Oxford Conference

Guest Blogger, Allen!

Hey friends and family.  Last week I got to go to a conference in Oxford. Oxford is pretty awesome for those of you who haven't been there before. Here are a few highlights, although I am not really the best photographer...

This was the guest house where I stayed. My windows are open on the top floor on the right....

The Pitt Rivers is a super cool Anthropology Museum with literally TONS of stuff in a really small space - really fun to explore.  And they had a cool musical instrument collection!

The view of Christ Church college from across the lawn by a river.  A lovely place for a walk and I really got lucky with the weather!

Last but not least, at the Gala Dinner there was a Theremin Recital!!!!  Link to Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTcic8s9Cck

For those who don't know what a Theremin is, it is an electronic musical instrument that allows you to control the sound by manipulating an electro-magnetic field. You don't have to touch anything! that said, you still have to have very precise movements and it takes a lot of skill and practice.  Apologies that the video is a bit shaky for the first 30 seconds while I was getting settled with my phone - and the volume is really low so you need to turn up your speakers.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTcic8s9Cck

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Back to New York City, Again!

Well, hello, again!

It is official: We're headed back to NYC for good* starting in July 2013! As I mentioned in the previous post, Allen will be heading back to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for another year long fellowship in their Musical Instruments department. And I've accepted an offer with Goldman Sach's User Experience team, where I'll be doing Interaction Design on their in house software.

We're immensely excited that our journeys have brought us back to a city we consider home; the one where we met, the one where we first started out. We're looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and getting to see my family (who are across the river in NJ) more often.

Hello again, New York, did you miss us!?

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*Or until we are swept somewhere else... Maybe I mean "for the time being"

Allen Graduates from NYU!

This past Monday, the Rodas and the Candelores had the immense pleasure of watching Allen graduate from NYU's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences with his PhD in Music. The ceremony had all of the pomp and circumstance that one could ask for: the bright gowns, the colorful hoods, the large shoulder pads, and the puffy hats, all set to the background of Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall*.

Proud graduate

GSAS Master's and Doctorate Graduates filing into Avery Fisher Hall

Expectant family members and friends ready to cheer on their graduates

Every school has its own particular flavor of commencement ceremony, and NYU was no different. NYU graduates were "hooded" by members of the GSAS faculty before walking across the stage to shake hands with the Dean of the School.

A little hard to see, but that is Allen crouched down to allow a faculty member to present him with his hood

Well, Hello Dean!

Make way, newly minted PhD coming through!!

Yeah! We're all so proud of you, Allen!

Besides completing his PhD, which was quite a challenge, Allen's dissertation was accepted without revisions (which is almost unheard of). Despite how hard the last couple of years have been, Allen's scholarship spoke for itself and he can walk away from NYU knowing that his work is unique and valuable.**

What makes this accomplishment even more exciting is the fact that Allen's fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been extended for another year. He has big plans to continue his scholarship on the Met's musical instrument collection and get more involved apprenticing with the non-western instrument curator over the next year. On to the next big adventure!

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* Very appropriate considering Allen's degree, no?
** He has had several big wigs tell him so!

Nikki's Graduation! - by Guest Blogger Allen!

Justifiably Proud and Happy Graduate - the red rope is for her commitment to community service

On Friday May 3rd, I had the pleasure of witnessing perhaps the most amazing event I have ever seen. While I was anticipating the usual pomp and circumstance of graduation, I don’t think I could have ever guessed that Nikki's graduation ceremony would be so special and so meaningful.

Candelores and Rodas on the front row

It began in the usual way with speeches and platitudes about the value of education and all of those things. I really appreciated that they introduced each of the PhD students individually and briefly discussed their research before presenting them with degrees. I doubt NYU will do anything like that.

Then they started presenting student awards. Nikki had said something that morning about there being awards given out for academic achievement and professional promise, as well as one that was chosen by the students to honor a fellow student dedicated to "service, empathy, confidence-building, industry and responsibility." When they began to announce these awards, I was just sure that Nikki was going to get one, because she was such an awesome student – how could she not? Alas, the awards went to other students – who most certainly deserved them – but since I am Nikki’s husband I am allowed to be biased.

Then I saw on the program that a “Special Award” was next to be presented. It was unclear what that meant.  The Dean began by explaining that the two awards that they school currently gives out were both established in the honor of retiring faculty who had given much of their lives to the School of Information. The school has not instituted a new award for students in 41 years, but decided the time had come.

Rodas anticipate that Nikki might be getting this new special award.

And rather than honor a faculty member, this time they were going to honor a student. A student, who in two short years had done so much for the School of Information that the only way they could think to acknowledge her impact was to create an award in her honor.

At this point, the lights dimmed, and they began a video slide show in homage to Nikki Roda – the first and only student in the history of UM School of Information to have an award established in her honor.  The pictures were captioned with quotes from friends and colleagues that highlighted just how special a person Nikki Candelore Roda is.

Fast forward to 1:02:14 to get to the good part

You can also see the commencement video HERE and read a description of the awards – .

