Chapman Kids Blog

"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." –John 16:33

Category: Education Page 1 of 18

Christian’s birthday

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On Saturday, September 7, 2024

In Education, Family, Retirement PhD

Christian’s birthday is past, but I have thought about it a lot of the last few days. It is a gift to have him as my son. It is not so much that he is so accomplished although few attain to the heights he has achieved at a young age (Summa Cum Laude Honors Applied Mathematics BS at 18, PhD in a VERY mathy aspect of Electrical Engineering–information theory, probability, and statistics–at age 23, 100% research appointment at MIT at 24, etc.), but that he is kind and not aggrandizing in the least. He got his PhD five years before I got mine and was instrumental in helping me with my publications, dissertation, and dissertation defense. He did stuff like help me get going on LaTeX, assure my equations were consistent, and all kinds of moral support. He attended both my dissertation defense and my graduation. The picture above was taken after my graduation last December. He always shows up. A gift.

Only one more to go (h-index)

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On Tuesday, June 25, 2024

In Education, Post-doctoral research, Retirement PhD, Science

When I first started back to school at University of Nebraska, people talked about something called an h-index. It was almost universal that I got told two conflicting things about it. The first was that it was not a good measure of the quality of academic output and no one really puts much stock in it. The second was that, if a recently graduated PhD wanted to have a chance at getting a tenure track position, it was good to have an h-index of 10 or above. My future academic goals and age diminishes the importance of a high h-index even more. Still, it has been pretty cool to watch my h-index inch up. I have enough patents in process and technical articles in the pipeline that I have a decent chance of hitting at least 10, maybe even before I die!

Great Discovery Institute Book

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On Saturday, June 1, 2024

In Book, Christianity, Education, Homeschool

I am amazed that I was so impressed by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jonathan Witt’s book The Farm at the Center of the Universe kid’s book published by the Discovery Institute. I am not sure whether my impression of the book counts much because I am old and this book was not aimed at me. At the same time, I have a STEM PhD from an R1 University, understand the material at a fairly deeply level, and I am really sorry this book was not available to us when we homeschooled our kids over a decade ago (our kids are both scientists at elite universities on the East coast–MIT/JHU). We used materials from the Discovery Institute in our homeschool program, but it required some pretty heavy lifting to translate those materials to a level that our middle school age kids could understand. This book fills that void. I highly recommend this book for homeschool and private school use as a mechanism for the discussion of the existence of God and the current state of knowledge, both in popular culture and in the academy. You will thank me for this advice.

Photo from Troy

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On Wednesday, April 17, 2024

In Education, Retirement PhD

Troy took this selfie of he and I while we were standing in the hallway waiting to enter the arena at University of Nebraska–Lincoln for the graduation and hooding ceremony (notice I do not yet have my hood on. I still marvel that we have made it this far and are going strong. We are up to about 17 years now working on these ground-based water imagery projects. God willing, I hope to continue contributing for many years to come. It is great to have our friend, John S., join the fray. I have to admit the guy is a monster in the amount of work he gets done. He has accelerated the project massively since he started.

An addition to the wall of shame

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On Friday, April 12, 2024

In Education

Lorena took Christian’s Honor’s Mathematics certificate he earned from North Carolina State University down to Michael’s to get it framed and then added it to the “wall of shame” in my office. We think that is probably the last thing that we have to put up. We are continually irritated with the lack of symmetry of the wall. We are too lazy to change it, though, because we are planning to move, God willing, to a smaller house and property in a year or two.

My brilliant wife

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On Wednesday, April 10, 2024

In culture, Education

Lorena did a no-look cell-phone capture of the total eclipse and this is what she got! Notice the star (or planet–might be Venus) down and to the right from the sun in the image. If that is not enough she has gotten Wordle right in three tries for the last two days.

She is definitely putting that hard earned Associate of Arts degree to work. Honestly, for an English speaker of a language she uses frequently, but only for a very limited percentage of all of her communication (we speak Spanish at home), she has an amazing command of the language. She is easily as good at English as I am at Spanish. My Spanish is so good that when I order something at McDonald’s or Wendy’s, the workers might think I am from Mexico, but they always ask me where I am from because they know my accent is not theirs, but they don’t mistake me for a gringo. How impressive is that!?!!

