It is now official. I am now a certified quack doctor, too LOL. I wrote about this project here.They graduated me last night.
I read somewhere that anyone who specializes in pure maths must be a little loco or winds up that way. I knew there was something wrong with me when I accepter my Uni's scholarship 7 years ago.
The trip has not been easy. There were several moments when I felt very close to aborting the project. Also, I do not know why, but looks like whatever I write attracts controversy. What can I says, such is (my) life, to quote Ned Kelley.
Last year my Prof and I wrote a paper based on my research. We submitted it to 3 international conferences. All the blind reviewers rejected the paper. They did not understand it. Then we submitted it to another international conference which turned out (we did not know at that time) to have a much lower pass rate. The reviewers were a lot more stringent. Not only did they pass our paper, they even gave it the Best Paper Award.
The same happened when examiners examined my thesis. One wanted it resubmitted, the other one loved it and wanted it passed with his suggestions. This needed a third opinion, an adjudicator had to be consulted to resolve the dead lock. They got a heavy duty professor from Cornell University to re-examine the thesis. I had to write a defense. He came back passing the thesis without any modifications required. He also somewhat chided the negative examiner for his opposition and also the positive one, for his suggestions. The professor believe the thesis should have been judged on its own merits and not what people might do had they been writing the (my) thesis.
Well that is what happens in academia. Some might find your work an absolute junk or the greatest thing since slice bread.
I thank the Lord it is over and for his answering the prayers of those who prayed with and for me. Thank you to those of you who prayed.
My soul blesses the Lord.
I end with the motto of my uni : ancora imparo, I am still learning.
26 comments:
I've been following your posts over on beggarsall, and now I have an occasional look in here to.
Congratulations on your quacktorate.
I thought you were an engineer?
Like the old, and rather bad joke.
Whats the difference between an engineer and a mathematician?
An engineer sees mathematics as a rough description of whats going on in the world.
A mathematician sees the world as a rough description of whats going on in mathematics.
Anyway, congratulations on your achievement, and this blog is an interesting read.
Daniel.
Lito, my dear brother, congrats!
Congratulations!
Congrats, Dr. Lito!
Must have been a lot of hard work.
You've earned it, by the sound of it.
Dear Kuya,
Congratulations! ;-D
The tradition at some schools is to kneel for the award, except for the doctorate, which earns a handshake instead. You are now one of us, the gesture says.
I was told, "PhDs are a dime a dozen." I have been to many graduations and the smallest number of graduates has always been the PhD group.
I was also told about the unemployment of PhDs. I pointed out they were the least unemployed of all groups.
One minister said, "You are over-educated." I asked, "Is that possible in theology?"
I know I could not do your math work, LP. I am very impressed. Your scientific precision has a positive influence on your theological reflections.
LPC, my heart felt congratulations. I am very happy for you.
Numbers 6:24-26, "The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."
In Christ,
Brett
Dr. Cruz,
Our hearty congratulations to you brother.
We rejoice with you.
(And an apology from me - I thought it was tonight!)
Your pastor (and privileged to be so),
Pr. Brett
Pr. Brett, Pr. Mark and Pr. Will,
Thank you for your well wishes.
I appreciate your greetings.
LPC
Daniel,
That is funny. Einstein said we won't be doing research if we already know what we are doing.
My undergrad was in maths but after graduation I switched to IT only because there is more jobs in that field and I had to support my young family Thus went to software engineering and have been so for many years. However maths and philo has always been my favorite. So even when I did the doctorate program, I chose to go through IT but specialize in theoretical comp sci, only because once again there is more job possibilities there so I was couching my research under computing wings though it was purely mathematical logic in discipline.
Thanks for dropping by,
LPC
J.K.Jones/A.S.
Thank you for your well wishes too.
God bless,
LPC
Pr. Greg/ B.M.
I appreciate your greetings. Thank you.
which earns a handshake instead. You are now one of us, the gesture says
That is what I sense, it is really more a right of passage than anything else. That is what I felt, they received me as one of them. It is some kind of id card earning the right to be heard. That is the closest I could put it.
