completed my second master's degree at UC Santa Cruz

We just got back from the commencement ceremony at UC Santa Cruz for graduate students. I'm now officially an UCSC alumnus!

You may recall that I decided to go back to graduate school as part of a career change. I'm proud to share that I've completed my M.S. in the Electrical and Computer Engineering program. It had been an arduous three quarters, but I'm glad I made it through. I certainly owe my gratitude to my parents, my professors and everyone else who supported me.

Academic year in review

One thing for sure is my learning journey at UCSC was a worthwhile experience. For me, the best part is that there was so much to do on campus. Going to my first Easter egg hunt in 28 years and my first ren faire were two highlights. However, the sheer number of events was too much of a good thing at times because they sometimes conflicted with my classes or even other events. I've definitely had FOMO due to missing out events I had looked forward to.

Another awesome thing about UCSC is how inclusive the community is. As a non-traditional student going back to school after 15 years in the workforce, my concern was that people would find it strange to have a middle-aged classmate. However, this turned out not to be the case, and even those who knew I was 40 didn't bat an eye. If anyone thought I was a weirdo, then they sure as hell kept it to themselves. I certainly felt at home during my time at UCSC.

Of note is that three graduate courses per quarter can be stressful from time to time. Topics taught in graduate school are often very abstract and not clearly explained in the textbooks or lecture slides. I definitely spent many sleepless nights working on assignments and studying for examples. However, this is par for the course for graduate students.

Commencement report

We had to get up at around 6 a.m. today as the commencement for the graduate division was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Even though the campus is only about an hour's drive from my house, my dad wanted to make sure we had enough time to get dressed and account for possible traffic. It was a pretty long ceremony because many Ph.D. students graduated this year.

As much as it pains me to say this, the commencement felt somewhat anticlimactic. At my previous schools, there were receptions after the ceremonies. It was nice to have a proper send-off with friends and meet their families, even when the food wasn't spectacular. But because the parking permits had tight time limits, there was no such event this time. A lot of us in the graduate division ended up leaving before the ceremony concluded. This was a bit of a surprise because most other events at UCSC were top-notch.

There was also a separate event for Baskin Engineering as a whole. It was open to both bachelor's and master's students according to the BE website, and the fact that the event was called a "celebration" implied there would be some sort of reception with opportunities to meet other graduates and their guests. But when we got there, the event turned out to be merely the commencement for undergraduates. We decided to leave as I didn't really know any undergrads in engineering other than my ECE 210 project partner, and the three of us felt a bit bamboozled.

I'm a bit bummed that I didn't get to properly say goodbye to people I had classes with. Contacting classmates on LinkedIn is just not the same as wishing them well in person. The good news is UCSC puts on great alumni events, and the next one is in about two months. I definitely hope to see some familiar faces there.

Future plans

Even though I've completed my master's degree, my stint at UCSC isn't quite over. I plan to work on a research project related to AI and genomics, and that could be used in my dissertation should I transfer to the Ph.D. program. Two professors have indicated a willingness to be my co-advisors, and there is a fairly decent chance we'll get seed funding from the UCSC Genomics Institute. I'm very excited to see where this takes me!

June 18 update: Grades have been posted for the quarter. I'd say a cumulative GPA of 3.83 ain't bad. :-)

Currently listening to: "Bye Bye Bye" by NSYNC

a highly anticipated Memorial Day lunch

I was pretty busy up to yesterday due to assignments for all my classes. For one, there is both a paper and a regular homework assignment for ECE 204 due on a weekly basis. I also had to work on my final project for CSE 239B and a homework assignment for ECE 250. However, the highlight of the Memorial Day long weekend is we had a nice lunch with Prof. Kang and Prof. Eshraghian at a restaurant in downtown Santa Cruz called the Walnut Avenue Café.

Both professors had been very supportive when I decided to apply to UCSC, and we figured this was the perfect way to return the favor. For those unaware, Prof. Kang used to be the Baskin Engineering dean in the 2010s. Dad had had told me about him many times, but this was my first time meeting him in person. We also invited their significant others — both named Mia — at Prof. Kang's suggestion. Prof. Eshraghian's partner — whom we affectionally called Mia #2 - quickly became good friends with my mom as they had a lot in common.

