Yesterday Ben successfully defended his dissertation, "Time-Resolved Measurements of Charge Carrier Dynamics and Optical Nonlinearities in Narrow-Bandgap Semiconductors." Yay!!! Not only did he successfully defend, he did so with 'flying colors' (that's what his committee members told me after they deliberated), and his advisor told me I should be very proud of what an exceptional job Ben has done during his time at the University of Iowa.
The defense started with the committee clearing out the room and discussing Ben's performance over the last 6 years privately. Then the audience was invited back in while Ben gave an hour long presentation highlighting the significance of the work he has done. He did an incredible job presenting-- cool as a cucumber, extremely confident. He struck me as having the composure of a visiting lecturer/professor more than a student. We (the audience) were asked if we had any questions once he was done, and when we did not, we were excused. Then the committee went down the line for 30 minutes asking questions about his dissertation. After they had asked their questions, they asked Ben to step out (which is when he received a giant hug from his not-so-patiently waiting wife) and then right back in again. His committee exited the room first, and they were all smiling and quick to tell me that he had passed. When I got back into the room Ben and Tom were talking about his work and his time as Tom's advisee, it was very heart-warming and I'm sure bittersweet for both of them. They have really enjoyed working together over the past 6 years. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of Ben (I know....fail...)-- but I did get a couple of quick pictures of the room before things got started.
One of the committee members was out of the country and videoconferenced in. This was hysterical to me because if reminded me so much of Sheldon 2.0 from Big Bang Theory. I wanted to put a t-shirt on Michael 2.0 as he sat at the table.
Waiting to connect with Michael 2.0....
Congratulations Ben, I could not be more proud of you and all that you do :)
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