Statement of Purpose

I don't remember how much about myself I've included here, but I remember seeing some statements of purpose from international students and finding them somewhat helpful but wishing I had one from an american to reference. So, for the future classes, this is my statement of purpose which I used when applying for graduate school. I got in everywhere I applied, including Stanford where I am currently studying, so it musn't be too poor. I left the grammer errors in - this was something I whipped out in a day or two, and despite what most of the graduate enterance websites suggest, it's content that counts, not impeccable grammer. So, here is an example of a successful graduate school Statement of Purpose.

Statement of Purpose

A### ######

I think in questions. Until a few years ago, I thought there were experts to answer my questions. For better or worse, I now have questions which are categorically hard to answer. I was recently introduced to stylolites (pressure-solution anti-cracks in limestone) and as always a number of questions have come to mind. Has anyone made a stylolite in the lab? Is it possible? Why not? The literature available to me suggests several mechanisms of formation, but ambiguity remains. No answers have been forthcoming from professors, the library or Google, so I’ve had to put my exploration on the back burner for now. The sad truth is that in many cases I can no longer expect an expert to have the answers, so I find my own.

My path to geophysics has been winding. I studied physics and loved to learn the fundamentals of what ‘stuff’ is and why it fundamentally behaves the way it does. But I can’t hold a handful of positrons and I haven’t been in the same room with superfluid helium. Interesting stuff to be sure, but not the kind of thing I bump into regularly. Geology, on the other hand, is very physical and visible, especially here in Utah. At times it is just as difficult to hold in my hand, or see in person but the magnitude and practical importance of geology makes it feel more real. The place where these two fields intersect, Geophysics, is where it all fits for me. The science is strong and applications are real, whether it’s modeling reservoir hydraulics or measuring stress in a transform fault. It’s that combination that appeals to me – a physical foundation with a tangible application. This pattern is common in geophysical resource exploration, though other topics which involve the related methods are also appealing.

I have recently attended a number of presentations by graduate students in the Geology department, and while their research is removed from that which I have done, it appears my experiences with modeling wave propagation through various materials have prepared me for the task of graduate level research. When I enter graduate school I will have worked with Dr. #### ###### for two years on topics of cancer detection and Martian soil characterization using computer models of ultrasonic and electromagnetic waves to detect changes in particle distribution. That partnership, to date, has resulted in two publications and one which is still in the works. In addition to my work with Dr. ######, I have also spent time collecting data alongside forestry and rangeland graduate students which allowed me to see the way they organize their field work and manage the demands of graduate school.

My education, in addition to winding, has been intentionally broad. I have taken a variety of courses outside my major or minor to prepare myself to continue learning and studying in and out of school, and so that the knowledge base is there to be called upon. I am seeking a PhD so that I will be prepared to continue doing applied research throughout my career. The chance to become an expert on a particular field, formation or model is very appealing. I am seeking a PhD for the opportunity and ability to continue to answer my own questions when other sources have been exhausted. And perhaps one day I’ll figure out how to make stylolites in my basement.

A plug for Edgehill Apts in Logan

I'm out here in Palo Alto now, and was thinking about all the apartments I've had over the past few years (15+). I decided I ought to plug my favorite.

Edgehill Apartments in Logan, Utah really stand out. I was careful in choosing my off campus housing in Logan and I couldn't have been happier. My sisters were up there too, so I've seen the whole process for a lot of housing in the Logan area. Edgehill is well priced, well maintained, close to campus and has unbeatable landlords. On more than one occation we'd report a problem in the morning and whatever it was (doorknob, water heater...) was repaired by the time I got back from school. Utilities are included which saves headaches and roommate anxiety. The rooms are fairly small, but private and well equipped with a large desk, comfortable bed and lots of shelves. And my apartment, at least, had a showerhead high enough that I could actually stand under it - why builders/bath designers can't figure out that the population isn't 5'4" anymore is beyond me.

If you're looking for housing in Logan, I strongly recommend Edgehill. My apartment's address was 675 E 700 N, about halfway down the hill beyond the stoplight at the west edge of campus.