If you can't read all the captions in the video, I typed them out for you:

A True Leader

Setting the Pace in the Classroom

SOCHI Officer

A2DataDive Founder

Spirit of Service

Fierce Drive

Intellectual Courage

Innovator

Vibrant

Lasting Legacy

Deep Involvement

Self-Motivated

It is really hard to capture in words just how magical an experience it was. At the end of the video, the entire audience began to cheer loudly. There was a standing ovation from all of the students - as well as their families as Nikki walked up to the stage - It. Was. Amazing.

The honor wasn’t for Nikki’s any particular achievement – although they cited all the work she did for the DataDive, the Student Clubs and Organizations, Alternate Spring Break, and Service Day as examples of ways in which she gave back to the School and the community – no the award wasn’t for any of those accomplishments, it was for being who Nikki is. A person who doesn’t just talk about doing things, but gets them done – whose heart is so full, so generous, and caring that she can’t help herself but to help others when she has the ability and the opportunity.

As she explained in planning the first A2 DataDive – “We have the Skills, We’d be doing something really good for the world, and It would be really cool.”

None of us knew this was coming

The Dean used those same words in introducing Nikki, the first recipient of the Nikki Candelore Roda Student Impact Award.  The award not only honors Nikki’s tireless spirit, infectious enthusiasm, and indomitable will to do good, but it reflects the University’s ongoing commitment to community service.  The A2 DataDive, which she established (with the help of Claire Barco and Emily Puckett-Rogers) is going to become an annual event sponsored by the University and overseen by the office of student affairs. Her legacy will be felt at UMSI every year as they plan this event, and every spring when they honor a student whose commitment to service warrants special recognition.

After he presented her the award, without any preparation, he asked Nikki to say a few words.  She really didn't know this was going to happen; it caught us all by surprise. Most of us were impressed that she was even able to talk at all. Not only did she deliver a speech, but it was touching, eloquent, and on point. She thanked everyone for their support and expressed how meaningful it had been for her to learn from her students and learn to work together. She was humble and gracious. When she finished, there was another instant standing ovation (truncated in the video). Not just from the students, but from all of the students’ family members who didn’t even know who Nikki was before that day. The speeches and the discussions of who Nikki is – not just what she had done - moved everyone in the auditorium to their feet. It was amazing.

This is a heavy honor.  One that we don’t take lightly – and so – I think it is hard for Nikki to talk about it herself. But I don’t have any difficulty at all telling you and the entire world that my wife is AMAZING. Everyone loves her, is proud of her, and rejoices in her accomplishments. As someone who has known for a long time just how awesome Nikki is, I am overwhelmed with joy and pride to see her University express a similar level of gratitude and pride. This is perhaps the highest honor they could have possibly bestowed on Nikki – and the highest honor they have ever bestowed on a student.  It’s. Just. Incredible. – and there really aren’t sufficient words to describe it.

The Rodas and the Candelores were all in attendance. We had great seats right behind the graduates. And since we were all so overjoyed with the occasion, it’s no surprise that we managed to get some good pictures. Without further ado, here are some of my favorites.

Nikki and Darek

Nikki with Pete and Jane

Nikki and her partner in crime, Claire Barco

Nikki with Veronica and Laura from the Office of Student Affairs

Darek and Allison

Nikki and Dean Jeff MacKie-Mason

SI Graduate Shenanigans: Kate, Kendra, Phil, Nikki, Tawfiq, and Claire

Soma, Nikki, and Claire

Terence and Nikki (and Sabrish with the camera)

Kristen and Nikki

Rodas at the Reception

Mari and Darek

The Candelore Clan

Nikki and Yours Truly

YES!

The Nikki Candelore Roda Award!

pre-A2 DataDive 2013 post

Happy New Year, dear readers!*  ;)

Apologies for the radio silence during the last couple of weeks. But believe it or not, things have been pretty busy here in Michigan (reeeaaaallly?!)

Some of you may remember the event I put on with my friends Claire and Emily last year, the A2 DataDive. The event is centered around been a bridge for local nonprofits with data challenges and skilled volunteers who want to apply their brains to a good cause.

Last year's event was more of a proof of concept ("We CAN do this!") than anything else. And with the encouragement of our school we decided to put on another one this year! And we are so pleased to say that everything about this event has grown since last year. We had to cap registration (for space reasons) at 120 volunteers, representing students and faculty from all over the university, and we've got four nonprofits with projects this year:

• Ozone House, "a community-based, nonprofit agency that helps young people lead safe, healthy, and productive lives. Since 1969, Ozone House has actively developed unique, high-quality housing and support programs and services that provide support, intervention, training, and assistance to runaway, homeless, and high-risk youth and their families.” They are hoping to show that their programs save Washtenaw County money through a comparison of their data on youth in their programs to youth data from Washtenaw County.

• Huron River Watershed Council, which "is southeast Michigan’s oldest environmental organization dedicated to river protection. The Huron River Watershed Council works to inspire attitudes, behaviors, and economies to protect, rehabilitate, and sustain the Huron River System.” Huron River Watershed is hoping for an interactive map that can more quickly indicate what species are present on any given parcel of land in the bioreserve.

• Food Gatherers, which "as the food rescue and food bank program serving Washtenaw County, ... exists to alleviate hunger and eliminate its causes in our community. They serve 150 non-profit agencies and programs providing direct food assistance in the form of hot meals, nutritious snacks or emergency groceries to low-income adults, seniors and children in Washtenaw County.” Food Gatherers is interested in analyzing trends of the meals they provide to the county. They want to know if they can discover the days, weeks, and months that they provide the most meals so they can plan their services better.

• 826, "a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students aged 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. 826 opened its doors in June of 2005. Since then, they have been blessed with students, tutors, and volunteers overflowing with enthusiasm." 826michigan has many different spreadsheets for any given student that uses their services. They are interested in tracking their students in the long-term to see how much a student has improved through the years.

Claire and I have had a blast working with these organizations and the other student volunteers to help but this event together. It is so hard to believe that it is all going to get started tomorrow! I'm so excited! I'll be sure to send you an update about the solutions we all come up with over the course of the weekend.

In the meantime, you can check out some of the publicity that Claire and I did ahead of the event. Our school made a promotional video to help us get the word out:

And this past week Claire and I were interviewed on Michigan Radio's show Stateside, the podcast of which you can access here: http://www.michiganradio.org/post/stateside-solving-data-needs-non-profit-groups

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* WOW! I can't believe it has been so long since I last wrote!

There and back again: 2012 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

What a whirlwind trip I had to Baltimore for the 2012 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing! It has been a little over a week since I got back and my head is still spinning.

The purpose of this conference, which is put on by the Anita Borg Institute, is to encourage and support women to choose careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. Both organizations celebrate the unrelenting passion of their name sakes (Grace and Anita) to further the advancement of women in technology. It was incredibly inspiring to stand "on the shoulder" of these giants in the field: to know that their hard work has opened so many doors for me and my cohort.

I was lucky enough to get a scholarship from the Anita Borg Institute to come - and I did my best to represent my fellow Systers.

The conference had something for everyone: there were tracks for undergraduates, graduate students, and professional women. There were research talks on cutting edge technologies and panels on how to navigate through your career. There was even a three day long career fair running throughout the entire event. If anything, my one complaint was there was almost TOO much to do and I was overwhelmed with all the options I had to choose from.

But it wasn't all just work: it was a blast getting to catch up with old friend and make new connections.

At the Maryland Science Center to celebrate Syster's 25th anniversary

This year's conference was sold out with 3600 participants - which is amazing considering that just 10 years ago the conference only had 500 participants.

I got to see my mentor from this summer, Nadyne Richmond (second from the left), present on a panel about how to influence without Authority. The big take away: always know your audience! Persuasion is not hard if you can empathize and understand what their perspective is.

There were also a lot of great photo opportunities. This one is of me and my SI friend Andrea having fun in the Google photo booth.

This is me, Andrea, and our friend Mary (also from SI) taking at anti-gravity photo at the Maryland Science center. Priceless....

Baltimore was a lot more fun than I was anticipating. The downtown, with its restaurants and museums offered hours of post-conference entertainment.

Not to mention all the amazing fried-crab-inspired food options.

All in all it was an amazing trip that I will strongly recommend to all the first-years at SI. This conference is about more than just saying that diversity in technology is important .... this conference makes you feel the power of how much women can contribute to STEM fields. It is a shot in the arm to anyone whose felt frustrated or discouraged that they weren't good enough: this experience is about reminding you that you can do anything you set your mind to!

Ruling the school as a 2nd year MSI...

Apologies for the radio silence - I've been conquering my school BWWHWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAH [insert manicle hand rubbing, shifty eye movements, and imaginary mustache twirling here]

But seriously, I've come back to take SI by storm! I'm an officer in two clubs, both related to my major career interests, and am already starting to plan for next year's A2 DataDive. I'm a first name basis with our Dean, who is lending his full support to our event. And apparently, I'm quite literally an SI poster child...

...using information analysis is what it is suppose to say [facepalm]

Apparently all my hard work last year paid off.... In more way than one I'm learning; I only needed 5 classes this entire year to graduate. So I'm taking it easy: 3 this term and 2 next term. What's great is the classes I'm taking (Interaction Design, Fundamentals of Human Behavior, and Information Visualization) all look like they will feed well into each other.

Plus I got a sweet internship at a local start up, DeepField, with a former classmate of mine. It is an internet analytics company; we monitor traffic and flows and report back on the infrastructure costs to customers. This job literally combines all of my loves: economics, big data, and information visualization of that data. I'm going to be working on how to represent all this information to users in a useful way through the interface.

There are a ton of articles out there about how awesome DeepField is, but I'm going to point you to this most recent one in the Atlantic not just because of how cool we sound, but also because I have a little cameo over Naim's shoulder.

Who is that intelligent looking woman in pink?

Allen's deep in the throes of applying for academic positions for next year ("GoTeamAllenGetAJob!"). There is a lot of material he has to present with each application, including writing samples and prospective syllabi ... but he seems to managing to juggle this work and his fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art quite nicely. I'll leave it to him to give you an update on what he's doing (cough, cough) ...wink, wink, nudge, nudge Allen.....

But just know we're both happy, active, and amazingly productive!