lunaticlabs

[lunaticlabs]

The things I carried

In the face of time, even rocks wear away to nothing. How many things will you love that just pop in and out of existence over the course of your life? I don’t mean people; I mean literal things. Photographs, stuffed animals, or mementos of things long past. Things with sentimental value rather than actual value. If I were to take an inventory of the things I own, most would have come into my…

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#academia #celebration #Education #graduate school #graduation #life #Memories #PhD #school #shoes #story #student #lifestyle

[lunaticlabs]

Into the uncharted

It seems only fitting to close the 365 days of academia project with one more post. It’s admittedly a bit overdue, but the transition from graduate school is a bit more rocky than I had anticipated. Isn’t that how all journeys are, though? I guess not really knowing what comes next has its appeal. After all, as a student, your trajectory is pretty much handed to you. But not every path is the…

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#academia #author #book #college #Disability #disabled #Education #PhD #school #student #university #writing

[lunaticlabs]

So you want a PhD: A how-to guide

Observe as the new student enters the PhD maze… You get a PhD, and you get a PhD; you ALL get a PhD!!!! Okay, it’s not quite that easy, and while the journey is tough (speaking from experience), it doesn’t have to be as overwhelming as it sometimes is for people. So how do you get a PhD, you may ask? Well, there’s no set path, and frankly, my advice is mostly tailored to the sciences in the…

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#academia #advice #college #Education #grad school #graduate school #guide #how-to #learning #PhD #school #science #student

[lunaticlabs]

The end of academia

Once upon a time there was a student. I don’t know where I’m going with this, I just really wanted to start out with once upon a time, because that’s how all good fairy tales begin and when you get to the end, they all lived happily ever after. Unfortunately, this isn’t the end of the story, just the end of the chapter really. To celebrate the end, let’s go back to the beginning. Or rather…

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#academia #achievement #college #Education #grad school #learning #PhD #PhDone #research #school #science #student #graduate school

[lunaticlabs]

The doctor is in, or AHHHHHH!!!!

Well, it’s official. I mean it’s TECHNICALLY been official for alike two weeks now, but I made it! So why the delay in making this post? I can explain, it’s been a rush… what else is new? But I almost didn’t make it, almost. So now I’m done and I’ve got to figure out what to do next. There’s a lot of “what ifs” going on right now, so there’s a lot to talk about and I already have half a dozen or…

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#academia #college #Education #Engineering #FINALLY! #neuroengineering #PhD #PhDone #research #school #science #student

[lunaticlabs]

The result

Actual photo of me finishing…. Well we did it. Go team! I was semi-officially awarded my PhD (I need some signatures to make it official, official). But it’s not the end, not quite. There’s still some work to be done and I want to make sure I hit all the boxes. In the Marines we always ended hard training with a strong finish, I’m hoping to channel some of that into the end of this journey. So a…

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#academia #college #defense #dissertation #Education #Engineering #grad school #graduate school #PhD #PhDone #school #student #graduating

[lunaticlabs]

Defense day

Five years. Five long, sometimes very painful years. The last six weeks (probably a bit more) have felt like a mad sprint for my life, but if you’re reading this then we’ve reached the final challenge, the defense. I was taught early on that a defense isn’t really an exam exactly, it’s a celebration of your accomplishments to get to this stage, I will tell you now it does NOT feel that way going…

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#academia #college #defense #dissertation #Education #graduating #learning #PhD #research #school #science #student

[lunaticlabs]

The final countdown...