Wyoming

I've been out here in Wyoming w/ nothing but stolen internet access for the last few months. Working for the BLM, making sure the sage chickens (a game bird) don't get put on the endangered species list. Brilliant. Lots of brilliance here, as always.

The point is, I've spent a few weeks working with a gal on the veg crew and she has an excellent brain. She seems genuinely capable of independent thought. Which isn't to say she hasn't swallowed some liberal rhetoric, or to say that I entirely agree with what she believes. Just that her brain has enough extra cycles to ponder something beyond the humdrum of daily life. It's been refreshing to hear new ideas and new perspectives which can be logically defended and supported. I've enjoyed this summer because she's been open to my questioning and prodding. I don't have permission to publish her thoughts here - so I won't, but critical thinking and reasoning skills are something I consider to be dearly lacking in our society. Something which I have found ever so Refreshing these few months.

Two other things. In Logan, where I went to school, my stock Jeep Cherokee was one of the more off-road capable vehicles. In Wyoming, a lifted 3/4 ton truck is standard. And when the roads are wet, a truck like that is a necessity.

Second - OS-X sucks. And Apples omission of the Home, Del, and End keys was a serious one for all serious computer users. Yes, I know there are shortcuts, but I use those three keys more often than I use Q, P, or Z. Come on now... I bought a new MacBook Pro 13" uber nice, and used it solid for a couple weeks. Now it's back on Ebay, and I'm switching back to Windows 7, which is by far my favorite system (though KDE is making good progress).

One linux convert

Over the last week, I've converted my sister from Windows to Linux. She brought me her computer with a nasty virus infection - some kind of recent rootkit. Of course, Kasperski and I removed a slew of viruses just a few months ago - so either my best efforts at disinfection failed, or she was reinfected immediately after Kasperski's expiration. Either way, it didn't seem like a good option to clean it off again, knowing that for one reason or another, she seemed prone to bugs.

So, I convinced her to let me install Linux. I stuck with Linux Mint 7, RC 1, so that she would have a bit of gloss, and a good out of the box experience for someone knows little about computers in general. I did a side by side installation, so that if she HAD to use Windows for some reason, she would still have it available. There were a number of issues that arose which I'd love to see addressed to improve the new user experience.

First, in Linux Mint, the wireless didn't work right off the bat. I had to find the Restricted Driver Manager, or whatever it was called, and enable the proprietary driver manually. An issue I've dealt with before, but one she had no idea about. I'd like to see the proprietary driver come on automatically, with a notification that she could ignore.

Second, I didn't migrate any of her data from the windows installation due to limited hard drive space (and I REALLY didn't want to have any of her data disappear). This left her data on the NTFS partition. The first thing she did was change the wallpaper to something new - which promptly disappeared on restart. The NTFS volume was not mounted automatically when Mint started so I downloaded some program that modified fstab (pysd or something like that) which worked for the automounting. The program was not newbie friendly and it took several iterations before I had the partition mounting AND giving her permission to modify her files. This seems like an easy fix to me - automatically mount all installed drives on start and give the user (particularly if there is only one) editing privileges. Particularly when the wallpaper is stored on one of them.

Third, and I hate to say this, but I reset the Firefox Google search plugin to a standard one, and turned off the Firefox addon that customized the custom search page. Unlike the rest of the interface, that search page seemed rather cluttered and I wanted to make the transition for her as transparent as possible so that she'd stick with it. I'd say that page could use some attention from the art team - though in the end it may be a conflict of targeting. There are users, such as myself, who could use some of those the extras - new and inexperienced computer users, not so much.

Fourth, and more for my benefit than hers, the installer failed to resize the NTFS partition that windows was installed on - my guess is the rootkit had something to do with it. Regardless, if she had been the one doing the installation, it would have been a showstopper.

Fifth, I forgot about mintDesktop (again) and had a heck of a time getting the trash bin onto the desktop. Adding a description to that program so it would show up when I searched for something to adjust the desktop icons would help. Or stick a link into the appearance section of the control panel.

