The Public Defense

About a week and a half ago, Nathan defended his dissertation to his doctoral committee. When they passed him, that's when he technically completed his degree.

However, Harvard has a nice tradition of having two separate defenses: one private (with your committee) and one public (which anyone can attend). The advantage of this system over having only one defense is that your friends and family members aren't there if you fail! And although nearly no one fails because no one's advisor would let them get that far if they thought you weren't going to pass, not having your family and friends at such an already stressful event does take some of the pressure off.

However, I do remember that after Caleb defended at MIT, his committee introduced him to the crowd by saying, "I'd like to present Dr. Hug!" And that is a pretty neat moment, I think.

But although I wasn't present the moment Nathan became "Nathan Benesh, Ph.D.," I do like Harvard's private-then-public defense idea, because, as Nathan's advisor pointed out when he introduced Nathan, the public defense then becomes a sort of celebration. You've already passed, and now you get to tell everyone what you did. Hooray!

Last Monday, Jane and I attended Nathan's public defense. I'd actually never heard Nathan give a talk, so it was kind of fun for me in that respect, especially since he did such a good job. As he gave an overview of his research, I was following along pretty well and feeling pretty proud of myself for understanding what he was talking about. But then he got into the quantitative nitty-gritty of the stuff, and for a while I was in the "smile and nod" mode. Luckily for me, Jane needed attention about that time (bad time for a drippy diaper, my girl!), and I was glad I didn't miss something I otherwise would have understood. :) After the talk, there was a champagne reception, and everyone present signed the mat of a framed certificate for Nathan, commemorating the occasion.

Here's a picture of Nathan and the first slide of his presentation, which gives the title of his dissertation. I would have taken pictures of some of the neat figures, but I didn't want to be the kind of quasi-embarrassing wife who is in the back snapping pictures the whole time.

Here is Nathan's advisor, John Shaw. In addition to being a stellar teacher/speaker, researcher, and administrator, he has always done a fantastic job of being an objective and helpful advisor. He also has a really cute family. We will see them this week, because he and his wife are having everyone over for dinner primarily to celebrate Nathan's graduation, which is very kind.

And just for kicks, here's a picture of Noah and Nathan Robinson playing outside the restaurant we went to yesterday after Jane's dedication at church (which I'll share more about later when I get the video loaded). Those boys sure do love to play together.