Tuesday, January 6, 2009

First!

I have been inspired by the new year to begin a blog. I find myself in a very exciting time in my life, and I want to collect my memories to enjoy. I also find communication and writing skills to be much more important than I expected in graduate school. In that spirit, I hope to use a blog to practice gathering my thoughts and presenting them clearly.

So Internet, Miss Outlier - Miss Outlier, Internet.

"Three sigma" is a manufacturing concept used to control processes, a concept that I am intimately familiar with. If any data point lies farther than three standard deviations from the mean, it is considered an outlier and problematic. This is perfect - I am problematic. 

I am currently writing up my Master's thesis in Mechanical Engineering at World's Best School, after which I will be a PhD candidate. Right now I am still quite green, in fact so young I often forget when I see flashing lights that yes, I am legal now. But I plan to make the most of my years as a graduate student, because I am quite convinced that I will be old when I am done, and I refuse to be older without being wiser.

3 comments:

  1. Welcome! Looking forward to what you have to say.

    Nothing wrong with being problematic. Oh, wait, my husband would say otherwise.

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  2. yay! welcome to the world of blogging!

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  3. ...
    hey there...

    let me add my own 'welcome'...

    Had you been commenting as 'outlier' over at scienceblogs previously..?? I swear I have seen this 'name' before.

    I will not tell you that 'three sigma' came and went years ago at my 'big hospital' place of employment. Seems like every few years the latest buzz-phrase swirls (a carefully chosen word) through the hospital-management industry. Most never to be seen again, as all well-behaved swirls should be...


    Again, nice to see you dive into the deep-end ...OK, maybe stick a toe or three in the blogging pool..!!


    ...tom...

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