I had the opportunity to attend another young engineer’s thesis defense, this time for a Masters degree instead of a Doctorate, but still impressive all the same. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I was an art student, not a math/engineer/scientist/anything that required more than a basic understanding of addition and division.
If you are working on (or achieved) a Masters or Doctorate then know that you have my undying respect. That crap is HARD. And has MATH in it. HARD MATH. MATH WITHOUT NUMBERS. I had no idea you could even DO math without numbers!
So to the people out there helping horses not die and power grid operators not explode… kudos! -from an artist
The Danger of Going to Starbucks 
I think it’s so important to appreciate other people’s achievements, especially when they are so very different from our own ambitions. I hung out with a lot of engineering students in college, and they were the total opposite of how you are. They thought that they were the only people doing worthwhile, challenging things in college. It was so frustrating, especially for a film major with a nagging suspicion that all of my higher education pursuits were a huge waste of time.
I very much agree! Its hard for those of us in the “soft studies” to see the value in what we are creating sometimes, because its so different in it’s function from the “hard studies”. Thankfully, the engineers I hang around also agree that other’s areas of study are just as important, and just as worthy of praise, as their own. Engineers and artists are not too dissimilar. One of them asks “how” and one of them asks “what if” 🙂
Robin – this is Lizzie’s blog – especially for you! xoxoxo >