Countdown to my Defense: T-minus 5 days

On Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 10 am I humbly submit myself and the fruits of my intellectual endeavors to a body of critics.

My research will be presented before a public body of critics (any and everyone who wants to show up and listen, namely the students and faculty of my science department, my friends and family and passer-bys in the hall) AND a private committee of professors who will question will me about the methods employed, results gathered and interpretations concluded before I can become apart of the illustrous clan of 'terminally-lettered scientists'. That's alot of fancy talk that basically means I've giving the most important school report presentation of my life so far.

I've spent the last several years of my life doing my dissertation or doctorate level research. What exactly is research? For me it involved lots of reading, explaining things, handling animals, running experiments on those animals, presenting my results, re-designing experiements and running more experiments, traveling out-of-town to conferences to talk about my experiments, doing lots of math, writing, more writing, more math, waiting, writing, more reading, more math, chasing people down for signatures, and more waiting for this upcoming moment.

The official announcement has been posted on the university website. Wed, Mar 10, I present myself and my body of work to the public (and my committee). I am presently working on live streaming the defense for anyone who cannot make it. In the meantime, here's a summary of what I did.

I'm getting ready for that. Am I a nervous? Of course. But it's an excited, happy nervous. I am also applying for post-docs, teaching positions, too. What am I looking for? Hands-on undergrad teaching in general biology, animal behavior, evolution, anatomy & physiology; outreach with at broader audiences, doing informal science.

Hey, if I could earn a living doing what I do on the blog - online sharing and real-life presentations, I would do that hands down. Cable TV, you know you want me to host your next big science show. Call me!

I'm willing to go almost anywhere, so geography is not a barrier.

Finally, this blog was selected by the Riverfront Times as one of St. Louis' fave local weblogs: A Blogger's Baker's Dozen: The RFT staff presents a sampler of St. Louis' must-read contributors to the blogosphere (I'm on page 3). If you live in the St. Louis Metro area, pick up a printed copy of the paper. The paper also did an online follow-up on each of the featured bloggers. So, please also check out my personal selection of The Three Best Blog Posts from Urban Science Adventures! ©.

Feel free to leave a comment. Do you agree with my selections? What are you faves?

And to cap things off, Daily RFT Invites You to Happy Hour today (March 5th) at Blueberry Hill in the heart of the Delmar Loop. It's like they're having a pre-celebration for me. Yay!

Thanks for all of your support!