ethanyoo.com/content/now.md

---
title: Now
date: 2023-05-03
layout: permalink
description: "Find out what I am doing now: What I'm learning or reading, what I'm working on in my free time, and where I'm at professionally."
---

**You might also want to read:** [What is a "now page"?](https://nownownow.com/about)

## Recent academic and professional progress
My independent research project from the New Jersey Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (NJLEND) graduate fellowship program is now publicly available on [Codeberg](https://codeberg.org/ethan/NJLEND) and [GitHub](https://github.com/ethyoo/NJLEND). I am writing a manuscript for peer review.

I am in the final week of my second semester at Rutgers University School of Communication and Information, where I am completing the Master of Information (MI) degree program. I plan to graduate next year.

I started working as a Data Science Graduate Specialist for Rutgers University Libraries this semester, a role in which I am developing and teaching weekly, open workshops in "Data Science Basics" for individuals who want to improve their data management and visualization skills. In March, I started working on a pilot study with a professor from the Department of Library and Information Science, and in late April, I started working for the Center for Research on Ending Violence (REV) at Rutgers School of Social Work as a temporary graduate research assistant.

{{< embed-pdf url="/NJLEND project poster (Yoo, 2023).pdf" hidePaginator="true" >}}

## In my free time
My summer plans will be finalized in the next week or two.

I'm continuing to develop a list of PhD programs to which I will apply in 2024. In addition to PhD programs in sociology, I'm also considering programs in human development and public health. I'd like to conduct mixed methods research and social policy analysis related to disabilities, health disparities and health equity, and poverty.

I also plan to take the GRE in the next few months.

## What I'm learning
* Current courses (Spring 2023): Metadata for the Information Professional, Database Design and Management, Data Analytics for Informational Professionals
* Upcoming courses (Summer 2023): Human Information Behavior
* Non-credit programs: [8-week introduction to grant proposal writing (Fort Hays State University)](https://www.fhsu.edu/sociology/grant-writing-certification-program/)

# In previous months
## April 2023
* I completed the non-credit [Certificate in Nonprofit Career Development (Center for Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Texas A&M University)](https://web.archive.org/web/20230327200557/https://onestarfoundation.org/certificate-nonprofit-career-development/), for which I received a full scholarship.
* I was awarded an [Equity Scholarship](https://www.njla.org/scholarships) by the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) for the 2023-2024 academic year. The Equity Scholarship was funded through partnerships with Rutgers University School of Communication and Information, the New Jersey State Library, and LibraryLinkNJ. 

## March 2023
* I decided that I will pursue a research doctorate (i.e., a PhD) after graduating with the Master of Information (MI) degree - most likely in a social science (e.g., sociology or demography).

## November 2022 to February 2023
* I interviewed for full-time employment with many interesting government and non-profit organizations, but I ultimately decided to continue attending school full-time while working part-time.
* I created a [Letterboxd account](https://letterboxd.com/ethanyoo/stats/) to log the movies that I watch.
* I spent some time reviewing Esri tools (e.g., ArcGIS Pro) and self-hosting concepts (e.g., Docker containers and Ansible).

## October 2022
* I finished my year of national service in the [AmeriCorps VISTA](https://americorps.gov/serve/fit-finder/americorps-vista) program on October 24, 2022.

## September 2022
* I started the Master of Information (MI) degree program at the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information on a part-time basis.
* I started NJLEND, a graduate fellowship for which I was selected as the first Library and Information Science Fellow in May 2022.

## August 2022
* I took an American Heart Association (AHA) course to renew my Basic Life Support (CPR and AED) certification.
* I finished Optimization - Linear Programming at Thomas Edison State University.

## July 2022
* Using the scholarship I was awarded by Thomas Edison State University, I started a graduate-level course (Optimization - Linear Programming) in the data science program.
* I met with a group of friends from Swarthmore College in New York City.

## June 2022

* I was certified to graduate from Thomas Edison State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and an associate's degree in mathematics on June 10, 2022. I also completed the undergraduate certificates in Computer Information Systems and Operations Management.
* I was awarded scholarship funds for the fall 2022 semester by the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University.
* I was awarded a Joseph Lippincott Fellowship ([Swarthmore Fellowship](https://www.swarthmore.edu/fellowships-and-prizes/swarthmore-fellowships)) by the Fellowships and Prizes Committee at Swarthmore College.

## May 2022

* I finished the February 2022 term at Thomas Edison State University, during which I took Computer Architecture and the Liberal Arts Capstone.
* I was selected to participate in [The Boggs Center's Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (NJLEND) program](https://www.rwjms.rutgers.edu/boggscenter/student/LEND.html) as a Library and Information Science Fellow during the 2022-2023 academic year. NJLEND is an interdisciplinary graduate fellowship and leadership development program.

## February 2022

* I was [interviewed by someone from Saylor Academy](https://www.saylor.org/2022/02/student-spotlight-ethan-yoo/).
* I was awarded $2500 in scholarship funds by the Thomas Edison State University Scholarship Committee.

## January 2022

* I officially withdrew from the Master of Social Work (MSW) program at Smith College School for Social Work, from which I had been taking a leave of absence.
* I finished the November 2021 term at Thomas Edison State University, including three [online courses](https://www.tesu.edu/academics/online-courses) (Data Structures; Database Management; Software Engineering) and two [e-Pack courses](https://www.tesu.edu/academics/e-pack-courses) (Computer Concepts and Applications; Industrial Psychology).

## November 2021

* Between moving in January 2021 and summer coursework at Smith College, I had some months where I wasn't regularly volunteering as an EMT. I'm back to it as of late November 2021.

## December 2020

* I started participating in [#100DaysToOffload](https://100daystooffload.com/) on December 1. #100DaysToOffload "challenge[s] people to publish 100 posts on their **personal blog** in a year." I'm posting these entries to [Write.as,](https://ethan.writeas.com/) a blogging platform with its foundations in [free software](https://writefreely.org/) and [a respect for privacy.](https://write.as/principles)
* I disabled access logs and updated the [privacy policy](/privacy/) on December 24.
* I left Mastodon for a few weeks before creating a new account as [@ethanyoo@todon.eu](https://todon.eu/@ethanyoo) on December 29.

## November 2020

* I wrote my first "personal" post on November 2, where I describe [leaving Cloudflare and GitLab Pages.](/cloudflare/)
* I'm back to volunteering as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) as of November 4.
* I posted the [privacy and security policy](/privacy/) for this website on November 8.
* I wrote a new ["Start" page](/index.html) on November 11; it's now more of a landing page. There is an image of the old index page at the bottom of this post.
* I added the "Now" page (what you're currently reading) on November 11.

# Images

![The index.html (a website's default starting page) until November 11, 2020. It included summaries of the four most recent posts, as well as the header and footer. The current index page has similar links, including a modified footer.](/index-old.png#center "The website's index (home) page until November 11, 2020.")