Passed my thesis proposal checkpoint!

I just took one more step towards wrapping up my studies –I presented my thesis proposal to my committee. They gave me lots of good, constructive feedback (thanks!), and agreed I could and should be defending my thesis this Summer.

I postponed doing my checkpoints for a long time, and I’m not sure this was the right approach. On one hand, I was able to focus on doing my research and publishing, and to let my ideas grow and mature before I had to defend them. On the other hand, my committee’s feedback steers me in what I think is usually the right direction; it helps me stay on track, and I could probably have gotten much more from this feedback if I had gone for earlier committee meetings.

In any case, there are just two checkpoints remaining: the internal and the external defenses. But first I need to finish writing my dissertation…