Kevin P. Kent, Ph.D.

 I'm more than a little behind in getting this post up so I apologize for the delay. Many of you have already heard the news, but Kevin defended his thesis on August 26th and passed! The weeks leading up to the defense date were long. It felt like every waking moment had a thought about the presentation. Kevin worked so hard to get ready for this and we are all so proud of him. Kevin's parents and his brother Joe were all able to fly out to watch the defense and to celebrate afterwards.

Waiting for the talk to start.

Kevin in action. The talk went really well. There were some good questions and Kevin did wonderful at answering them.

After the Q&A portion all of us had to leave the room while Kevin stayed behind with his Committee. The Committee is made up of several professors at Stanford who end up deciding whether you pass or not. They ask questions to Kevin while the rest of us just wait for him to come out of the room. It gave us some time to set up for the reception afterward but then it was just waiting anxiously.

Anxiously waiting good news!

We watched as Kevin came out of the Gazebo where he presented. We watched as Kevin paced back and forth while his Committee was voting inside. It seemed like forever and then finally they all came out of the room to talk to Kevin. We assumed since there was no crying or a hung head that he passed but we finally got a thumbs up and were able to relax.

Kevin talking with his Committee after hearing he passed!

I was a little worried about the reception since it was my responsibility. I'd never been to a thesis defense before and since it was the only thing I had control over I wanted it to be nice for Kevin. Luckily I had lots of help from Kevin's family as well as from Brian and Moria.

Kevin had picked out the type of cake he wanted from The Prolific Oven the week before and Kevin and Patti took care of getting them for us. They were so delicious and everyone at the reception loved them.

Orange Chocolate Almond and Lemon Custard Cream

Colin, Brian, and Moria as well as many of Kevin's lab members were very helpful in listening to Kevin's practice talks. I know he appreciated all their input, support, and time as he prepared for the big day.

Congrats Kevin!

We set up the reception outside of the Chemistry buildings on Mudd Lawn since it was gorgeous outside. It allowed people working in different buildings to stop by for just a little bit as they passed by or stay for the entire thing if they liked. We all felt like it went really well. The sandwiches were yummy and the cake was incredible.

Time for cake!

Kevin, Joe, and I all headed over to Kevin and Patti's hotel pool that afternoon to relax for a while. I know Kevin really needed that down time after weeks of not really being able to do so. That evening Kevin and Patti took us out to eat at Cheesecake Factory along with Colin, Moria, and Brian to celebrate.

The meal was incredible and I think we all left stuffed. We had such a nice time talking, telling stories, and laughing. It really was a wonderful night.

Per tradition we had to head to The Nuthouse afterwards to meet up with friends to celebrate. Despite someone else having their thesis defense celebration that night (in Menlo Park rather than The Nuthouse and a  couple weeks after they defended....I mean really...who does that?) we had a pretty good turnout. 

Jake, Kevin, and Jason

At one point Kevin (and Scott who defended about a month ago) were both iced. For those unfamiliar...if you get iced you have to chug a Smirnoff Ice while on one knee. I believe our friend Josh brought this custom out here to Stanford but I'm not really sure. (Josh was actually iced at his own wedding reception). I Googled this phenomenon and read a couple funny articles but I'll let you do that yourself if you want to learn more.

Normally they are luke warm at softball games
but this one was very cold...
not sure if that was a good thing.

After calling it a somewhat early night (Kevin was exhausted and ready to go home before midnight) we got up the next day to take a little trip to Big Sur. Kevin and I had never been and it was definitely on our list of things to do

A stop off of Highway 1.

We did a little hike in the redwoods, ate lunch at this beautiful lodge, and had a wonderful afternoon. The waterfall wasn't incredibly impressive being late summer and after having just seen Niagara Falls but it was still beautiful outside.

Kevin and Kevin getting close to the Falls

Another stop on Highway 1. It was incredible how you could go from being completely comfortable to super cold once you got close to the fog. It made for breathtaking sights though.

Until moving out here I'd never really seen fog like this before. The way it settles and you can see it in a thick wall is a cool sight.

The restaurant we ate at for dinner was this place with an incredible view of the ocean from the cliffs above. We wandered around for a little bit before eating and if it had been earlier in the day we may have stayed longer. I had already changed into flip flops and it was quickly getting colder as the sun began to set.

Brothers!

Group Shot!

The rest of the weekend involved a couple movies, a card game, and quality family time. As usual the weekend flew by much too quickly and it was time to say goodbye once again. Goodbyes are never fun but we were so happy they were all able to make it out to visit.

Kevin will be taking a writing quarter this fall which will allow him time to make a few changes to his written thesis before its final submission, finish up a few pending experiments, help with an NIH grant for the lab, train people in his subgroup on the Ultrafast Laser, and apply for jobs. As of right now Kevin is focusing his job search on the Bay Area. There are so many opportunities in the biotech industry and many connections available through the Stanford community. There is still plenty of unknown but it looks like we'll be out here for at least a few more years. That means if you haven't visited us yet there is still time!