You consistently brighten my day

Excellent news.

The psychologist on my committee gave me the toughest questions.

Congratulations!

Congratulations! 😊👍🎉

What exactly does that mean please?

I still have to write my dissertation, but my team seems to think I will someday eventually earn the title of "Dr." I am never surprised at my own ability for self-sabotage but I am happy to be a part of scientific research in this new world.

Thank you for the congratulations. It is an academic milestone I've worked at for 20+ years and now I just have to nail the landing.

Desire in host-seeking mosquitos.

I plan to engineer a Republican seeking malaria mosquito

Congratulations!

U rock

lovely!

question: what does that mean? I never got that far in school. also what are you studying?

but it changes my status from "Ph.D. student" to "Doctoral Candidate" meaning that I am, in the eyes of my school, a leading expert in the specific field I research. It comes with a free masters degree as well, which is a nice prize too.

One of my advisors said qualifiers are the last exam you'll ever have to study for in your academic career, which is cool.

So now, I just have to write my dissertation and defend it, and I'll get the Ph.D. I've deferred for 20 years.

I study neurobiology and genetics in mosquitos. Specifically, how they find people to bite and what goes on in their little brains after they feed. More broadly I am interested in serotonin and dopamine, and the chemistry of motivation, desire, and choice-making.

Short answer - science. Never imagined I'd have "pet" mosquitos.



Thanks for the congrats. I am over the moon.

Well done!

Figure out how to change your user name to DR715.

Thanks - Those are my initials

You got this!

Thanks. I'm blessed for the friends I've never met.

What a wonderful accomplishment!

Does that mean we can call you Doctor715?

My name is still Matt, so the M stays the same.

I've been debating internally if (assuming I graduate) if I'd be one of those people that tells folks not to call me doctor. BUT damn did I spend a long time doing it and I kinda want to wear the badge, even if it is a little pretentious.

(I want to go back to teaching public middle school science)

So proud of you, even though I don’t know you! Congratulations!

Thank you for the kind words. Even if you don't know me, I promise you respect and kindness.

I know how big a deal that is. In my program that was considered almost a bigger deal than the final defense, because most people who qualified would earn the degree. I remember the day I passed being one of the best of my life.

Much respect.

Then I started getting serious imposter syndrome.

At my oral defense I leveraged every little bit of slippery sophistry to keep the committee arguing with each other rather than me. It was an incredible experience.

I hope my service to science in Trump's America does some good. Knowledge, information, learning move more freely than air.

Congrats.

Standing out in the hall while my committee discussed my fate, all I could think of was my academic career was over. They let me stew for half an hour before passing me. Sheesh.

Congrats again!