RCAC - HUBzero

Thanks to a "no-cost extension," I'm still able to work primarily on my research as part of the grant that I mentioned last time. As an indirect result, I get to enjoy the increasing frustration of trying to get a paper published in conferences that generally have around a 20% acceptance rate. