Welcome to my graduate student webpage! Here you may find random news updates, my background, news items covering my journey, and some helpful resources for students
Friday, January 30th
2009:
On Monday, February 2nd 2009 I will host my 3rd annual NSF Graduate
Research Fellowship application workshop at The City College of New York.
The event will take place from 12.30 to 1.45pm in Steinman Hall room
2M7.
For more information about applying for the NSFGRF, please see my NSFGRF Help page
Wednesday, December 10th
2008:
As of today, the state of Minnesota is still recounting the ballots in its U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Norm Colman and Democrat
challenger Al Franken. Minnesota Public Radio is allowing the public to view the contested ballots and decide which candidate should receive the vote. To have
your say on the disputed ballots, please visit: MPR's Challenged
Ballots: You Be The Judge!
Monday, November 24th 2008:
This weekend, my friend David Bauer was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to
pursue a D.Phil in genetics at Oxford University. David is currently a
senior majoring in chemistry at my alma mater, The City College of New
York (CCNY). I first met David in 2006, when he joined CCNY after
finishing first place in the 2005 Intel Science Talent Search
competition. David will be joining another CCNY alum (and my friend)
Lev Sviridov who won the prestigious award in 2006. Congratulations,
David! You make us all very proud.For the full story about David and his
accomplishments, please see the following news release
On another note, the state of Minnesota can celebrate for two
2009 Rhodes Scholars! Brian Krohn and Ashley Nord. Mr. Krohn, a
senior at Augsburg College will study environmental change and
management at Oxford. He is the first Rhodes Scholar to ever be
selected from Augsburg College. Ms. Nord, a Rapid City, SD native is a
senior at the University of Minnesota. She will be pursuing a doctorate
in physics. Congratulations to both of them as well!
Monday, November 3rd 2008:
The 56th United States presidential election will take place tomorrow,
Tuesday, Nov 4th. If you are a Minnesota resident, and still haven't
registered to vote in the state of Minnesota, you may register the day
of the election at the voting polls by bringing your driver's license
and a utility bill showing your name and address of residence.
The league of Women Voters of Minnesota, a non-partisan political
organization has published a voting guide for Minnesota voters, which
gives the profiles and positions of candidates running for U.S.
President, Senate and Congress.
The League of Women Voters of Minnesota 2008 voter guide can be found
here
Happy elections day!
Monday, October 13th 2008:
Today, Professor Paul Krugman of Princeton University won the Nobel
Prize in economics. Prof. Krugman, 55, established himself as an expert in the economics of trade and geography. Prof. Krugman is most famously known as a New York Times columnist. For the past eight years, he has been a vocal critic of the Bush administration. For a sample of his work please visit his NYT Op-Ed page He usually publishes Op-Ed columns on Mondays. Congratulations to Prof. Krugman! On another note, happy birthday to my wife, Zahra! Growing old with her beats winning the Nobel Prize for me.
Tuesday, September 2nd 2008:
I will be the writing teaching assistant for CSci3081W: Program Design and Development this semester. My office hours are Thursdays 2:15pm-3:15pm EE/CS 2-209 right after our class meeting. You can also email me to schedule a meeting if my office hours are inconvenient. Please check my CSci 3081W section on this site for future updates.
Friday, July 25th 2008:
Today Professor Randy Pausch died of metastasized pancreatic cancer at his Chesapeake, Virginia home. He was 47 years old. Professor Pausch is most known for the 'Last
Lecture' he delivered at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007 -- at the time doctors anticipated he had 6 months to live. Professor Pausch out performed their prognostic by five months; appearing
publicly on numerous occasions and displaying great physical condition. Professor Pausch went on to publish The Last Lecture (2008, Hyperion) in collaboration with Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow. As of July 2008, it was the #1 best seller in The New
York Times advice books list.
Professor Pausch was most notably known
for bridging computer science and arts though the Entertainment
Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon. His Building Virtual Worlds
annual competition was one of the premier events on the Pittsburgh
campus.
Sunday, June 1st 2008:
The Algerian-born French designer (Couturier) Yves Saint Laurent died today at age 71 in Paris. Yves Saint Lauren was hailed as the successor of legendary
French designer Christian Dior in the late 1950s. Two of the most significant impacts Mr. St-Laurent had on fashion were establishing pants as elegant couture for women, with most notably his smoking (tuxedo in French) - which was considered a no-no in the 1960s - and using multi-ethnic models on his runway. His ashes will be dispersed over Marrakesh, Morocco where he kept his winter home.
Saturday, May 31st 2008:
Today, Zahra Aljabri and I got married at her parents Moorpark, CA home. The religious festivities were presided over by the local Imaam, Ahmad Patel. Contrary to common beliefs, marriage in Islam requires both parties to agree to the spouse, the dowry, and any conditions recorded in the marriage contract (similar to prenuptial agreements.) A forced marriage is considered invalid in Islam as per the Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) authentic teachings.
We will host a wedding reception in the evening of June 1st, 2008. We are expecting about 300 guests and would like to thank them all for attending and sharing this festive moment with us.
The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.