The Fun Never Ends :)

I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving has had a wonderful one with friends and family! For everyone else in the world, I hope that you also take some time to think about all the things you are thankful for!

This past week I did my "final final final" (hopefully) thesis edits. The post "I'm Done" did not included edits from the thesis editor. This is the final step. She edits primarily for formatting (not content) so that the theses are consistent with the ETD (electronic thesis and dissertation) guidelines. I was able to complete these edits in a few hours and have shared with Nancy for 1 last review from her. I will edit one last time according to Nancy's feedback then this "final final final" version MUST be submitted by THIS Friday.

With the thesis almost completely behind me, its time for another project. In order to graduate, I must complete a final project for my Independent Study in Jacquard weaving. This project inspired my 3 architects I admire most: Gaudi, Gehry and Graves. This week I am creating image boards for each designer. From these I will create 2 colorways. I hope to have fabrics in each colorway for each designer, for a total of 6 fabric designs. My goal is to accomplish this in 1 week! This will leave me with a week and a half to prepare these weaves in design software (EAT DesignScope) and weave on either the Staubli and ElTex. Ideally, I will work on the ElTex- which hasn't been used in at least 7 years. This will certainly come with a learning curve. I'm up for the challenge, but the timing is certainly not ideal. I'll power through what I can and keep you updated!

Day Dos in Mexico

Day 2 didn't start until 11am, which was very nice to get a normal amount of sleep. I slept until around 8, had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, then ventured around the hotel and surrounding blocks. It was a beautiful morning and a great opportunity to take pictures. I even ventured to the 6th floor smoking terrace and found my way to the helicopter pad! I was about 8 stories up, definitely one of the tallest buildings in the city. That morning, there was also a protest in the streets. I didn't figure out what for, but added a video.

Once I returned to BUAP, I listened to a speaker who focused on nonwovens and was a friend of my contact. It was then my turn again. I presented on 3D Spacer Fabrics for Automotive Upholstery and on the New Product Development Process through the Development of the Splinter Concept Supercar. I hadn't accounted well for the time it would take for translation, so didn't have an opportunity to present my thesis research at this time. It was necessary to formally close the Conference with a panel of Conference organizers and the College Director. The students were then asked if they'd like to hear my final presentation, and to my surprise, an overwhelming majority raised their hands- definitely a good feeling!

That night, also to my surprise, a neighboring University hosted a Fashion Show on BUAP's main campus. The show included collections created by the University's students ranging from high fashion dresses and trousers to ball gowns. This section of BUAP was in an old convent and absolutely beautiful. It was a bittersweet night as I had to bid farewell to my new friends, but with my new appreciation of Puebla, I hope to return in the near future!

Hola from Puebla, Mexico!

Beunas Noches!

This week I am honored to be attending and speaking at the "3er Congreso Ingineria Textil BUAP" (The 3rd Annual Textile Engineering Conference at Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla). I was invited to speak at this conference by the faculty when they discovered this blog in the summer. BUAP has a College of Engineering, and within this college, they have a Textile Engineering program. Also, Puebla used to be home to one of the world's largest textile industries and even has the oldest textile factory in all of Mexico (which is now a museum). Now, Puebla economy is primarily supported by the automotive industry. This is due in large part to the Volkswagen plant in the city. This is how the University recognized my studies in automotive textiles as a valuable addition to their conference.

To be honest, I did not know what to expect of this experience. I have had one primary contact at BUAP who certainly played a leading role in orchestrating my attendance at the Conference. Beyond information shared directly from this contact, and a few web searches, I still felt as though I knew very little about the University and Puebla. But for those of you who know me, or have been following this blog, you certainly know that I cannot pass-up an opportunity to travel and learn more about the global state of the industry. So I thought I'd give it a try.

After just 1 day of Conference, my expectations have been superseded and I am so pleasured to have been given this opportunity.

This will be a short trip. I spent all day on Tuesday traveling 12pm- 1:30am. Once I settled into my hotel room and connected with my contacts and family to assure them that I made it safely, I fell right asleep. But 7am came entirely too soon. After breakfast and a shower, my contact picked me up from the Hotel and took me to the University. He showed me around the entire College of Engineering and in many of the labs. He also introduced me to the program Director and the organizers of the Conference. All were very friendly! I then sat in on one of the other presenters, from Burlington Industries (a NC-based company) and then met with the translator and technical coordinator to prepare for my presentation. Today I presented about NC State University and the College of Textiles as well as an Introduction to the Automotive Textile Industry. All went well and the students were then given time to ask me questions. This allowed me the opportunity to learn more about their interests and experiences. Most seem interested in learning more about opportunities to study at the NC State College of Textiles for either undergraduate exchange, or post-graduate studies.

After speaking, I headed across town for an interview with an Automotive Textile company. We met in an old Textile Union (El Sindicato) building, once a theater, that has now been converted into a very nice restaurant. It was directly across from this building that the oldest textile facility in all of Mexico was located.

