Crossing the Graduation Chasm

1
Crossing the Graduation Chasm

• Zachary G. Ives
• University of Pennsylvania
• PoCSci 2003
• May 16, 2003

2
Whats Life Like on the Other Side? Or, What
Your Advisor Didnt Tell You

• Most of you are in pursuit of graduation from
  this department
• You have probably heard about the graduation
  chasm
• If not today you will!
• Commonly known aspects
• Multitasking learning to schedule time
• Grant-writing
• Another little-known, critical problem the
  semi-structured diet
• Especially at
• Rice U. (Houston)
• Washington U. - St. Louis (St. Louis)
• U. Penn (Philadelphia)

3
Outline

• Introduction
• Body of my talk
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3
• Conclusion and future work

4
Semi-structured Diet Problem

• Well-structured diet (Seattle)

• Example Philadelphia diet

5
Experimental Methodology

• Grant from Raelians
• Construct 47 clones, all age 28
• Locate 11 in Philadelphia, 12 in Houston, 12 in
  Seattle, 12 in Berkeley
• Measure average weight at 1st of month, every 3
  months
• Started June 2002
• Study ran to March 2003
• Seattle clones are disguised for anonymity
  (except for the one speaking before you now)

6
Results of the Semi-Structured Diet

• Experiments show statistically significant
  difference in size
• Correlated with structure in diet
• Confirms recent Mens Health magazine survey
• Seattle 2nd fittest city
• Berkeley middle of pack
• Philadelphia 5th fattest city
• Houston fattest city

7
Possible Solutions

• Add structure to the diet!
• Generally possible through spousal/significant
  other regulation
• Prototype implementation this summer
• Promising research areas
• Calorie compression
• Arterial congestion control
• Stomach reduction

8
Conclusion and Future Work

• The graduation chasm poses many hazards
• We have been studying some of them
• Future directions worthy of investigation
• Peer-to-peer gossip sharing, the Ph.D. offense,
• Ongoing work with colleagues here at UW and
  elsewhere
• Call for volunteers! You too can graduate!