Santa Fe Visit

I've spent the last three days visiting the Santa Fe Institute. My main task while here has been to select the students for the 2007 Complex Systems Summer School. As of this afternoon, we've made our selections. We will be sending notification to students probably by the end of the week. The decisions were difficult, as there were many more qualified applicants than we could take. I'm amazed at the number and really interesting and compelling applications that we got.

Although short, the trip to Santa Fe has been good. It was nice to get out of Maine for a few days, and it was great to spend time with a few friends--some new, some old. I've been visiting the Santa Fe Institute for over eleven years. Not counting NYC where I lived until I graduated high school, this is the longest association I've had with a place. I spent four years in Minnesota in college, two years teaching high school in Chattanooga, five years in California for graduate school, and now almost nine years in Maine. I've never spent much more than a month at a time in Santa Fe. Nevertheless, in many ways Santa Fe has a familiar, home-like feel to it.

Tomorrow I journey home to Maine. Although I'm a little sad to be leaving Santa Fe so soon, it will be nice to be back. There is a snowstorm that looks like it will be hitting New York tomorrow evening. Conveniently, I fly through New York tomorrow evening. I really hope that I don't get stranded.