Arrived Here

I Made It! (for all out there who were concerned, maybe a few) Jen and I had a great last day taking public transit up to NYC for a few hours before we said our good bye's. It was extremely difficult to say goodbye to her. I already miss her. The flight itself was fine. There was a 2 hour delay to takeoff due to a storm. We were the 32nd plane in line for take off. Eitherway, I still made it into Aub Dhabi.



Now once I touched down, I went through the line to get my visa, iris scan and a trip through customs. After I got my bags, I figured there would be somebody from the school waiting for me. So I pulled off, looking around, but saw nothing. People had been asking if i needed a taxi, which i politely said no, mainly because I had no idea how to get to the villa I would be living at. So at this point, i started to make circles around the area looking for my name, or the school logo or something. But, there was nothing. I started to think of all the crazy things i might need to do in the mean time, like sleep in the airport, call a friend back in the US for some ideas. This was summing up to be my worst fear, having no where to go in a foreign country, let alone one where I did not speak the native language.



I tried to rationalize some things in my head, like maybe they were late because my flight got delayed, or since I went through customs quickly, etc. I decided to sit down for 10 min to get my bearings and thing about what I should be doing now. Finally, I decided to walk around to see if anybody was around. I looked high and low, and then, finally, I spotted somebody with the proper logo, and the school's name on back. I asked them if they were here to pick me up. They recognized my name, but said they were only here to pick up one student (that student not being me). They informed me that they thought I got on a different flight, and would not be arriving until the next day. No worries, but I then realized if that other student had not arrived on that day, and my plane was not 2 hours late, I could have easily spent the night sleeping in the Abu Dhabi airport.........................

That is it for now, I have limited access to internet. I will post more later

T minus Five Days

Greetings All,

So for my friends and family who I have already told, and my friends who are first finding out now, I am moving to Abu Dhabi, UAE on Tuesday, August 18th. I was recently accepted into the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. To give some background on this, let me explain:

Back in 2006, the Government of the UAE came to the conclusion that:
1) They have billions of USD in Fossil Fuel Reserves
2) Fossil Fuels will not last forever (maybe not even 100 years)
3) In order to grow and to secure their energy and economic future, they need to invest in renewable energy and sustainability

Through this, they set up the Masdar Initiative, a comprehensive plan to build a zero carbon city in the middle of the desert, close to Abu Dhabi. The Initiative, costing over 22B USD, will also have an investing company to foster renewable energy growth; plans for a zero carbon city which will be the model for cities of the future and lastly, a graduate level research institute to lead scientific growth in the fields of renewable energy and sustainability research. There is a lot more literature out there; just follow the links in this paragraph. Also check out some YouTube Videos 1 - 2 - 3

The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) is the centerpiece of Masdar City. Construction is well under way, and will be ready for students when we arrive next week. There are 5 Msc degree programs ranging from Systems and Mechanical Engineer to Material Science. The work here has been guided through a strong partnership with MIT. The school provides a full scholarship to all who are accepted, which included tuition, books, housing, health care, plane flights and a monthly stipend.

Professionally, this seems like an opportunity of a lifetime. I finally get to research renewable energy, live in a foreign country, and progress towards a potential PhD. The school is truly revolutionary and will hopefully provide many avenues for me to help the global transition to a renewable energy economy.

The converse of all this is that I will be leaving my loved ones back home. Most notably, I will greatly miss my girlfriend Jen. We have been dating for nearly three years now, and it will be extremely rough to not have her close. She has been an enormously positive influence in my life, and has stayed with me through many of our lives’ ups and downs. I will certainly miss my parents, grandparents and brother Greg. And lastly, my other friends out there from high school, Penn State, Charlottesville, and DC.

This is all for now. I’ve been quite busy getting packed up and organizing for the trip out there. I’ll update soon. Feel free to contact me via e-mail/GTalk (shotputsteve(at)gmail.com) or AIM or Skype (shotputsteve). If you also have a Blackberry, we can swap Pins to use BB Messenger. It is free for international use as long as you have the unlimited data plan. Later on.