Saket Vora

Senior design continues on. We’re around 2 or 3 weeks behind schedule from my determination. There is going to be a lot of activity in the final five weeks. Mike was in town last week for his spring break. We were able to talk about his future plans. Nader flew back into town on his spring break from Stanford yesterday, but I haven’t had a chance to see him yet. Yesterday a group of friends got together at Mitch’s to celebrate Win’s 22nd birthday. Recipients of the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship were announced yesterday. This is a very nice fellowship — $30k for three years. My friend Kevin Henderson got one for his materials science work at Northwestern, where he is a Ph.D student. I’ve known Kevin since high school (he is a fellow triplet) and he is on a trajectory for great things. No one else I know got it. Oh well.

I’ve been watching the NCAA basketball tournament pretty closely too. My bracket got nuked by Wisconsin and Washington State losing, but I barely spent any time making mine so it’s fine. There has been no Cinderella story this year. UNC just had an epic collapse to Georgetown. The Final Four includes #1, #1, #2, and #2 seeds. Good job NCAA Selection Committee. On the other side, the Lady Wolfpack had their own magical run. Coach Kay Yow of the NC State’s women’s basketball team has been the most inspirational story of the year. Her cancer re-emerged and after she returned to the team they’ve won 12 of 14 games. They continued to beat odds until they lost to Connecticut in the Sweet 16. Bravo Kay Yow, you are an inspiration.

Finally, my dad is in Beijing this week on business. Not sure if he really wants to be there, but whatever. Interesting times.