Oh for this year there were only 12 of us out of the several hundreds who graduated.
God bless,
LPC
Stan Hauerwas called the PhD the "union card" of writing about theology. You have joined the union, endured the hazing, and won kudos for the work. That is great.
New title for your post - The Journey Has Begun.
Pr. Greg.
I wanted to ask for your experience.
From what I can tell, no one I know who has done this venture came out like it was a walk in the part. All people I have met incurred making some hefty sacrifices. Everyone I know came out with scars and scratches.
I can enumerate mine, I could not get another job somewhere around the world because my thesis, prof and uni tied me to Melbourne. I missed some opportunities.
Then I get a comment from friends, "what did you do this for, it won't give you lots of money" - I mumbled, it was not about the money.
I will use your title post.
Thanks,
LPC
Here it is dangerous to get too far from the uni during the dissertation. I finished when there was no Internet, so I drove 50 miles to get to the Notre Dame library and also to see professors. I knew far too many who failed to complete the degree for various reasons. The education was invaluable for comparative dogmatics. I did it to get my union card to publish in theology. Kurt Marquart said via Herman Otten that he wished he had finished his degree. The teaching job called him away. It cost me lost wages at the time, but I am free to teach online. Denomination posts are strictly political among the Lutherans and reserved for apostates or the spineless. Online schools have changed the opportunities.
Pastor Jackson states, "Denomination posts are strictly political among the Lutherans and reserved for apostates or the spineless." Yes, and they worship and serve the created more than the Creator.
Congratulations, LPC!
(say Doc... I've got this ringing in my ears when I stand on my head...what should I do about it?)
B.M.
Just reading my devotionals today, and I got to Lk 16:15.
LPC
Steve,
Thanks for the greeting.
Err you got some ringing in your ears when you stand on your head?
I got the same problem but let me know if you got it cured.;-)
LPC
Pr. GJ,
You have joined the union,
BTW. My uni has a very moving ritual. You do not just get a handshake.
When you walk to the chancellor, you hand over your hood and he places it on your shoulders, i.e. dresses you up. Looks you in the eye and says to you "put on your hat", gives you your degree and shakes your hand.
It is very powerful gesture, in a way he is saying - you have become one of us, you are now a member of our fraternity.
My prof was in the platform as an observer, seated somewhere behind my seat. As I passed in front of him, I tipped my hat to him. He nodded and smiled.
It was specially heart rending for me.
LPC
Congrats Dr St Lito!
God bless you LP! I like your picture. Math is good, although nothing will take away your faith in God.
In Christ,
from WELS church lady
D.C.
Thank you for your best wishes.
People do not understand why the fuss I am making about this. This is pretty meaningful to me, I spent 7 years on this with each week meeting my thesis professor.
That 7 year period was froth with misunderstandings, missed opportunities, missed income possibilities and missed bonding time and service to those in need.
I think I should be forgiven for being a bit emotional, no?
LPC
Dear Church Lady.
Thank you for the best wishes.
Math is good, although nothing will take away your faith in God
The Lord is merciful, he knew I was being silly when I got into this program, so I dedicate it all back to him.
The project made me get down on my knees and pray. I am not under any illusion who passed me, it was not my examiners, it was Him.
God bless,
LPC
Dear Lito,
I am self taught boolean algebra because of my TRS-80 radio shack computer in 1980. I taught myself machine code. Then I turned around and taught it to someone else on an Apple 2. The disticntion between software and hardware convinced me of the mind-body distinction that I find in Scripture. There are many who believe psudoscience such as artifical inteligence. But becuase of my background in computers I know that there is no such thing and a computer that can "learn to learn". But we can learn to learn by the grace of God.
Congrats on your Phd. God bless you. You are a great brother and I pray for you all the time. You have blessed me in many ways. You look great in you picture. I love you. You will turn the world upsidedown with your knowledge. You already have.
In Christ Jesus,
Jim Cronfel
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