Christian honors math degree

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On Wednesday, April 3, 2024

In Education, Post-doctoral research, Retirement PhD

Lorena found this in a file box today when she was looking for some tax documents for me. It reminded me of how proud we are of Christian’s hard work and dedication throughout his Bachelor’s and PhD degree and then on to his current research scientist position at MIT. As graduation approaches and we get invited to high school graduation ceremonies, it is nice to remember Christian graduated summa cum laude with an honors degree in Applied Mathematics from NCSU as his same age peers were graduating from high school. We are going to frame this and put it on the wall beside his diplomas.

Volunteer research update

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On Friday, March 22, 2024

In Education, Retirement PhD, WaterEval

My PhD adviser, Troy, at University of Nebraska just sent me an image from a new camera he put up for some research we are doing. I actually have quite a few updates about the work I am doing with Troy (and others) since when I graduated. It is still pretty weird to have people calling me Dr. Chapman, but it is also pretty fun. So, I am just going to do this as a list and might fill in details on some of it as things start to happen. Here is what is going on:

  • University of Nebraska-Lincoln is in the process of making me an adjunct professor
  • North Carolina State University (NCSU) is in the process of making me and adjunct professor
  • Our planned next article is a publication with additional data based on the fourth chapter of my dissertation
  • The article after that will be an analysis of how well we do with the very small octagon in the picture above relative to the bigger octagon (I will discus the calibration methods in a future post)
  • I am a committee member for a Bio-Ag Engineering PhD student at NCSU

Troy’s first textbook

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On Thursday, February 8, 2024

In Education, Retirement PhD

Congratulation to Professor Troy, Gilmore for the publication of his first textbook with co-author Kip Solomon. I am very proud to have gotten my PhD under his tutelage. It is great to be volunteering with him still at University of Nebraska. In addition to the University of Nebraska projects, I am also volunteering with Troy’s old North Carolina State University professor. It only takes a handful of hours per week and it is very enjoyable. I am hoping to continue to work on this for the foreseeable future, God willing. There are a number of opportunities I want to explore with universities in Mexico, too. The connection between UNL and ITESM Guadalajara continues with new initiatives cropping up. It is odd that I am working in an area way outside what has ever previously interested me and enjoying it a ton. In the end, it is the people of good will who make it worthwhile.

Official graduation photos

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On Tuesday, January 16, 2024

In Education, Retirement, Retirement PhD

The offering from official photographer for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2023 Fall graduation arrived in the mail the other day. I was not planning on getting any more pictures, but I liked this one, so bought it. I am still struggling with what to next and now it is compounded by the fact that a couple members of my team are going to hang up their keyboards and retire. Mark and Frank are ages 77 and 78 and I cannot say I blame them. I would love to work at something I love as long as they have and contribute at their (extremely) high level of performance. I suppose it happens to everyone that they start noticing what the lives of their peers is like after they retire. The more I see that and think about it, the more I want to continue working or doing hard things as long as possible. Mike, my co-vice president, told me his dad was 85 years old and still goes into work two days per week to keep his mind active. Donald Trump seems to be getting more vigorous every day and it might be attributable to the fact that he has found something meaningful that he wants to accomplish that requires that vigor and an active mind. The older I get, the more I think maybe I need to consider trying to work until I am 80, God willing, of course.

Book clip (small pleasures)

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On Sunday, January 14, 2024

In Education, Technology

This little device arrived literally on my doorstep today and, marvel of all marvels and miracle of all miracles, it was delivered there on a Sunday by the venerable United States Postal Service. Hats off!!! It is a great solution to an irritating problem–keeping my book open at arms length (reading distance given my advanced age and seeing ability) while I drink my drink and eat my snack. It was cheap and works as advertised. It came in a package of two devices, so there is one for Lorena and/or to throw into my backpack for travel.

School’s out forever!!!

By

On Sunday, December 31, 2023

In Education

We honestly think we are done now. We think this is the final form of the diploma wall.

