“Dr. Ezra”

Today was Ezra’s dissertation defense, the one I mentioned a few weeks ago about the affective and moral foundations of acting responsibly in an environmental context. What a difference between his defense and mine! I had two guests; he had 30 people in the room plus his parents via webcam. Thirty! He’s kind of the rock star of grad students; already has a fellowship or something to work on global climate change at Princeton. I didn’t get to stay to the end, but while I was there his committee didn’t even ask any challenging questions. They just talked about how great it is that he’s doing the work he’s doing and gave him ideas on things they thought he should do later in his career. Fortunately, he (a) did really great and important work, and (b) is a genuinely nice person. I got to talk with him and his wife briefly before it started, too – he seemed really relaxed. So, he’ll go on to do great things, and I’m looking forward to following his career.