Department/ICR Open House

Last Friday the Dept. of Telecommunications invited potential graduate students to Bloomington to show them what we have to offer. Bloomington is...well...in the middle of the country. There isn't a beach around for HUNDREDS of miles. And there isn't a big city nearby. And so, it is sometimes a tough sell to convince people (particularly those interested in studying media, which people perceive HAPPENS on the coasts) that this would be the place to spend 2-4 years of their life in graduate school.

But, EVERYONE who comes to Bloomington (and particularly the campus) says it's beautiful and idyllic and a GREAT place to spend as much time as they can.

And then, there is the work that is done here. From wonderful production (documentaries, animations, dvds, MMPOGs), to excellent scholarship, there is not place like it.

So, that was the motivation behind the "open house."

They met the Chairman of the Department (Walter Gantz) and Director of Graduate Studies (Ted Castronova). Then, I took them on a tour of the campus which ended at the ICR. Zheng Wang and Sharon Mayell, the current ICR Managers, had the place looking great--with posters from academic conference presentations hanging on the wall, sample experiments going on, and plenty of grad students hanging around answering questions of the potential new grad students.

Then, they went to see a departmental alum-done-good: Paul Bolls, who delivered the Departmental Colloquium.

It was a great time!

Here's some pictures:

ICR Manager Sharon Welcomes People to the Open House

IU Telecomm. Alum, and T600 speaker, Paul Bolls talks with Ph.D. Candidate Narine Yeagiyan


Annie Lang, notorious for not wanting her picture taken, hides behind an umbrella with Paul Bolls and Julia Fox



Finally, the umbrella comes down.

Fun times at the Zoo

We're on the last day of Spring Break (not including the weekend), and now I'm playing catchup on all the work I wanted to get done. Luckily, the weather has turned cloudy, wet, and cold now...so I don't feel so bad sitting in my chair at home with a laptop permanently cemented to my lap.

Good thing we took advantage of the good weather when it was here. Tuesday was wonderful! Sunny blue skies, with a light breeze that kept it from getting too hot. And the Indianapolis Zoo was a terrific place to take the family!

Spring Break--Truly needed

It's spring break here in Bloomington.
I needed one for sure.
The grant submission is turned in...truly a colaboarative effort, with 6 of us across two Big Ten campuses. Now, we wait for the scientific peer review...which takes months.

One of the the main professional reasons why I chose to come to IU 3.5 years ago was to have access to the support and expertise necessary to learn how to obtain external support for my research. I've been learning "the drill" slowly...and this is by far the most involved I've ever been in the process. So, that feels good regardless of what the outcome will be. Of course, getting the financial go ahead to pursue research questions that--because it concerns the fMRI facility here at IU--I would not be able to pursue without it, would be even better!

So, now that particular hurdle is out of the way, I've got to use this week to catch up on all the other things that I've been sandbagging while working on the grant proposal. Today I did a scientific peer review of a manuscript for a communication journal. I've been doing projects around the house and spending time with my family.

Tomorrow, I think we're going to the Indianapolis Zoo.