  • A 1978 BS Oregon State University — Ken
  • B 1981 AE Oregon Institute of Technology — Ken
  • C 1983 Shodan (1st degree black belt) Kodokan — Ken
  • D 1990 MS University of Texas at El Paso — Ken
  • E 2012 AS Wake Technical College — Kelly
  • F 2014 BS North Carolina State University — Kelly
  • G 2014 BS North Carolina State University — Christian
  • H 2016 MS University of Washington — Kelly
  • I 2019 PhD Arizona State University — Christian
  • J 2020 AA Clackamas Community College — Lorena
  • K 2023 PhD University of Nebraska-Lincoln — Ken


The calm before the storm

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On Monday, December 4, 2023

In Education, Family, Friends, Retirement PhD

With Thanksgiving and our first Sunday morning of even numbered months worship meeting that we host at our home behind us, we are in a week of calm before we start traveling, entertaining, and celebrating here in Texas for part of Christmas and New Year’s, in Washington, D.C. for part of Christmas, and at University of Nebraska–Lincoln for my graduation. That really good part of all this is that we get to spend most of it with Kelly and Christian. They are flying out to Lincoln for the graduation–Lorena and I will drive up before the graduation to pick them up at the Omaha airport. We have Honest Abe’s and one of the Omaha’s spectacular steak houses on the agenda along with the graduation celebrations. Then we head back to Texas before flying to Washington, D.C. for a few days for Christmas. When we return home, Lorena and I plan to go to Istanbul sometime before the New Year to try out a restaurant Ralph, Lorena, and I stopped at for a drink during Ralph’s visit for Thanksgiving.

Hard copy of the dissertation

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On Sunday, November 12, 2023

In Education, Retirement PhD

Most of the hard copies of my dissertation are still with Troy in Lincoln, but he graciously sent me a few via FedEx. It is very cool to be able to hold one in my own hot little hands. They came out great. One thing I did not expect is that there would be only one-sided printing, but that is a good thing. Another surprising thing is that all the pages in the book are full color I am very pleased with how it all came out and thankful Troy was willing to take the time to send me a few advanced copies.

Ph.D. final course inventory

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On Wednesday, October 11, 2023

In Education, Retirement PhD

For posterity, I put together a final inventory of classes and research credits that appear on my transcript for my Ph.D. program. I learned a lot more new stuff than I expected when I started the program. Honestly, I enjoyed every class. The professors at School of Natural Resources professors at University of Nebraska were really great at there jobs, not only in terms of knowledge, but in terms of willingness to make accommodations for a very non-traditional, remote student and of great good will.

Transfer courses

  • CS 3416 Computer Networks–3 credits (UTEP MS transfer)
  • IE 3552 Design of Experiments–3 credits (UTEP MS transfer)
  • IE 3557 Applied Computer Simulation–3 credits (UTEP MS transfer)
  • IE 3562 CAD Graphical Elements–3 credits (UTEP MS transfer)
  • IE 3560 Computer Vision–3 credits (UTEP MS transfer)
  • SYSEN 601 Systems Engineering–3 credits (TAMU transfer)

University of Nebraska courses

  • AGRO 884 Water Resources Seminar–1 credit
  • BIOS 952 Likelihood and Bayesian Ecology–3 credits
  • BSEN 896 GIS Water Resources–3 credits
  • NRES 885 Natural Resource Sciences Seminar–1 credit
  • NRES 898 Applied Hydrology and Water Quality–3 credits
  • NRES 898 Introduction to Google Earth Engine–2 credits
  • NRES 898 Groundwater Modeling–1 credits
  • NRES 898 Subsurface Environmental Tracers–3 credits

University of Nebraska dissertation research

  • NRES 999 Dissertation Research–52 credits

TOTALS

  • COURSES
    • Transfer credits: 18
    • Course credits: 17
    • TOTAL: 35
  • RESEARCH
    • Dissertation credits: 55
    • TOTAL: 55
  • TOTAL CREDITS: 90

Woo-hoo! Ph.D. paid in full!

