The End

In late January, all students returned to Iceland to prepare for their thesis defense. The hardest part for many was fitting 14 weeks of work into a 30 minute presentation. For me, this was the first defense of my work. Many didn't know what to expect, and worked hard to be prepared. The presentations were spread over a week, and many advisors were impressed with the work that was completed in such a short time.

With some time off before commencement ceremonies, we took some time to get out to the ski resort to enjoy the nice weather.
The weather in Akureyri was snowy that winter, so powder days were easy to come by. Avalanche warnings were common in parts of the ski resort, but those areas were not closed off. A warning sign stated the danger and let the skier choose his own path.

Before the graduation and the class going their separate ways, a video was made to show how much fun we had over the year (thanks to Mike for the editing):

The graduation ceremony was held in downtown Akureyri and broadcast live on the web. Some dignitaries were invited, and many family and friends watched from abroad.

Three students, including one of this blog's co-authors, were recognized for earning top grades for the year. Their hard work and dedication during the year earned them some well deserved recognition.

Your's truly was also allowed some time to speak to the crowd.

Finally, the group gathered for a final group picture as a class to show off our Master's status. Hopefully sometime in the future the group will cross paths again.

Third Trimester Part II

Near the beginning of October students started to work on their third trimester projects. Many students stayed in Iceland, while others went to places such as the United States, Mexico, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, and St. Vincent. Another RES student and I worked in the Industrial Energy Systems Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.

The thesis itself was difficult. A few in the program had experience writing research papers before, but I had none. It was my first real experience being almost entirely self driven. My advisers were fairly hands off and much of the project duration I worked on my own. This was challenging but rewarding, and I learned a ton in the process.

Of course, I was able to get out and enjoy some of the area around me. This was the event in downtown Lausanne for Climate Action Day 2009.

Lausanne

Switzerland is full of steriotypes. The alps, cheese, chocolate, watches, etc. Surprisingly, I found most of these to be true! Except for the fact that not all Swiss cheese has holes.


Of course, everyone in RES had their own thesis experiences and there was a lot of great work done. Everyone returned to Iceland at the beginning of February to defend their work from the last 4 months.