Journey to the Ph.D. – My conference presentation in San Francisco!

As some of you may know, my journey to attaining my Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering has been pretty simultaneous with my natural hair journey. I started my program back in Fall 2008 and it would be an understatement to say that it has been quite the learning experience over the past 4 years. As my educational journey has progressed, I've been getting more requests to share my experiences, so I've decided to start sharing more of that here!

One of the reasons I've been a little MIA for the past several months is because I had been preparing for my first oral presentation on my research at a national engineering conference, which took place this month! I had attended engineering conferences before and had even presented a poster during a poster session, but I had never before had the opportunity to present my research before a significant number of people representing engineering faculty and graduate students from all over the U.S. and even abroad! Needless to say, I was extremely excited about this opportunity but it certainly took a lot of work running the experiments, analyzing the results and fine-tuning the presentation to be ready for the conference.One of the other main highlights of this opportunity was the fact that the conference took place in San Francisco, CA!! I had never visited before, so I was grateful for the chance to explore on my down-time during the week of the conference.When I arrived, I quickly became acquainted with the steep streets, breathtaking landscapes and beautiful architecture of San Francisco...not to mention, miles of walking and navigating public transportation *smile* . I fell in love with the city quickly and truly enjoyed walking downtown and throughout the bay area, while exploring all of the different shops and off-chain restaurants.

My presentation went extremely well and I know I have God to thank for that! Talking to people with different scientific backgrounds is always rewarding because it offers you a fresh perspective on your research. I received a lot of great feedback and the experience certainly was a huge motivator as I continue along in this journey.I was able to relax for a bit after my presentation and I used this time to visit the breathtaking Muir Woods and the island of Sausalito (pictures don't do those places justice!). It decided to rain the ENTIRE week I was there, but I didn't let that hurt my explorations too much : )

When I shared that I'd be giving this presentation, MANY of you reached out to me with kind and encouraging words and I sincerely thank you for that!! Please believe me when I say that I do not take your support for granted at all. I read and appreciate every kind word that comes my way. 

Love ya!

*Mae*