, she had the equivalent resume of someone with a Masters degree.
I hope your son is having opportunities for summer internships. That was very important.
Agree about the Ivys. They are super intense and not necessarily the right environment for every student.
Best of luck to your son.
NNadir
(33,574 posts)They just set him free to accomplish a task.
He learned to love research, and learned a lot about serendipity as well.
redstatebluegirl
(12,265 posts)Karadeniz
(22,587 posts)msdogi
(430 posts)there is nothing better. Big Congratulations!
Granny M
(1,395 posts)cilla4progress
(24,783 posts)and impressive! Physical Chemistry?! Woooo!
(can only guess what it is! )
Good job, mom and all!!!!!
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)is kind of a combination of Physics and Chemistry. At least that's the way I understand it.
And thanks.
cilla4progress
(24,783 posts)calimary
(81,527 posts)Congratulations to all of you!
blueinredohio
(6,797 posts)Raven
(13,904 posts)LittleGirl
(8,292 posts)A female that compliments us all! So happy for you all.
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)And she told me "The problem with raising thoroughly self confident daughters is that it's impossible for you to embarrass us."
Bazinga!
LittleGirl
(8,292 posts)Shes amazing! Yay!
mahina
(17,715 posts)Many congratulations!!
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)nt
Hulk
(6,699 posts)Job well done. Happy for all of you! Make the world a better place...starting here at home.👍
AJT
(5,240 posts)Wiseman32218
(291 posts)Great news and Congrats!!!!!
CousinIT
(9,264 posts)....THESE are the things that give me hope for the future.
WELL DONE!
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)She was also chair of the graduate student external affairs board. Got to travel to DC to lobby Congress, in particular that provision in Paul Ryan's tax monstrosity that wanted to tax graduate tuition scholarships as income.
Angela Merkel has a PhD in P Chem. Hmmm. What do you think?
CousinIT
(9,264 posts)Tell her to run for POTUS - like, if she gets bored or something.
PCIntern
(25,601 posts)A remarkable achievement! Congratulations to all!!!
panader0
(25,816 posts)Poiuyt
(18,131 posts)I took P-Chem in college, and I have no idea how I passed the course. It's traditionally one of the most difficult classes at any university, but to work towards a PhD and at MIT no less is amazing!
PS - I was an organic chemist, but that's just glorified cooking.
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)She is not fond of organic. Different strokes!
Poiuyt
(18,131 posts)When I was in physical chemistry, I had trouble with all the advanced calculous. The professor moved very fast, so I would furiously scribble down what he wrote on the board, and I'd try to figure it out in the evening. I was afraid to ask a question, because I didn't want to ask a stupid question.
One day, the smartest kid in the class raised his hand and said, "Dr. Mac, what the hell are you talking about?" Everybody in the class let out a big sigh of relief. Apparently, no one understood what he was talking about, but we were all afraid of slowing the rest of the class down. The only student who did understand was a physics major who was just talking the course for fun.
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)I took organic chem at Cal from a Nobel Laureate who was a singular jerk. He was writing madly on the chalk board - the kind that are on a track and after you have filled one board, you push it up and keep writing. Someone in the class asked a question several boards back, and his answer was "if you were two weeks ahead in your assignments, as you should be, you would know the answer to that." Then he kept writing. He was one of those professors that is forced by the university to teach a lower division course when all he wants to do is further his research. I learned much more from my TA than I ever did from him.
BumRushDaShow
(129,662 posts)OMG P-chem!!!! (yes I had 2 semesters of it and that was more than enough - Schrödinger's equation )
MontanaMama
(23,357 posts)Congratulations to your daughter and to you. This is indeed a good day.
malaise
(269,219 posts)Oh Happy Day
Mike 03
(16,616 posts)And thank you for bringing a 'woke' person into the world!
GeoWilliam750
(2,522 posts)Congratulations!!!
Sogo
(4,997 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)JudyM
(29,294 posts)Does she have a special interest within the field?
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)At the college level, not University. She wants to mentor students as she was mentored by her major professor.
Edit to add: Her research involves nano particles.
JudyM
(29,294 posts)Maybe teaching/inspiring folks who will find cures to diseases, since nano is such an expanding frontier in medicine.
So happy for both of you.
GetRidOfThem
(869 posts)jimlup
(7,968 posts)More than a doctor - an expert in Physical Chemistry. We need more of them in the world.
handmade34
(22,758 posts)PatrickforO
(14,595 posts)That's a really, really proud thing! Congratulations to her for a wonderful accomplishment.
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,482 posts)She's much better at it than I was. I had 4 semesters and only managed 1 "A".
Talitha
(6,625 posts)Demovictory9
(32,482 posts)Roy Rolling
(6,941 posts)My wife and I made a May trip to Cambridge for the same reason. Our MIT daughter is something special, as is yours. Congratulations.
leftieNanner
(15,179 posts)Congratulations to you as well! What field did your daughter study?
Blue_playwright
(1,568 posts)Nt