"Congratulations, Doctor Boyd"

Readers of this blog know my son Joseph by his photographs of the natural beauty of Arizona, but he has been busy doing other things, as well. Joseph has been enrolled in the Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology for the last 4.7 years at the University of Arizona. My wife Sheila and I drove to Tucson last weekend to attend Joseph's defense of his doctoral dissertation. His subject was "Eyespot Assembly and Positioning in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii." The room was packed out, with Joseph's friends, members of his church, and people from the department in attendance. After the public presentation, the audience left the room and Joseph remained with the professors for the Doctoral Final Oral Examination. When the questioning was completed, Joseph was excused from the room as the committee deliberated. Shortly afterward, he was called back in and his advisor, Dr. Carol Dieckmann, shook Joseph's hand and said, "Congratulations, Doctor Boyd." Then we all went upstairs and had a party.

Joseph giving his public presentation.

Photos by Philip Alderink