A guid New Year to ane an` a` and mony may ye see!, or Happy Hogmanay
So, Happy New Year, all...I just applied to grad school! First thing I did this year, in fact. 12:24 am, January 1, 2007.
Look, my "personal statement"!
I was born into an old farming family in western Massachusetts that has been living and working in the same place since the mid 1800s. I grew up with a deep feeling for the land and an early curiosity about the natural world. My relationship with geology started when I was a toddler and I used to collect rocks from the brook and cover the floor of my mother's car with them. A class in high school called Global Ecology (taught by an alumnus of the UMass Geosciences graduate school) inspired my interest in Earth Sciences and I went on to Smith College where I earned my BA in Geology in 1994. After having switched my major from Studio Art to Geology after my sophomore year and completing the Geology major in two years, I felt that I did not want to go to graduate school right away.
It has been twelve years since I left school and during that interval I have realized that my curiosity about the natural world is far from satisfied. I have decided that I want to spend the time I have doing something that I care about, and I want to continue my education in Geosciences. I want to know how things work, what the world is made of and what is going on beneath the surface. I am interested in the relationship between the macroscopic and the microscopic world - how the land came to be and its underlying order. I am concerned about what I see as a deepening disconnection between people and nature and I believe that our interest in and understanding of nature greatly influences and informs our sense of place as individuals and as a group, and our interaction with our local environment and the entire planet. I am interested in the relationship between Earth and other planets and what this may tell us about our place in an even greater whole. I hope that by doing research in Geosciences and possibly teaching I will be able to continually learn and inspire others to become interested in Earth Sciences and expand the greater understanding of the field.
My specific interests lie in the areas of Mineralogy, Petrology/Petrography, Crystal Chemistry, Geochemistry and Planetary Geology.
If I had any champagne, I'd drink it. Actually, I wouldn't because I hate champagne...I have this WHISKEY here, I will raise a glass...So, slainte...in the immortal words of Robert Burns...
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the braes,
and pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
And gies a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie-waught,
for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
Whatever that means. :)
Look, my "personal statement"!
I was born into an old farming family in western Massachusetts that has been living and working in the same place since the mid 1800s. I grew up with a deep feeling for the land and an early curiosity about the natural world. My relationship with geology started when I was a toddler and I used to collect rocks from the brook and cover the floor of my mother's car with them. A class in high school called Global Ecology (taught by an alumnus of the UMass Geosciences graduate school) inspired my interest in Earth Sciences and I went on to Smith College where I earned my BA in Geology in 1994. After having switched my major from Studio Art to Geology after my sophomore year and completing the Geology major in two years, I felt that I did not want to go to graduate school right away.
It has been twelve years since I left school and during that interval I have realized that my curiosity about the natural world is far from satisfied. I have decided that I want to spend the time I have doing something that I care about, and I want to continue my education in Geosciences. I want to know how things work, what the world is made of and what is going on beneath the surface. I am interested in the relationship between the macroscopic and the microscopic world - how the land came to be and its underlying order. I am concerned about what I see as a deepening disconnection between people and nature and I believe that our interest in and understanding of nature greatly influences and informs our sense of place as individuals and as a group, and our interaction with our local environment and the entire planet. I am interested in the relationship between Earth and other planets and what this may tell us about our place in an even greater whole. I hope that by doing research in Geosciences and possibly teaching I will be able to continually learn and inspire others to become interested in Earth Sciences and expand the greater understanding of the field.
My specific interests lie in the areas of Mineralogy, Petrology/Petrography, Crystal Chemistry, Geochemistry and Planetary Geology.
If I had any champagne, I'd drink it. Actually, I wouldn't because I hate champagne...I have this WHISKEY here, I will raise a glass...So, slainte...in the immortal words of Robert Burns...
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the braes,
and pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
And gies a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie-waught,
for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
Whatever that means. :)