Frank DiSalvo

As usual, first thing on monday morning we had seminar. This week our speaker was Frank DiSalvo. Well that morning I got in early and discovered that he had gotten their quite early as well. To the point where even the secretaries wouldn't be in for a bit. Fortunately I had looked up his research through his Cornell profile page, so I recognized who he was. We actually had some really great conversation, and I enjoyed myself quite a bit.

I had been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to do after getting my masters. Do I want to get my PhD in chemical engineering? Do I want to work in my field? Do I want to take some time off? I have even been thinking that working in retail sounds really good to me. The idea od stocking shelves sounds really attractive.

But the presentation by our speaker today has me really excited. The downside is that he is at Cornell; otherwise I would work with this man for my PhD in a heartbeat. I find him personable. He has some great connections with my undergraduate that I would love to maintain. He is in a chemistry department (where I would be more comfortable taking quals), but does not consider himself to be a chemist (and thus his research is more interdisciplinary). His background is in physics, but he thinks of himself as a material scientist (my original desired graduate field).

Damn why does this man have to teach in Ithaca!

Lost Treasures

When I was filing some bills last night, I went through my files to clean out obsolete materials. I was quite delighted to find my stash of old sheet music (from 8 years of chorus, 3 years of SEMSBAs, and church choir). I hadn't thought of some of these songs in years. Now I want to find a piano (I think there is one in the Adekman Building that students can use) to play out the parts. The funny thing about this find is that I was just thinking about how much I missed singing regularly with a group because of a recent post by queenofhalves.

OLEDs

I got an email from a good friend and former co-worker. He and I (separately) both spent some time researching OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes). He was at UMass Amherst doing his PhD thesis, and I was doing the Women in Materials research at Simmons College. Well apparently Cambridge Display Technology (one of the "guru" companies in the field) just went public and are now on the New York Stock Exchange. The Ticker Symbol is even OLED. How awesome is that? This whole field is incredibly exciting. I think it has a great deal of promise; perhaps I should consider investing.