So, how did it go?
As I implied in my last entry, today was the day I finally defended my thesis.
Defending the thesis basically consists of giving a presentation and then being asked questions questions about it by a council/jury.
The jury had 3 members. The first was Paty Rayón, the director of the masters program and also my thesis adviser; Bárbaro Ferro, a really really good teacher from Cuba who happens to be married to Paty Rayón and Alvaro de Albornoz, a very tough but very good A.I. teacher. I chose to specialize my masters in A.I. in part because of him.
Most of my family (all but nephew and one of my sisters) came to watch. It's the first time they (except the sis that did go) see me give a presentation.
So I gave my presentation... I was given 30 minutes and I must've used about... 33?
That's not a bad thing, the head of the jury himself (Alvaro de Albornoz) told me yesterday "At some point the head of the jury --he wasn't 100% sure it was going to be him-- will say >>You have 5 minutes<<, don't be afraid to take 10 if you need to".
After that came the Q&A section. It probably took 15 minutes or less. They asked good questions, I never got the feeling from any of them that they hadn't liked or "didn't buy" what I was saying. They were curious about specifics of some things, wondered why I did or didn't do things one way or another or had suggestions.
Of course questions by the adviser were mostly designed to make the work look good or to cover things I didn't cover in the presentation. That's why she can't be head of the jury =P
After that we were asked to leave while they deliberated. My family gave me some feedback then... They loved the presentation, they said I looked very secure of myself, calm and more importantly that it was very clear. They said even they understood, even though some parts were rather technical.
A short time after we left, one of the jurors came out and asked if we had a blue pen (for some reason), we didn't so he left to find one. It took him longer to find a blue pen than for them to make a decision. We were called inside.
I had to stand on the front while the head of the jury spoke, he said something like "This jury was assembled to decide about granting the degree of..." yadda yadda yadda... "The jury decided to grant you the degree unanimously".... "The jury thinks you're a perfect candidate for a PhD and would like to encourage you to get one. You're more than welcome to get it here (in this school), but since you're going to the U.S. you shouldn't let the chance pass and get it there"
After that each of them gave me a handshake and a hug and the session was adjourned. They stayed behind for awhile to talk to me, I introduced them to my family, they shared their experiences with them, etc... By the end Bárbaro and Alvaro left and only Paty stayed behind. At some point she had really watery eyes.
Paty asked me to make two more small changes to the thesis before I send it to print and to be bind into a hard cover. Just a paragraph and an extra figure she'd like to see there.
Eventually we left. We went to a French restaurant to celebrate It's a really fancy and rather expensive place. It was great, the place has a great feel to it and it just needed timduru to be perfect. As is usually the case with exotic cuisines in Mexico, though; they're well aware not everyone likes French food, so they had a few choices. I actually got Pasta Promotoro (sp?). It was yummy. I had Creme Brulèe for desert. My other sister joined us there (we made the reservations in a place close to her work so she could).
A final note... joy is when you speak to the head of the jury the day before you have to defend the thesis (yesterday) and not only does he asks you to pretty much rewrite two chapters, but to add a new one. He seemed surprised today when I told him actually *had* made all the changes he suggested.
Here is a (quickly translated) version of the slides I used for the presentation. PDF doesn't support transitions or anything fancy (at least the OOffice exporter doesn't), so it may look a bit plain.
Of course the presentation doesn't say all I said... but I won't translate the 120 pages long thesis just to post here =P
Defending the thesis basically consists of giving a presentation and then being asked questions questions about it by a council/jury.
The jury had 3 members. The first was Paty Rayón, the director of the masters program and also my thesis adviser; Bárbaro Ferro, a really really good teacher from Cuba who happens to be married to Paty Rayón and Alvaro de Albornoz, a very tough but very good A.I. teacher. I chose to specialize my masters in A.I. in part because of him.
Most of my family (all but nephew and one of my sisters) came to watch. It's the first time they (except the sis that did go) see me give a presentation.
So I gave my presentation... I was given 30 minutes and I must've used about... 33?
That's not a bad thing, the head of the jury himself (Alvaro de Albornoz) told me yesterday "At some point the head of the jury --he wasn't 100% sure it was going to be him-- will say >>You have 5 minutes<<, don't be afraid to take 10 if you need to".
After that came the Q&A section. It probably took 15 minutes or less. They asked good questions, I never got the feeling from any of them that they hadn't liked or "didn't buy" what I was saying. They were curious about specifics of some things, wondered why I did or didn't do things one way or another or had suggestions.
Of course questions by the adviser were mostly designed to make the work look good or to cover things I didn't cover in the presentation. That's why she can't be head of the jury =P
After that we were asked to leave while they deliberated. My family gave me some feedback then... They loved the presentation, they said I looked very secure of myself, calm and more importantly that it was very clear. They said even they understood, even though some parts were rather technical.
A short time after we left, one of the jurors came out and asked if we had a blue pen (for some reason), we didn't so he left to find one. It took him longer to find a blue pen than for them to make a decision. We were called inside.
I had to stand on the front while the head of the jury spoke, he said something like "This jury was assembled to decide about granting the degree of..." yadda yadda yadda... "The jury decided to grant you the degree unanimously".... "The jury thinks you're a perfect candidate for a PhD and would like to encourage you to get one. You're more than welcome to get it here (in this school), but since you're going to the U.S. you shouldn't let the chance pass and get it there"
After that each of them gave me a handshake and a hug and the session was adjourned. They stayed behind for awhile to talk to me, I introduced them to my family, they shared their experiences with them, etc... By the end Bárbaro and Alvaro left and only Paty stayed behind. At some point she had really watery eyes.
Paty asked me to make two more small changes to the thesis before I send it to print and to be bind into a hard cover. Just a paragraph and an extra figure she'd like to see there.
Eventually we left. We went to a French restaurant to celebrate It's a really fancy and rather expensive place. It was great, the place has a great feel to it and it just needed timduru to be perfect. As is usually the case with exotic cuisines in Mexico, though; they're well aware not everyone likes French food, so they had a few choices. I actually got Pasta Promotoro (sp?). It was yummy. I had Creme Brulèe for desert. My other sister joined us there (we made the reservations in a place close to her work so she could).
A final note... joy is when you speak to the head of the jury the day before you have to defend the thesis (yesterday) and not only does he asks you to pretty much rewrite two chapters, but to add a new one. He seemed surprised today when I told him actually *had* made all the changes he suggested.
Here is a (quickly translated) version of the slides I used for the presentation. PDF doesn't support transitions or anything fancy (at least the OOffice exporter doesn't), so it may look a bit plain.
Of course the presentation doesn't say all I said... but I won't translate the 120 pages long thesis just to post here =P