Month: July 2015

On Friday, July 10, 2015 I successfully defended my thesis proposal at Northeastern University. My thesis proposal is titled, “Cell Phone Sites and Single Family Home Prices in Calabasas, California: Perceptions and Percentages.”

Here is a summary of my proposed and approved research:

In the proposed research, I have two principal aims. My first aim is to assess whether single family home prices, reflected in public arms-length buy-sell transactions in the studied city, are impacted positively or negatively, or not at all impacted, after the installation of a cell site near single family homes. By studying single family home sales price data, I will have a quantitative basis that will disclose whether a statistically significant sale price change may be observed and attributed to the installation of a nearby cell site. The second aim of this proposed study is to learn why cell site project opponents actively resist installations in and adjacent to single family residential areas. By approaching the question of cell site impacts on single family home prices both quantitatively and qualitatively, this project will test whether public perceptions are in line with changes, if any, in nearby single family home prices.

By successfully defending my thesis proposal, I have been promoted from doctoral student to doctoral candidate.

Life is good.

[Updated 7/14/15]

As a doctoral student conducting research, I will work under the supervision of a faculty member at Northeastern University who possesses a relevant  doctorate and experience.

Normally, doctoral candidate supervisors–sometimes called principal investigators– are selected by the one of the program chairs. I, of course, have to be different.  I want to control my own fate, at least to the extent possible in academia.

Given the nature of my proposed project, which will be heavy on stats and math, plus interview and survey techniques, I have approached a professor at NEU who has all of the requisite credentials to serve as my PI/supervisor.   I already know him from the first year of doctoral program, and also know of his very supportive supervision style from a previous Cohort member (now a LP.D) who had the same supervisor a few years ago.

The professor has agreed to supervise me, subject to confirmation by the program chair.  I put in that request yesterday.  We’ll see if I get my first (and only) choice for my supervisor.

I’m still working on securing my required second reader, but I have a couple of strong candidates identified.  I’ll reach out right after the holiday weekend.

[Updated 7/14/15] I now have a Principal Investigator and second reader assigned to me.  The PI is not the person I suggested to the thesis chair, but he is someone of great intellectual and academic strength experienced with hedonic price modeling.  My second reader is exactly the person I hoped would guide me.  He’s a Ph.D and attorney, and his humor matches mine for dryness.

I’m on a long road, but I’ve reached the half-way point. I turned in my thesis proposal tonight. It was a struggle to keep to the page limit while still expressing the necessary elements, but I think I’ve accomplished my task.

I’ll hear back from the thesis supervisor in the next week or two.

I am relived. I am tired. I am happy.

jlk