Of note is the Walnut Avenue Café was very crowded. Because we were told the wait time would be about 45 minutes, our party decided to head to the nearby 11th Hour Coffee in the meantime. We got our coffee and returned to the café just in time to be seated. Even there was a lot of people, the food didn't take too long to arrive. I ordered a bleu cheese burger, and it turned out to be delicious.

Our plan was to get together last September, but we had to cancel because it conflicted with my graduate student orientation. At the time, my concern was that this would give Prof. Eshraghian the wrong message that I was trying to bribe him for a better grade. I guess things worked out perfectly in the end. On the whole, everyone had a great time. I definitely look forward to more get-togethers like this one. :-)

Currently listening to: "Orion Keygentune 2003" by Dualtrax

went to a Renaissance fair for the first time!

So there was an event called Noir Faire earlier today at UC Santa Cruz that was basically a miniature Renaissance fair. I've never been to a ren faire before but had always wanted to go to one, so this was quite a neat experience. Even though this was a small event event compared to the commercial ones, the best part is it was completely free. Even the food didn't cost anything either. :-)

I'd definitely like to thank the African American Resource & Cultural Center for making this event possible.

Currently listening to: "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode

first Easter egg hunt in 28 years!

Some background: the last time I went on an Easter egg hunt was about 26 years ago, back when I was in sixth grade. I felt I was getting too old for them and only attended the one at the Morgan Center. But this was one thing from my childhood that I really missed. Participating in virtual egg hunts in RuneScape just isn't the same. I know some places have adult Easter egg hunts, but I was never able to find one near me.

In any case, there was an Easter egg hunt today at UCSC's Graduate Student Commons. I didn't want to be too greedy and only picked up two eggs because there weren't that many laying around and that they all had the same items. However, this was still a pretty egg-citing experience. It definitely brought back some childhood memories!

Currently listening to: "Bright Eyes" by Art Garfunkel

my first "real" spring break (and a very busy one) in 16 years

I'm back at UC Santa Cruz for the spring quarter. Given that I had been out of school since 2010, this was my first spring break in 16 years!

Because my ECE 255 comprehensive exam on the 19th was my last exam of the quarter, the break started a day early for me. We went to Davenport on the 21st as it's become one of our new favorite places. The three of us then headed to West Cliff Drive and went for a stroll there. One interesting sight we came across was the natural arch at Lighthouse Field State Beach. It seems no one really talks about this feature because the natural bridge at Natural Bridges State Beach is a lot more famous. Our plan was to go see that one afterwards, but all of us were a little tired and wanted to go home.

We were pretty busy for the next few days as we had to file taxes. The funny thing is I ended up helping my parents with their taxes even though it's usually the other way around. It turned out TurboTax could pull the required information directly from stock brokers, and this saves a lot of time because manually entering the data would take much longer. Because I'm more well-versed with software, my parents asked me to do the rest of their taxes for them. :P

Some time ago, the UCSC Genomics Institute put out a request for proposals for seed funding awards. Dad suggested I apply because genomics is closely linked to AI and data science, and that could be helpful in case I decide to pursue a Ph.D. It wasn't just writing a paper because I also had to do research on how AI could be applied to genomics. Even with help from my father, getting a decent draft took many hours.

Both the taxes and the proposal took so much time that I didn't get to do much else last week other than check out the new Havenhythe expansion in RuneScape and shop for groceries. However, the break ended on a high note as our family friends Jeff and Sheila invited us to their house for lunch on the 30th. It was also nice to see Sheila's brother Howard's family for the first time in over seven years. We couldn't stay too late because I needed to head back to campus, but everyone overall had a good time.

For those curious, I'm taking courses on bioelectronics, AI security and digital signal processing this quarter. Only the DSP course has exams, although the other two are heavy on papers. In any case, these are the last ones I need to pass to graduate. :-)

Currently listening to: "Buy Me a Rose" by Kenny Rogers

a great Lunar New Year + meeting some famous people!

