Why, you ask, did I, Beth Tsai, who had only bitter things to say about Texas A&M on her previous DMP web page, return to TAMU for another summer?

The answer is simple: I have a love-hate relationship with this place.

The hate part all very unsuprising. As a progressive, liberal, bi-racial, East Coast woman with short hair, College Station and I have far too many opportunities to clash headlong. I will spare the reader the bitterness of it all. I'm sure that one need only to use their imagination to understand my predicament.

The love part, on the other hand, I will detail because, after all, I chose to come back here. That's right, instead of bumming around Europe like any other newly graduated senior, or, (God forbid!) diving immediately into the work force, I purposely sought out the DMP grant again and specifically requested to return to TAMU. My motives, of course, were obvious: I love my mentors. I do. I love them dearly. I love doing research with them. I love how much I learn from them and their other students when I work here. I love that they let me (and often make me) try new things. I love that I know that I'll become a better Computer Scientist because of it. I adore working here. Really. There's something so thrilling about doing research, knowing that you're actually contributing to the corpus of Computer Science knowledge. Even when it's frustrating (read: those #$%^! admissbility definitions!) and tedious (read: ack! graphing software!), it's still absolutely wonderful.

And there is no doubt in my mind that it would not be this wonderful without my mentors.

So, Jenny and Nancy, thank you. I can't tell you what a brillant experience this has been.

Of course, there will be pictures here soon of both my mentors. However, for now, links to their homepages will have to suffice.

why the hexgon?