Several exciting developments happened this week about my PhD plans. Let me post about it while they are still fresh on my mind. (As an aside, please pray for my health, as I have been having some discomfort lately... thanks. I have a huge headache as I write this, but I can't pass up this chance to glorify the Lord.)
Last Tuesday, after coming home from an enjoyable afternoon with a new friend in Cambridge, I opened my email and saw a message from Schlumberger Foundation, to which I had applied for a scholarship for my PhD under their Faculty for the Future program.
To backtrack, the FFTF award is a grant aiming to raise the gender balance of female academics in science and engineering in emerging economies, providing worthy candidates a chance to pursue a PhD or postDoc in a developed country and then be expected to go back home to serve as role-models and promoters of SET among young female students in their respective home countries. Well, my chances of being selected for this award were very slim, according to the Award coordinator herself, because I didn't live in the Philippines anymore, but after close consideration, she told me to go ahead and apply anyway, and they will see, but with the caution that I should not hope too much. So, trusting in the Lord, I went ahead and applied, with the application strategy of presenting myself as a potential role model, mentor and educator in not just one country but in two! And also, I told them (with statistics!) about the issue of gender balance in the UK, as well, showing how the statistics of UK women academics in SET are even worse than in the Philippines.
Well, 3.5 months after submitting my application, the email from FFTF said that I had been shortlisted for the internationally-competitive award and that I had successfully hurdled the first stage of the final evaluation process! I almost fainted with joy! Further down the email, I was told that I had been scheduled for a telephone interview for Friday, the 14th of March, at 3pm French time (2pm UK time). Panelists from the Board of Directors of Schlumberger Foundation in Paris would ask me about my application and my motivation and commitment, speaking to me for half an hour. I almost fainted again, this time with nerves!
As if this wasn't enough, I received an email the next day from Dr C, my potential PhD supervisor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, asking for updates on my funding applications, and if we could please talk on the phone some time? After emailing her back, she said she will ring me on Friday morning, "just for ten minutes."
I said to the Lord, "Wow, two crucial phone interviews in one day! Lord, I should really ask for prayer cover." And that's precisely what I did. Thank you to everyone who prayed for me that day (if you were in my Chikka list, I probably texted you), I must say your prayers made a huge difference in my disposition and in my whole approach to the interviews.
Dr C rang me up promptly at 10am. She said that the Board of Graduate Studies had written her a letter saying that someone from my university (UST) would normally be required to hold a master's degree before being admitted into a PhD programme. My heart sank as I listened to her, "Is this it, Lord?" I thought. "Is this the end of my dreams?" Then she resumed, "Now what they need is a very strong letter from me saying why you SHOULD be admitted even without a finished master's, and letting them know how you can be supported adequately in my research group as you do PhD work, and that your first year will be a probationary one, anyway. At the end of that is when we will decide if you are capable of doing the work or not." She paused for a bit, as I mentally chewed on what she said, then continued, "Jeanne, I will be happy to write that letter for you, but it is absolutely crucial that you get funding from Schlumberger..." and she went on to ask me about my research experience, my preferences, my ability at computer programming (almost nil!), what I remembered about partial differential equations (again, almost nil!), and other detailed Chem Engg stuff in increasing order of embarrassment for me! Then she actually coached me for my upcoming funding interview, giving me a general idea of what sort of questions to expect, what I should say, what I shouldn't say, what I need to ask them. As she spoke, I inwardly praised God for letting me find her in the jumbled haystack of UK academics I could have chosen as a potential PhD supervisor! She was already on my side, she was willing to stake her professional reputation and standing to fight for my admissions application, and she was helping me to prepare for my funding interview! And I had never met her in my life! She is literally a Godsend for me.
After she wished me luck for my interview, I put the phone down, feeling deflated at the sorry state of my academic knowledge 7 rusty years since my career break began, but also feeling grateful for how God led me to Dr C. This was the time when your prayers really began to kick in. My confidence had been affected by my sad, sad, pitiful answers to Dr C's fair but probing questions about my current academic knowledge, and I turned to the Lord again for strength and the right spiritual focus. Five minutes before my next interview began, the Lord suddenly brought to mind my prayer back in November, as I was preparing my applications: "Lord, sa Inyo po ako nag-aapply ha, hindi sa kanila. Sa Inyo po ako humihingi ng funding, at sa Inyo po ako humihingi ng permission na mag-aral ng PhD." At that time, I distinctly heard a voice in my heart saying, "What you wish, I have already granted." And I had claimed it, I had believed that it was the Lord who spoke to me, that it wasn't simply me talking to myself. The Lord brought this prayer conversation back to the forefront of my mind as I prayed while waiting for the phone call from Paris. Faith, I read somewhere, is acting as if your prayers have already been answered, and I consciously chose to do just that. I immediately relaxed, knowing I would be in the Lord's hands, that I was applying to Him, and not to any mortal individuals or corporate groups.
The phone rang at 2pm, it was Schlumberger. I spoke with the Chairman of the Board of Directors himself, teleconferenced with the Vice-Chairman. They both put me at ease right away, asking me why I had a French first name (thank you, Mommy, for naming me after two French saints!) and if I had ever been to Lisieux, which I had. They asked me questions I was confidently able to answer, and as I did, I felt my passion inevitably rise, and I felt sure that these guys could hear the sincerity and conviction in my voice. They asked me about my proposed research project, which they had a huge interest in, being a worldwide oil and gas conglomerate, since the project involved studying the environmental impacts of carbon dioxide sequestration as a mitigation option for global climate change. They asked me about my PhD application status and I was happily able to tell them I had just spoken with Dr C earlier that day. They asked me about my motivation and desire for teaching, and I told them about my heart for the youth, as shown by my past involvements, and how I really truly believed that by teaching, we are touching and changing the future. They asked me about my proposed budget, how realistic were my plans to visit the Philippines for research linkage establishment and role-modelling activities, how I planned to augment my scholarship funds with travel bursaries, and other reasonably mundane details.
The reason I thought it was quite a good interview was because at the end, the Chairman said to me, "Well, Jeanne, I think we have asked you all our questions. Now the group and I will meet next week and we will finalise the list of awardees. I suppose that someone will contact you shortly afterwards to let you know of the results." Then he paused, before continuing with "I do not want to speak before the group meets, but..." he hesitated a bit here, and I listened with bated breath as he chose his words and went on, "Well, you DO know that you are ALREADY on the shortlist, don't you?" as if implying something. "As I said, I don't want to pre-empt the group's meeting, but what I CAN tell you, Jeanne, is that YOU FIT THE PROFILE."
How I kept myself from screaming for joy, I do not know. It was as if he was saying, well, you know how the interview went, didn't you? You know what to expect, right?
So stay tuned for the official results this week. It will be out on their website by the end of this month, they say. If I get this funding, my chances of being admitted into my chosen University are so much stronger, and Dr C will find it easier to advocate my entry with the Board of Graduate Studies. Do join me in prayer as the Lord unfolds His perfect plan for me. Thanks for your support thus far, and I am so excited at what God has in store for me and for my family this year!
Now back to packing. Can't wait to see the whole Andres clan in San Diego next Wednesday! Woohoo!
