In the first half of November I took a road trip to Boise to meet with professors and potential PhD research advisors in the Boise State Department of Geosciences. On this trip I did quite a bit of meandering where at least 50% of my travel was not on the interstate system.
Over a period of a week I met with more than half a dozen researchers and faculty (some more than once), toured the facilities and campus, watched Boise State win against Wyoming State in overtime, and enjoyed learning about the city. I also paid a short visit to Mountain Home AFB (as a retired USAF servicemember)
I was very impressed with the hospitality of the department and their willingness to engage with me concerning their research and my professional goals. A week later I completed my application for the PhD program in geophysics and settled on two options for a tenure at Boise State: either volcanology or snow pack research.
Now comes the difficult part, awaiting their decision. I have hopes that it will be positive, and if not that I will have significant, constructive feedback on the strength of my package.