By

On Tuesday, October 10, 2023

In Education, Retirement PhD

I am grateful to my professor Troy at University of Nebraska–Lincoln for having funded the tuition and fees for my Ph.D. studies. It was especially kind of him because they were much higher than normal due to the fact that I do not live in Nebraska so he had to pay out-of-state tuition. In addition to that, special arrangements had to made because I was a full-time student with a full-time job enrolled as an on-campus student, but taking all my classes online. Every semester there was a hiccup with the tuition due to these special circumstances. The hiccups never got ironed out until after the Payment Due Date so we always got accessed a late fee which had to be waived after it was demonstrated that it was the fault of the financial department. The last semester held to form. The last late fee was waived yesterday. The only thing left now is to wait for some commencement instructions to arrive via email and to attend the commencement.

Thanks again, Troy!

Archaeology and the Bible

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On Thursday, October 5, 2023

In Education

A new book titled Unearthing the Bible: 101 Archaeological Discoveries that Bring the Bible to Life arrived a couple of days ago. I ordered it after hearing Titus Kennedy be interviewed about Egyptian evidences for the Exodus. I briefly leafed through it and it looks really good. Lots of pictures. Right now I am listening to another interesting interview about some of the archaeological discoveries that seem to say something about the historicity of Jesus. Fascinating stuff. I bought the book from ThriftBooks.com.

Cool Nebraska wildlife pictures

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On Friday, September 1, 2023

In Education

Troy, my Ph.D. adviser, want out to the field to perform maintenance on our water level calculation research sites at Spring Creek (a small tributary of Bazile Creek). He retrieved images from the site. I am always amazed and never going to tire of seeing the wildlife that photo-bomb the images. We have seen many raccoon and cow images over the years, but also many birds, bison, and deer. I had no idea how extensive wildlife variety and variation in ecology throughout the state when I started the degree at University of Nebraska. We got to hear super interesting lectures on all that from experts in the ecosystem technicalities, but also by policy makers, commercial interests, and recreational users in the graduate seminars. Those graduate seminars should be a topic for another blog post because they were such an integral element of my experience in both my MS at University of Texas at El Paso and my Ph.D. at UNL.

How many schools?

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On Saturday, August 26, 2023

In Education

My buddy Curt sent me an email today poking me a little bit about how many schools I have attended over the years. I told him he should not count the ones that threw me out, but then I got to thinking and thought it would be a nice thing to maybe document that for all of our family. The amazing thing is that Lorena went to more schools than any of us! So here goes–colleges and universities only!

Christian’s schools

  • Wake Technical Community College — Raleigh, NC
  • Johnston Community College — Smithfield, NC
  • Central Carolina Community College — Sanford, NC
  • North Carolina State University — Raleigh, NC (BS, Mathematics)
  • Arizona State University — Tempe, AZ (PhD, Electrical Engineering)

Kelly’s schools

  • Wake Technical Community College — Raleigh, NC (AS, General Studies)
  • Central Carolina Community College — Sanford, NC
  • North Carolina State University — Raleigh, NC (BS, Statistics)
  • University of Washington — Seattle, WA (MS, Marketing Strategy)

Lorena’s schools

  • Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
  • Palm Beach State College — Lake Worth, FL
  • Portland Community College, Rock Creek, Portland, OR
  • Portland Community College, Sylvania, Portland, OR
  • Linn-Benton Community College, Albany, OR
  • Linn-Benton Community College, Corvallis, OR
  • Wake Technical Community College, Raleigh, NC
  • Johnston Community College, Smithfield, NC
  • Centralia College, Centralia, WA
  • Clackamas Community College, Clackamas, OR (AA, College Transfer)

Ken’s schools

  • Portland Community College, Sylvania, Portland, OR
  • Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR (BS, Business Administration)
  • Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, OR (AE, Computer Systems)
  • Portland State University, Portland, OR
  • Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
  • University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX (MS, Industrial Engineering)
  • Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
  • University of Nebraska Lincoln, Lincoln, NE (PhD, Natural Resource Sciences)

Christian’s new plates (ham radio extra license call sign)

By

On Sunday, June 19, 2022

In Education, Family

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