We got to our KOA campground south of Montreal on Wednesday, July 1. On the 2nd we headed to our downtown hotel. Friday, July 3, was the big day: Stefan’s PhD defense. Room 103 of McGill’s McConnell Engineering Building filled up by the 2:00 start time. The thesis committee took the first row and a half, and other attendees — family, friends, and classmates — took the rest of the seats. To start, the thesis committee chair asked everyone to leave the room so the committee could confer. We were then called back in, and Stefan got started.
Stefan took his allotted 20 minutes to summarize his work in a presentation. Next came Q&A with the committee, and that took about an hour. Stefan answered with knowledge and poise, and was very impressive throughout. Everyone else then had an opportunity to ask questions, and perhaps the best one was asked by none other than your’s truly. I actually shared the question with Stefan in advance.
After all the questions were asked and answered, the attendees and Stefan were once again asked to leave the room. When we returned, Stefan’s advisor made the announcement. Stefan passed and had earned his PhD! We gave him a standing O.
The day before, Jenny and I went with Stefan to Costco to pick up food for an after-defense party, which we stashed in Stefan’s office. The food and drink were pulled out to a couple of picnic tables in a park on campus, and about 20 of us celebrated the achievement.
Jenny and I did a little wandering and shopping during the day on Saturday, and took Stefan and his girlfriend to dinner Saturday night. We checked out of our hotel Sunday around noon, and are now back the RV. We’ll hopefully get a bike ride in later after the heat of the afternoon, and then we leave Canada on Monday.
