Smarty Smarty husband

For Evan's last semester in Undergrad, he applied to work on a research project with one of the VCU Professors (Dr. D).  He got the position, and quickly gained more respect and trust than students that had been working on the project for years.  He stayed on after he graduated in December and continued to help with the project, eventually getting the opportunity to write a section and becoming the only undergrad author.

I didn't know this, but apparently being an author as an undergrad is a big deal.  So after the paper was written, it was sent off to be published, and a few months ago he got the news that is has been selected for a journal and will be published in the near future.  It was a good experience, but not directly related to his field.  And not really all that interesting, unless you really like to talk about people's feelings about coins.  That's right, money.  The research examined the reaction to the re-denomination of Ghana.  Ghana went from coins to paper money and the research wanted to determine the attitudes towards the new money compared to the old money.  It was tedious work.  The paper combined four studies, so he spent hours entering data and writing citations.  He wrote the "results and discussion of study three" (He did not right the Methods section.  When I was clarifying I asked him if that was the section he wrote and he laughed.  Apparently you get to write the methods section if you are really dedicated and the author wants to give you a small reward with the last author slot on the paper. Who knew. If I get my name in a journal I will write whatever section they ask!)  He worked hard for that authorship.

This experience helped him to get into Graduate school and get onto ANOTHER research project.  The semester hadn't even started yet when he caught wind of the topic- Prisoners and why they can't seem to get a job after they are released from prison.  He thought, "That's my kinda research!"  And had one of the second year's he had just met put in a good word for him at the department's pre-semester picnic.  By the time school started he had been invited to work on the project.  A position everyone else had to apply for.

By the end of the semester the professor leading the project (Dr. V - also, why does he end up working with people who have impossible names to spell?) said, "I want you to be second author.  But you are a bad writer, so read these books over the break.  I don't say that to be mean, everyone is a bad writer.  I want you to be a good writer, so I am doing you a favor." And gave him a list of books to read over Christmas break.  Apparently she doesn't hold back.  She has some quirks.

SECOND AUTHOR.  This is a very big deal.  This means Evan is almost as important as the first author, his name will be recognized by people.  ANNND  he is third author on the second paper, which focuses on the same topic but with Juveniles.  (There is another grad student that is third author on the first paper and second on this one)  So he is now up to three (potential but likely) publications after one semester in graduate school.

This project is exploratory research that examines Prisoners and the jobs they had before being arrested, why they quit or were fired, and why they can't get a job (or choose not to) after they are released from prison.  Evan likes it.  He has been working hard with it.

When we got back from vacation, Dr. V told him she had submitted the paper to APA, hoping it would be chosen for the convention this summer.  Evan texted me Wednesday with the good news.  The paper was selected and he and a handful of the team will be going down to Orlando, FLorida to present the paper and research to a national audience.  Now, he won't be one of the keynote speakers, his will be more like a booth that people can come up to and have discussions of the paper, but this is still an honor. Not everyone is chosen to present at the APA convention.  They have over 150 thousand members- that's a lot of research going on!

I'm very proud of my husband.  He works hard and loves his field- and it shows.  Which is why he is selected to work on these projects, and given such responsibility.

GO EVAN!