Unc on Og Maciel's Journal

Perks of being a polyglot

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I had one of those “once in a a lifetime” opportunities, thanks to my wife who dragged me to a presentation hosted by the University of North Carolina. The presentation by Dr. Eduardo Torres Cuevas, titled “Preserving Cuba’s Cultural Heritage in the 21st Century” attracted a small gathering, apparently mostly made up of UNC staff and students who are currently enrolled in one of their languages courses. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it, but being the supportive husband that I am, I signed off from work a bit earlier and together with our 2 kids we drove to the main campus.

There And Back Again

Tue, 31 May 2005 00:00:00 +0000

After driving approximately 1,014 miles over this Memorial Day weekend, I’m finally back home from Chapel Hill. Had a blast visiting my sister together with my wife and daughter. My older sister and uncle also tagged along to supposedly help out with the driving. Went to sleep at 1am on Thursday and got up at 4am!!! Managed to get there by 3pm and was completely overwhelmed by a feeling of peace. It felt like I was on a different planet all together. A planet where everybody slowed down to smell the flowers!!! There was so much nature and so little visible technology that I didn’t mind being cut out from the rest of the world for those 3 days. I woke up early every day and tried to make the best out of it. Besides relaxing and watching my daughter acting so happy all the time, I also managed to go to an open market (where I bought the best, juiciest peaches I have ever eaten in my life) Saturday morning and visit the Sarah P. Duke Gardens! One word: AWSOME!!! I had never seen such a beatiful place in my life either! Sunday we barbecued and big time pigged out while watching to some cool country music and drowning ourselves with some Belgina beer!

The Saga Continues

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000

My personal quest of gathering as much information as possible on the requirements to enroll into a PhD program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill continued last Friday. I was up and early for my appointments at the Department of Computer Science considering I went to sleep really late the previous night. It was my sister’s birthday so I took her out to the movies and a late dinner. I was supposed to meet a professor and then the chair of the department but due to some slight technical problem (my sister had set up the meetings for 9:30 & 10am but told me 10 & 11am), I ended up talking to the chair first. He had a pretty impressive office and I couldn’t help but admire all the computer books that adorned the many bookshelves around the room. From the very start he told me how competitive the administration process was and all the ubber requirements needed to be considered for their PhD program. Apparently they have the second best computer graphics program in the nation and competition is fierce. We spent about 20 minutes where I was presented with layer upon layer of “possible” obstacles that would make my application “less desirable” than applications from undergrads with a Computer Science degree/background. Also, my 7-8 years of working experience don’t really count much unless I had done some research work. One way I could improve my chances would be to move to Chapel Hill at least 1 year before applying for their PhD program and take some undergrad classes to give me the necessary background I lack, but that idea is pretty much out of question when you have a small family that depends on you. In case you’re wondering what the requirements are: 90+ percentile of your general GRE scores and GPA of 3.5+. Feeling the weight of all the mentioned obstacles on my way and hating myself for not continuing my education when I had a better shot at it, I shook his hand and walked to my other appointment. To my surprise the professor was much, much upbeat then the chair (and I guess he has to be tough… he’s the chair) and the entire 30 minute meeting went really well. I mean, the obstacles are there but he sort of put a better spin on the “you can do anything you want if you work hard enough” idea… After that I decided to buy an UNC baseball hat and sit outside an on-campus coffee house just outside the bookstore for some deserved dose of caffeine and morphine, where I also had the opportunity to observe all the students running to and from their classes. I had forgotten how it felt to be in school, with the constant schedules and homeworks and different people populating every minute of your day. Nearby some girls were participating on some kind of cheering contest… The weather helped too and it felt like one of those early Spring days. Around 1:30pm I left for my last meeting of the day at the Department of Genetics. Got lost for a while driving through the huge campus thanks to my sister’s driving instincts (thanks Magellan) but managed to make there on time and in one piece. Once again the meeting was “hosted” by the chair and right away it became obvious that it would be almost that impossible for me to enroll into the program. I was told that my lack of actual lab experience for the last 8 years put me at the bottom of the list of applicants, all certainly either fresh out of undergrad school or at least with some years of hands-on experience. It wasn’t the best way to end my day and it felt as if I was annoyingly trying to find a “loop-hole” in the administration process. However, I didn’t let this spoil my spirit and took the whole experience as something that will give me even more desire to succeed! Took another 30 minutes to gather some brochures about the Nurse program they offer for my wife and headed back home. Stopped at Mama Dips for some authentic Southern ribs and fried chicken on our way and had to be helped off the car due to all the food I ate. Spent the remaining of the day slowly digesting the ribs and chicken while watching 2 foreign movies. Saturday morning after a quick shower and breakfast I was on a plane headed back home. I now have a load of brochures and catalogs to go through and will have to make some decisions fairly soon…

Tar Heel Dreaming

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Arrived here in North Carolina last night at the Raleigh-Durham airport. My younger sister was waiting for me and as soon as we picked up my luggage we headed to her apartment in Chapel Hill. Woke up early today and went to my first (and only) meeting with the chair of the School of Information and Library Science at UNC. My sister had set up the meeting for me and I must admit I wasn’t too sure if I wanted to spend the time to talk to someone from a department that had the word “library” in it. Turns out the “information” part plays a major role in their program, albeit you could still pursue a career in the library science field if you want to. After asking the standard questions about the program, deadlines, and financial aid I was advised to take a few minutes and speak to one of the professors involved in the program who was very involved with bioinformatics and genomics. The 10-minute meeting was ok but I felt that he wasn’t very interested in talking to me and was just trying to get me to leave. I quickly gave him a rundown of my interests and as he gave me some information a name came up: Catherine Blake. I figured I’d spend another 10 minutes and get some feedback from her and hope she’d be a bit more social. Man, what a difference!!! She was absolutely amazing, taking the time to not only answer my questions but also extract some information from me so she could point me to the right direction. She seemed to be just as passionate about her work (apparently she’s huge in text mining and medical informatics) and we ended up talking for at least a great 30 minutes. Tomorrow I have 3 more meetings scheduled with different folks from the computer science and genetics departments but I must tell you; she has definitely tipped the scale in favor of her department. About 5 minutes after we left her office, as my sister and I are walking toward where my sister works, Catherine caught up with us to give us some more incite about the financial aid process that she thought would be beneficial to me. Icing in the cake! After a huge lunch at the local hang-out place we went back home and spent the rest of the day talking and fixing her laptop. Around 7pm we went to see “Sideways” which definitely deserves a post of its own. Great movie!!!

Tar Heel Wanna Be

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 00:00:00 +0000

This Wednesday I embark on what may be the most important trip of my life: I’ll be visiting and interviewing with the chairs of several different departments at the North Carolina Univertsity with the objective of gathering information for my possible come back to the academic world. It’s been almost 8 years since I graduated from Pace University and my plans of earning a PhD/MD diploma have taken a major detour. From lab technician at BD Pharmaceuticals, BioInformatics Programmer at Synaptics Pharmaceutical (now part of Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals), and now VB.NET Programmer for the School Construction Authority of NYC, I have often felt like a fish out of the water. Computer programming has been a hobby of mine since I was given a Sinclair ZX when I was 9 but being a scientist is what really gets my blood flowing. I’m hoping that somewhere along this trip something will click and help me get back in track with my dream of doing something that will help those people all around the world who unfortunately were born with some type of disability and cannot fully enjoy a “normal” life. I strongly believe that everyone is here for a reason and I want to do my best so that the meaning of my being here is to make someone else’s life better! Hopefully I will be able to acchieve my goal as a Tar Heel!