What a week, long experiments, surprise experiments, way too much writing, but we’ve done it! Done what you ask, well let’s get right into where things are at the moment and some of the final things that need to happen. Because there’s a list, there’s always a list and when you’re getting ready to defend the list feels incredibly long and never ending! A quick recap for the week and what’s left…

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#academia #college #dissertation #Education #learning #neuroengineering #PhD #research #school #science #student

[lunaticlabs]

The end of the rope

How does the saying go? Give a person just enough rope to hang themselves? Well I definitely feel hanged. It’s been a stressful week and that’s saying something given the level of stress generally floating around here these days. Frankly, if it weren’t for the fact that I’m barely updating my blog as it is, I probably wouldn’t be spending this time writing, but I figure there are a lot of people…

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#academia #college #dissertation #Education #graduate school #learning #neuroengineering #PhD #school #science #student #writing

[lunaticlabs]

There was trouble, because we didn't make it double

If you want horrible and possibly dated Pokémon puns, I don’t have any. What I do have is a set of skills, skills that make me a nightmare for … well myself frankly and even more horrible possibly dated other puns that have been… taken? The time to graduation is coming, three weeks left, less than three weeks frankly, three weeks last Friday, so like 2.5 weeks-ish. Well have I got a story to…

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#academia #college #dissertation #Education #graduation #learning #neuroscience #PhD #research #school #science #student

[lunaticlabs]

Four weeks and counting!

Well okay to be honest not exactly four, less than four. Oh no, my defense is less than four weeks away. This feels a bit odd… but here we are I guess. It seems like I’m never going to finish, but there has been progress! Setbacks too for sure, but progress nevertheless! Since it’s so close and I’m in a huge panic ALL THE TIME! I guess (reluctantly…) we can discuss the progress that has been made…

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#academia #college #dissertation #Education #learning #neurology #neuroscience #PhD #research #school #science #student #graduate school #graduating

[lunaticlabs]

The final countdown

Well graduation is (hopefully) coming. There’s a long road between now and the big defense day, but the end is nigh! It feels weird getting to this point, but it’s also stressful because there’s still so much to get done I’m not sure it will happen. I have a feeling that others have felt the same way while they were wrapping up. So in the spirit of trying to update on a semi-regular schedule I…

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#academia #college #dissertation #Education #learning #neurology #PhD #school #science #student #writing

[lunaticlabs]

When DARPA calls... again?!

Once in a blue moon, once in a lifetime, a golden opportunity. sometimes it’s hard to put into words just how lucky you can truly be. Sometimes things just align right and looking back you can see all the little waves you made that, over time, built into something amazing. It’s been what feels like a lifetime since I started my education and for awhile it felt like I was going to go by unnoticed,…

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#academia #award #college #DARPA #Education #neuroengineering #neurology #PhD #school #science #student

[lunaticlabs]

Uncharted - A book chapter update

Well, this is it! The last update in the years long updates regarding my book chapter (here, here, here, and here), you know just to name a few of the previous times I’ve talked about it. Okay, I cannot promise this will be the last time I talk about it, but it is one of the reasons I was reminded that I should update the blog more often, at least every once and awhile. I mean, I’ve got like 5…

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#academia #book #college #Education #PhD #school #student #writing

[lunaticlabs]

The missing months

Well, there goes the project. Okay not really, progress doesn’t reset, it’s not all or nothing. So there’s a gap, I stepped away for a minute and boom it’s been a few months since I last wrote anything. It’s odd because it doesn’t feel that long. I almost got into the habit of telling myself that I would write about something as soon as I had something to write about. Well I’ve never been at a…

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#academia #college #Education #learning #neuroengineering #neuroscience #PhD #research #school #science #student #mental health

[lunaticlabs]

Universe 25 - A paradise lost

John Calhoun crouches within Universe 25 Utopia, depending on who you ask you almost certainly will get a different answer on what the perfect world would look like. No, not what the world COULD be, but what the perfect world would look like. If you could snap a finger and alter the very fabric of reality to create the perfect world, it would almost certainly look very different than the world…

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#academia #behavior #behavioral science #Education #experiment #history #John Calhoun #overpopulation #population density #research #science #universe 25

[lunaticlabs]

Charting the uncharted

Sure, I’m not completely sure when I’ll graduate, it’s still a bit of a mystery to be honest, but I’m hopeful and regardless of when I THINK it will happen, I need to plan for what comes next. So far there’s more options than I would’ve first thought and because of that, there’s a whole lot of stuff that needs to happen between now and when the big day comes. Which also means making choices about…

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#academia #career #college #dissertation #Education #learning #medicine #PhD #research #school #science #student