ChapterZero

I (discombobulatedly) talked to Owdhadi about a couple of projects he’s involved in: one is on elasticity cloaking, the other one is on using stochastic ballistic motion to harness waste energy. Of course, the former involves PDEs, and the latter involves stochastics; both sound cool. I was pleasantly surprised. However, he recommends that I find my research advisor and work with him or her for the summer, although if I decide to, he left the option open of working with him. I see his point: he doesn’t have the money to take on another student, and it’s better if I start looking for an advisor sooner rather than later, to find someone I can work with and who can support me; the summer could serve as a lower pressure time to get acquainted with my advisor’s idiosyncracies and determine what I need to know to work with him or her. I’m going to do some research over the weekend– look at some webpages, skim through some papers– and see if there’s anyone doing anything interesting. Hopefully by Monday I’ll have my eye on someone(s).

After speaking with him, since the subject of financial support came up, I remembered that I’m going to be TAing and taking 4 courses next semester. That’s going to be a pain.