After my engagement epiphany, the rest of the day with Bill Jacobus passed quickly. I could hardly wait to get back to Ann, all the while galvanizing in my head how to pitch a move to Toledo to Ann, including how this would be a solid step in our relationship.

I still had a one-hour slide show to give and Bill and I talked right up until it was time to give it. We set up the slides and I went through it almost on autopilot. It was exhilarating to present my data to such a distinguished audience, which was made all the more satisfying by the very warm reception it received. People seemed to agree with what I was saying and I was reveling in the moment. This was the first time I had talked at length outside of Michigan State about my work and it was being welcomed with open arms. I had a chance to see what others thought of my work and got a great response. My data and I were ready for primetime, is what I concluded from the feedback I received.

All this positive feedback made me want to get to Paris and Renee’s lab quickly, so I stepped up my efforts to learn French. I was already taking French lessons, and now I purchased some French tapes. I pretty much stopped listening to music when walking around with headphones on and listened to the tapes instead. I had a second set of tapes in my car. This passive learning of words and phrases kind of saturated me with the language. I preferred the tapes that came without books because I would usually listen to a tape when a book was not convenient. I didn’t have a lot of time to do homework or read assignments. I just wanted to try to force words and phrases into my head that I could use when I got to Paris. I listened to the tapes and rarely tried to say the words out loud. I practiced speaking French when I made it to my French class, which was less often than I would have liked. It always seemed as if NMR time would open up for me on the days I had to go to French class. The choice was between getting time on the NMR, which was required for me to graduate, or going to learn a language which I might need after I graduated. So, I usually went to work on the NMR and thus missed many French classes. But, while working in the NMR lab I often would listen to the French tapes, in a weak effort to make up for missing class.

As I struggled through my language lessons I continued my thesis writing. After getting computer-typed versions of my thesis draft, I would proof them and make corrections on screen. Once I was finished with these corrections, I would give sections and chapters to Dr. Dillon. Dr. Dillon was a very good writer and a stickler for grammar and punctuation. Science writing for a thesis is relatively unique in that it generally uses the passive voice, but in the first person because you are telling the thesis committee about your work. Often research papers are written by teams and such papers are written in the third person. Since writing my Ph.D. thesis I have read dozens of other theses and they can be very tough going.

A Ph.D. thesis committee is a group of usually about 5 experts in your field (two in England) who read your thesis and verbally quiz you on it at the thesis defense. These people have the power of conferring the degree or not and can make or break a career of a scientist. Choosing a thesis committee is therefore an exercise worthy of much consideration and lengthy discussions with your thesis advisor. It would be eminently practical and logical to interview a prospective thesis committee member to make sure they had philosophies as yours before inviting them onto the committee. This is not done however because their expertise and knowledge is assumed to be world class and completely objective. Objectivity is important because everyone has preconceived notions and a thesis defense is not a time to change someone’s mind. The department of physiology required two committee members from outside the department and Dr. Dillon and I agreed on two obvious committee members (him and Ron Myer). For the other committee members I wanted people who would understand the thesis but who had no axe to grind concerning their previously published works. So I looked at several of their publications and talked to previous students from their lab. Dr. Dillon and I produced a hit list of key scientists that I investigated and put into a prioritization list based on what I found out before ever talking to them. Some of the committee members I was able to interact with and talk to for non-thesis reasons and I was able to gauge their desirability as potential committee members.

I presented my list to Dr. Dillon and he agreed to it. On the list were three first tier committee members to match up with Drs. Dillon and Myer with three replacements. One replacement for each person in the tier one group. When I asked the committee members I asked them upfront if they would be interested in serving on the committee and briefly told them what my thesis was about. I tried to be complimentary about their work and learn from their experience. Committing to being a thesis committee member is a big job that requires a lot of time and effort, and I made sure they knew I understood the significance of the request. Two of the committee members said yes when in asked them immediately and one said no because he was retiring early. I asked him if he thought my replacement person was a good alternate and he said that she would have been someone he would have suggested anyway. I felt good about that and reported to Dr. Dillon before asking her. He agreed and I quickly confirmed the 5 members of my thesis committee. With them in place the job of writing the thesis galvanizes because the thesis is written for those 5 people to read. Their opinion is the only opinion that matters.