Aaron's Defense

Yesterday Aaron defended his thesis to his committee. Aunt Debby was willing to watch my kids, so I got to go and listen and support Aaron at his defense. Aaron's brothers Ryan and Kelly also came with their wives Melissa and Esther. And the MERS lab students that were around came too, so Aaron had quite a bit of support. As is customary, Aaron (and I) provided a light snack for people to munch on while he presented. We brought bagels and cream cheese from Kneaders, and baguettes and artichoke dip, and juice boxes. I think everyone was completely satisfied. :) Special thanks to Melissa for arranging the bagels and juice so artistically.

Aaron did so well on his presentation! He knew the material really well. He didn't stutter over his words, and he did a good job of looking all around the room at his audience. And he sounded like he really enjoyed the topic (as in, his voice wasn't monotone, etc.).

For Aaron's thesis, he's been using data from two different satellites to investigate ice coverage over the North Pole. His main focus has been on classifying the ice into different types (new ice and old ice). His method for ice classification is different from currently used methods, and has less error than the one he was comparing against. For his defense Aaron took 30 minutes to present this information and his findings to his committee. His committee is a group of three professors who have been mentoring Aaron through his masters program. Dr. Long is the chair of the committee and is who Aaron does research for in the MERS lab on campus. The other two are Dr. Christiansen and Dr. Mazzeo.

As part of his research Aaron submitted paper for publication on the same topic as his thesis. Hopefully it will be published in the future after it has been peer reviewed. We found out yesterday, at the end of Aaron's defense, that NASA is very interested in the classification that Aaron has been researching, and because of it, NASA granted BYU one million dollars for research and development over the next few years. Too bad we won't be seeing any of that. :)

After Aaron's presentation, the faculty asked everyone to leave but Aaron, and they spent the next hour asking him questions. Afterwards, Dr. Long told me that Aaron had done very well. He said all of the professors were impressed with Aaron's writing, and surprised that it had only had two drafts before completion. I guess normally it takes longer to hammer out the writing, but since Aaron's was so well done it went quicker. Dr. Long also said that all three of the professors (himself included) had expressed that they felt that Aaron should continue on and get his PhD, they felt that he would be successful at it. I don't think Aaron will jump right in to a PhD, but maybe in a few years. Hearing his professors say that about him, actually made me consider for the first time that maybe Aaron should get a PhD. We'll see what happens.

I was so proud of Aaron yesterday. It was fun to see him in an academic environment where he was thriving, and all the people there (at least the ones from the MERS lab, we family members not so much) understanding what he was talking about, and seemed to feel that his contributions were important. I love my Aaron, and I know that he is smart enough that he could do anything in the world that he wanted to do.  He passed with flying colors. So all that's left is some paper work, and he'll have his letter of completion, hopefully by the end of the week. From then on it's Master Aaron (haha, he'll hate that I wrote that, he doesn't like to be called Master. I don't know why. If I were a Master you'd better believe I'd have people call me that! j/k).

Congratulations Love, I'm so proud of you and all the hard work you've put in for the last two years. I'm sorry that I don't comprehend most of the work that you do, but from what I saw yesterday, there are a lot of people out there who do, and that are very impressed with the research you've been doing. (I'm impressed too, I just don't know what most of it means.) You've earned this, and I hope you'll take even a little teeny-tiny second to sit back and enjoy it and celebrate this accomplishment.