Other than that, the transition went well. She has been using it extensively since and hasn't had any serous problems, despite not really knowing how to use the system. Linux still isn't the kind of thing I'd recommend to just anyone - particularly if they had to take the default system and run with it. The installer page with partition info was a touch confusing for me - all kinds of colors, and it was my third time through before I realized I could 'resize' the big NTFS partition by dragging the bounding marker. It was the same time I figured out what the two colored bars were referring to - one being the current config, and one being the manual config. A little label would have been nice. Or a bigger label if I missed it.

She's happy - says it seems more polished than Windows [XP]. And the programs have been great - easy to learn/adapt to. The Wild Mint theme was a hit (bright blue and black). For me, I was awfully happy to have removed a bot from the internet.

Thoughtless thoughts on crime

Is a thirty year jail sentence for 60 year old man analogous to a terminal illness? I think so. And I don't think it's reasonable for me to pay his life support bill. Can anyone come out of prison after twenty years and lead a normal life after? Probably - but I suspect the majority fail.

Why do other countries have lower incarceration rates?
Jail should be only for violent offenders, possibly repeat non-violent offenders, after fines, public service, house arrest, yattayatta, have failed. If all those have failed, jail is also likely to fail - so jail should lead to the chair. The chair never fails to prevent future misbehavior.

Sentence of 20+ years = death after 5 years for appeal process, assuming original plea was innocent.

Adjust laws so that punishment amounts are modified by inflation - 1year in prison != $2500 fine though they're grouped together in Utah law. Theft above $50 is a felony in California (perhaps reasonable 150 years ago when someone last touched the law...)

Absolute silence about crimes should be maintained until verdict has been reached. It is inappropriate for someone innocent to be exposed to that kind of social degradation - an accusation is every bit as damning as a conviction.

Driving drunk is serious issue - but punishing people for being drunk is ill advised (they were drunk after all). More effective to discourage bars from letting patrons drive drunk. Perhaps bars aren't cause of drunk driving though - other ways and places to get drunk. Would need to see numbers before making bars liable for actions of drunk patrons they unleash on the populous. Point is, this could be generalized. Don't enable/encourage destructive behavior.


Oh yeah. I've already radically changed what I want in a computer. No surprise there - generally, I think I'll just wait until I get into grad school to see what I actually need, though one way or another, I'm going to have two computers when it's done. That's one thing that I'm sure about - so that when I break one (frequent), I can use the other one to fix it and do work with.

I hate computers

I really do. I hate the hardware problems, the flimsy plastic, the sharp edges, the shiny yet brainless design, the noisy fans, the electrical shocks, fried chips, obsolete hard drives, shadows in every display and bad memory.

The software is just as bad. I hate the blue screen of death, the sudden, unexpected and absolute frozen screens. I hate the lack of options, the excess of options, the failure of simple tasks, the lack of clean program removal, the corruption of perfectly good data, and the ever present networking errors.


Yet I love the stuff. I want to unload the piece of junk I'm typing this on and replace it with a nearly identical one with fewer problems... Specifically, a matte 13" screen, a larger battery, a slightly faster processor (2.0 Ghz Centrino Duo or comparable), a secondary graphics card with a digital output, and a quality wireless card. A dock would be great. If you know what I'm looking for let me know.

Favorite things

Not that this is especially important, but here are a few of my favorite things (and a new one) -

Hot showers - defiantly number one, one of the two things I think everyone deserves in this life.

Cool Soft beds - number two, the other thing I think everyone deserves. Most people would agree with me on this one.

Yellow Corn chips, with bean/corn salsa - I've liked corn chips for years and traditionally ate them w/ hot sauce, but have been trying a variety of salsas (mango is overrated) to expand the experience. So far the favorite is bean/corn salsa, though a fresh tomato and onion is good too.

Boylans Cane Cola - I don't like Pepsi, and I don't like Coke, but Boylan's is awesome. Unfortunately I can't properly describe the flavor, but I can say that it's quite sweet, with much less fizz than most sodas. But it's got a smooth balance of flavor that I appreciate. A new favorite thing.

Those are a few of my favorite things. Plenty more.