The Iowa Trip

I figured I might as well add this in here just in case I delete everything on my Facebook profile in a fit of rage. Here are my highlights from my visit to the University of Iowa. I don't have any photos of the faculty I met because I was so nervous. I completely forgot to shake Dr Turner's hand, but at least I didn't ask him to birth my children.


The day started with a drive to the airport, complements of my father. I really only included this photo to show his hearing aids, just in case he springs for the Dots later.

We got to the hotel pretty darn late (like after midnight), so I was incredibly exhausted but took the time to snap a photo. The hotel was actually very nice, and only ten minutes or so from the University. This was a Thursday night, and my interviews were early the next morning. By this point, I had labored over a ridiculous amount of questions to ask. And when I say 'labored', I mean I sat at Red Robin for two hours, nearly breaking out in a cold sweat.


Luckily, I clean up pretty nice! The next morning, all made up and in a cute touring outfit (although admittedly the wrong shoes), I headed off to a day full of interviews. I swear my heart was about to pound out of my chest when I was waiting for Dr Turner to arrive. I've never seen my hands shake so much. Some people get giddy when meeting celebrities. I get giddy when meeting amazing intellectuals. I wanted to get a photo with him but I was just so starstruck my mind went completely blank.
Next time, I'll be buying a new point and shoot camera before I go, too. My old one was angry that I left it in my car for so long and didn't crap out until I got to Iowa. I ended up with several photos that were corrupted, and then the batteries died halfway through the day. I did have my phone with me but I totally spaced that it had a camera until we were already gone from the university.



One of the highlights of the tour was visiting the giant anechoic chamber in the basement. There was a guy down there doing speech-in-noise experiments with hearing aids. I presume he's studying under Dr Ruth Bentler, who I was unable to meet because she was in Paris (I think). In any case, it was fascinating. I walked in the room and immediately leaned towards whoever was talking. It was the closest to "zero sound" I've ever experienced. I'm not particularly interested in hearing aid research but I might have to fabricate an interest just so I can play around in this room all the time! The dummy torso is human-sized and under the metal grating is another 10 feet or so of padding. It was really one of the coolest experiences I've ever been lucky enough to have!


We visited in March, so everything was dead, but the whole trip, I kept thinking about how beautiful this place looks in the spring and fall with all those trees blooming and shedding their leaves. I know the winters are bad but I think it'll be worth it to experience that kind of beauty. Come on, that many trees stuffed into one place? AUGH. So excited.
I also learned that Iowa drivers are kind of pushy but mostly logical, and when someone does something stupid, everyone else lets them know it. Iowa is my idea driving territory! :)



While we were driving around, I found this place. It looks like a tabletop gaming center, where you can bring your friends and attend tournaments and such. I spent a lot of my undergraduate time hanging out at a LAN center where I played video and computer games, so seeing that there's a place like this makes me very happy! They were closed, so I couldn't investigate, but I will definitely check it out when I get back. I say when because there is no way I'm failing at this!



We went downtown for dinner at Chiptole (another selling point), and I snapped a couple quick photos. The downtown area is bustling because it's a college town, and there were several restaurants of different ethnic food types. I saw this kiosk and had to get a photo, because it shows how active the culture is there. I admit I'm a homebody most of the time, but it's great to know there are options if I suddenly become a social butterfly!

You can also see from the dude in the background that people have good style sense and I could learn a thing or two! No People of WalMart there! ;)




This is the medical sciences library. Probably half of my photos from the trip are in this library. I was so excited to see their research collection. There is an entire FLOOR for print journals, and I'm sure twice as many available online. There's just something about sitting in a quiet room surrounded by knowledge that makes my heart go pitter patter!
I'll just post the photos below without much explanation, as they pretty much explain themselves.

Transition

A lot has changed since I last updated. I've fully come to terms with the fact that I won't be attending the University of Canterbury for my graduate program. I'm alright with that. I've found a better school.

The University of Iowa is the home of some of the best minds of my generation and adjacent generations as well. I read Dr Christopher Turner's research on hybrid cochlear implants which use a shorter electrode array than traditional cochlear implants, with the goal of preserving low-frequency residual hearing. When I first picked up the articles, I was still interested in studying under Dr Greg O'Beirne, whose research interested me but not to the point of circumlocution.

I can't really explain what interests me so much in cochlear implants. My dad asked me if my family history has any part to play in my interest in audiology and in cochlear implants and certain hearing aid research, and I replied, "I wish!" Life would be so much easier if I had some sort of pathos like that. Instead, all I have is my arachnophobia, which is a good story but not really connected to audiology.

In any case, I visited the University of Iowa and was a little skeptical. I kind of expected Dr Turner to be the only smartie-pants there and the other people would kind of ignore me and be on their way. Not so. I met with Dr Christopher Turner, Dr Carolyn Brown, Dr Karen Kirk, Dr Lenore Holte, Dr Stephanie Flickenstein, and I got a chance to chat quickly with Dr Shawn Goodman who is doing some fascinating research with otoacoustic emissions. Every single person with whom I visited was doing some kind of research. I was thrilled.

My idea of grad school is admittedly undeveloped, but I had kind of pictured a couple research-oriented professors and then the clinical faculty who look down on the research faculty because they're not actually doing anything "worthwhile." But I didn't get a sense of any of that when I visited. The environment was positive and diverse. The resources available (including the large anechoic chamber) were amazing. The campus is large but the audiology stuff is all in one location, so I won't have to feel overwhelmed.

By the time my day of interviews was over, I was ready to come home. Dr Turner intimated that the two most important numbers on a student's application are GPA and GRE scores. Because of my difficulty during that 18 months when my arachnophobia was its worst, I venture to guess that a 3.5GPA will be what I end up with. That's simply not good enough.

Luckily, my GRE scores are much better. I got a 550V, 710Q and 5.0AWA. That puts me in the 75th, 73rd, and 81st percentiles, respectively. I think that will help balance out my grades. Now I just have to write the perfect personal statement!


So, now on to the reason for this title. I'll be doing some research with one of my favorite professors from last semester, Dr Jeff Brockett. He suggested I post my findings regularly on this blog so that instead of getting several emails from me, he can receive updates via RSS feed. So instead of building a whole new blog, I'm just going to include it in this one so that I won't lose either train of thought. Sound like a plan? It does to me.

Until next time...