The People's Republic

This last Friday I went up to the People's Republic of Boulder for a visit to the University of Colorado at Boulder and their Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) grad program. Even though the city of Boulder is one of the most liberal cities in the United States, full of hippies, stoners, and homosexuals and is practically the opposite of Provo, where I got my undergrad, I really enjoyed my visit there. The CEAE program is perennially ranked in the top 25 of civil engineering graduate schools, and I can see why. In no particular order, here are some of the things that I liked about Boulder and the University of Colorado at Boulder:

• It's close to home. The location is totally out of control of the university, but it's important nonetheless. I grew up in the Denver/Boulder area and have made many friends nearby. It was good for me to live 500 miles away from my parents during my undergrad. I really enjoyed not having them looking over my back all the time. Now that I'm 22 and will be 23 when I start grad school, I'm not too worried about their hovering because we both realize that I'm an adult and I'm mostly capable of functioning on my own. It would also be nice to go back to my parents' house when I run out of food.
• The centrifuge(s). The University of Colorado at Boulder CEAE program has a 400 g-ton centrifuge that can be used for geotechnical modeling. The centrifuge spins around, applying a load greater than the acceleration of gravity, but always perpendicular to the model ground surface. This is incredibly useful for research and makes the University of Colorado at Boulder the center for small-scale geotechnical modeling research. They also have smaller centrifuges that are useful for smaller projects and instruction.
• Dr. Dashti. Professor Shideh Dashti is a geotechnical professor at CU Boulder who specializes in geotechnical earthquake engineering. On a side note, she is also the skinniest woman who I've ever seen; probably a dress size 0. I could almost touch my thumbs and middle fingers around her waist at the narrowest point, but that's tertiary. The real reasons that Dr. Dashti could influence my grad school decision is that her research comprises the exact kind of things that I would like to work with and she is an active member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI.) I talked to her about EERI and she said that she would love to start a student branch at CU Boulder if she had a student who was will to spearhead the group. Not only would this be a fabulous opportunity to learn, but it would look really, really good on the resume. Dr. Dashti was also one of nicest people I've ever met and one can tell that she enjoys what she does.
  
• The rest of the faculty. While I was there, I met 3 other members of the faculty and have corresponded with one more via email. The three other faculty that I was able to meet were Drs. John McCartney, Richard Rigueiro, and Dobroslav Znidarcic (who is very Eastern European.) They were all very personable and passionate about their research without taking themselves too seriously. For the civil engineering grads out there, they all kind of reminded me of Dr. Richards at BYU. I also emailed Dr. Ronald Pak after the visit since he wasn't there at the time and he seemed like a pretty cool guy as well.
• The administration's attitude toward alcohol. Granted, it hasn't always been this way, but the school administration tries to discourage alcohol use as much as they can. After CU Boulder was jacked up a few years back for NCAA football recruiting violations involving alcohol and loose women, the administration has taken a much more conservative stance on alcohol consumption. As with many other universities, the students don't exactly share this view. In the civil engineering computer lab, I found a drained six pack of Coors in the recycle bins (like I said, liberals.) However, the CEAE department was not handing out beer, like another University that I've recently visited.
• The campus looks familiar. Much like the campus of BYU, CU Boulder has a mountain backdrop and very few roads crossing campus. The campus was also built like a hospital, (on a funds-available basis), which means there's no easy way to get from one end of campus to the other. While at BYU I kind of got used to a campus that felt this way, and I like that aspect of CU Boulder. The campus does not totally resemble BYU, since the university requires all buildings to be covered in at least a certain proportion of red sandstone. The buildings all kind of look the same. However, I'm okay with this inasmuch I won't have to find buildings other than the engineering center all that often.
• The football stadium. I've rooted for CU football off an on for a while now, and I really like the stadium in which they play. In a way, it's like coming around full circle.
  

To be fair, I will also make a list of things that I didn't like or that are still unknown.

• As previously mentioned, the buildings all looked the same.
• The engineering center is a deep, dark labyrinth in which each department gets its own wing.
• There may or may not be any Mormons. I've heard good things about them so far, but visits to the institute and Boulder single's ward are in order.
• People may or may not actually stand up and cheer at football games. The student section looks good on TV, but that might not reflect the actual situation. Sadly I will have to pick a grad school before the next football game for any of them.

What this all adds up to is that I would be very excited about going to CU Boulder if I got funding there or if I failed to get funding anywhere else. Even though CU would be more expensive than returning to BYU for tuition, I think it would be worth it if I could actually find a job outside of Utah when I graduate. To the chagrin of my friends at BYU, the only way that I can see myself returning is if Dr. Rollins can get me funding by April. Additionally, the passage of Utah HB116 through the state congress makes me even less excited to return to Utah, but we've already been there and done that. If I was to make odds right now, I'd say CU has a 2:1 shot, 4:1 for Oregon State, 10:1 for Virginia Tech, 12:1 for Washington, 18:1 for BYU, with the remaining 90:1 chance going to UCLA.

We'll just have to see how it goes.