Makin' plans.

First things first: This fall, I am starting graduate studies at Purdue University, where I'm looking to get a PhD in statistics. The acceptance came after over months of nail-biting and demoralizing news from other schools. I was impressed with Purdue's department when I visited the campus last week, and I'm really looking forward to being a part of the academic community there.

I've been offered a funded position in professor Rebecca Doerge's research group on bioinformatics. This is a branch of stats that I've been considering for some time, and involves learning about genetics, biology, genomics, and programming, in addition to statistics. I'm excited to get to start on projects right from the first year. Professor Doerge is reputedly a great mentor, and it is very likely that she will eventually advise my dissertation.

While in India I thought off-and-on about trying my hand at travel writing, or freelance photography, or continuing on indefinitely with my nomadic life. But taking this break away from school only reconfirmed my conviction to return to academics, where I most belong.

However, there is still a summer ahead of me before I relocate to West Lafayette, Indiana, and I'm really going to milk it.

During the month of May, I will go to Hong Kong for a week or so. After that, I want to head to the mainland and see some of the southern countryside, with its green rice paddies, villages, and mountains. June and July will be spent visiting relatives in Hunan province and attending the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai which promises to be a huge affair. If I do some sweet-talking, I'll have my father's professional SLR camera on loan while in China, in which case one of my primary goals while traveling will be to capture beautiful images.

For the first time in a year, I feel secure in my future plans. Uncertainty had its place, but right now, it's a relief to look forward to something concrete.