We had a good weekend as our family friends Jeff and Sheila invited us to a Lunar New Year lunch on Sunday at their house. Our last time celebrating the Lunar New Year with others was six years ago, so this was nice for a change. Another highlight is I got to meet a few famous people this week at UCSC. :-)

I was pretty busy during the weekend as I had a homework assignment for my error control coding class. However, the good news is I managed to finish the assignment shortly before we left for Jeff and Sheila's place. It's nice to not have to worry about ECE 255 while enjoying the company of our friends. Jeff and Sheila made lots of good food like they always do. We couldn't stay long afterwards because I needed to head back to campus, but this weekend was overall enjoyable.

Of note is I got to meet two well-known people this week so far. For starters, Grant Sanderson — better known as 3Blue1Brown — came to UC Santa Cruz on the 17th to give a lecture. I admittedly had no idea who he was, but he runs a well-known YouTube channel with over eight million subscribers. I really appreciate that Prof. Eshraghian told us about this event and rescheduled the ECE 210 lecture so that they don't conflict with each other. For those curious, Grant's lecture was about deriving the surface area and volume of an n-sphere. It was pretty cool for sure.

Former actress and model Kaila Yu also gave a talk at UCSC earlier today. She mainly discussed the objectification of Asian women in today's culture, but she also talked about her book Fetishized and gave away signed copies to those in attendance. Even though I wasn't familiar with her either, this was also a neat experience. One great thing about UCSC is there are many opportunities to meet interesting people. I'm certainly looking forward to similar events in the future.

Currently listening to: "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

second quarter at UC Santa Cruz

"I plan to put the lectures on YouTube, so please don't streak in the classroom." -- Prof. Eshraghian

I moved back to UC Santa Cruz on the 4th with the help of my parents. It's hard to believe how fast time goes because it still feels like the break had just begun. But at least I'm not the only one because I've heard two other people say the same.

Christmas break report

I'd say Christmas break was mostly awesome. For starters, our family friends Jeff and Sheila invited us over for lunch on Christmas Eve. Given that I was busy on Thanksgiving due to studying for finals, this actually felt more like a make-up Thanksgiving celebration. In any case, Jeff and Sheila made lots of delicious dishes, and so did my mother. It was nice to reconnect as we hadn't seen Jeff and Sheila in a while.

Another highlight is we had my cousin Cathy over for dinner on Christmas. This was long overdue because she and Andrew both got sick last year and had to call off our get-together. Andrew didn't come this time for reasons I'd rather not go into, but Cathy and my family had a great time catching up. Cathy also told me that she loved her job so much that she plans to stay in Chicago even after Andrew completes his Ph.D. there. I'm very happy for her but am also a bit bummed that we'll probably see each other no more than once a year.

We had also planned a lunch with Mom's friend group around the New Year. However, they agreed to postpone the gathering because a group member had an emergency eye surgery and needed time to recover. I won't complain because it's so much work to host large gatherings. Mom certainly deserves to relax during the holidays!

Gatherings aside, my family also went grocery shopping several times. We got to try so much new food in the past several weeks. I also got to play RuneScape than usual because I'm usually busy due to studying otherwise. On the whole, this break was quite enjoyable.

Continuing my academic journey

To make sure I can graduate on time, I'm taking three courses this quarter. Of note is all three courses take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and three 90-minute lectures in one day are a lot to absorb. ECE 255 looks to be a particularly challenging course. I also have weekly seminars on Mondays and Wednesdays. One thing for sure is that I'll be quite busy for the next 10 weeks.

However, the good news is there is some overlap between ECE 256 and two of my current courses. I'm glad I took ECE 256 because the content from that course may come in handy soon. It was also nice to meet Prof. Eshraghian in person for the first time. He's a great lecturer and is totally hilarious. I definitely look forward to his classes.

Currently listening to: The Greatest Showman soundtrack – "A Million Dreams" by Pasek and Paul