Traffic on the return from lunch was not good. But my BUAP contact kindly drove me to this meeting and back to the University. Along the way, he explained many of the buildings and showed be the Volcano! We returned to the University in time for 1 more speaker. This speaker focused on how to become an entrepreneur. He was very energetic, entertaining and charismatic! Unfortunately, since I do not speak Spanish, I had no idea what he was saying- yet I still enjoyed him.

Following today's conference, I went to dinner with my new amigos, which gave me an opportunity to walk around Downtown Puebla. ITS BEAUTIFUL! Puebla has a very European feel. The architecture is outstanding, the streets are clean, and the food is muy delicioso! This includes my first cow-tongue taco!- Mmmm! This was also a wonderful class to speak more with the students and faculty who accompanied me and learn about the rich history, culture, and the local cuisine of Puebla. My hotel is only a few short blocks from the center of downtown and already feels like home. But for tonight, I will sleep and prepare for another exciting day of Conference.

I'm Done!

Hello Everyone!

I hope all is well! So after 6 1/2 years of higher education and 11 months of thesis-specific research, I have finally become a Master...haha!

Last Tuesday, I successfully defended my Thesis and was able to make the November 6 submission deadline for the final paper. Since then I had a very busy weekend with dog-sitting, Homecoming, and helping my sister and husband at their new house, but most importantly, I was able to sleep! Even though my Thesis is done, there are still many things to do, but I just feel lighter as I take steps towards completing my next goals.

Since one of the objectives of this blog is to provide other graduate students with tips and insight based on my experience of this process, now might be a good time to explain what those final steps of thesis preparation are really like.

The Friday before my Defense, as I mentioned in the previous post, Nancy and I reviewed my presentation. She helped me clean-up slides. images and information, and this pushed me to complete the slides for the presentation early. This was a huge help in relieving much of the stress on the Defense day! To be honest, that day I enjoyed a 6-mile morning run and had time to look and feel refreshed and relaxed before the presentation. The truth is, on the day of the Defense, I feel that all graduate students should be able to achieve this sense of calm. For the first time, I knew what it was like to feel like a "master" of a subject. This is my research and my experience. It was nothing like presenting on a topic for class, which you have spent possibly a month researching. My research is now a part of my life. I couldn't wait to show-off what I had learned and was excited to answer questions.

Once the Defense was complete, and I took a sigh of relief, the real insanity began! I did not find out until that day that I needed to submit my final Thesis (with committee edits) within 24 hours of the Defense! Woah! I guess it was written in the guidelines, but, if you have experienced this or reviewed the guidelines, you certainly know how confusing all the dates can be! The only date set in my mind was Nov. 6- to successfully Defend and Submit my Thesis. So for your future reference, take note:

NC State Master's Students...Your Final Thesis Draft, in PDF format, with Committee Edits...is due 24 hours after your Defense date!

For those of you who are wondering why this might be difficult, you have clearly not prepared a paper according to academic of professional guidelines (yet). I was VERY fortunate to have limited edits from my committee. This was due in LARGE part to keeping them significantly informed throughout the process. However, the hang-ups were on cleaning up citations, page numbers, spell check.... Sure, not much "brain-power" is involved during these steps, but it will suck the energy right out of you when working with a 178-page, 40,000-word document. From my Defense completion on Tuesday at 2pm until Wednesday night, it was pure adrenaline rush! The calm of Tuesday morning was gone and I realized that all this work, and pushing to meet this semester's deadlines, could be ruined by poor judgement in how long "clean-up" would take. And another heads' up, I have very reliable, high-speed Internet and computer, yet upload for the Thesis Draft document took over an hour! So that was time spent staring at the computer screen, pray and begging that it would go through. Some how, some way- with lots of support from Nancy- we were able to submit the proper pdf.

There is one last thing I must clear up. Although I am calling this my Final Thesis....its not...there is 1 more stage. This submission date has put my Thesis (as well as thousands of other graduate students) in the hands of the University Thesis Editor. At this stage, the Committee has approved all edits, primarily regarding content. The Thesis Editor will respond with any punctural, grammatical, or structural errors (NOT content). The absolute final submission date will then be Friday, December 4th (the last day of classes). I will certainly let you know how this stage goes.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement! Please let me know if you have any questions by commenting on this post or emailing me at: autotexdesign@gmail.com

This is it.

I hope everyone who celebrates Halloween/All Saints' Day/Day of the Dead/Fall Festivities had a wonderful weekend! As well as those of you who do not celebrate this holiday. I always enjoy Halloween around campus because the exchange and international students, experiencing their first, are so excited to partake, take pictures, or just sit back and watch. For those of you who have had a chance to do this, I hope you enjoyed!

Well...THIS TUESDAY is my THESIS DEFENSE! I can't believe it! I have completed my presentation, with help from Nancy and a practice session. It was of course twice as long as it needs to be...but with focused editing, I should be able to make the 30-minute time frame.

And even more than that...THIS FRIDAY my THESIS IS DUE! Completely due (the almost final draft) to the thesis editor, who does not edit content but may help put on any finishing touches in preparation for publishing.

There is still much to be done:

Abstract

Works Cited and In-Text Citations

Figure Numbers

and the Committee Draft 2 and 3 edits

But: I think I can, I think I can.

I just can't believe the end is so near!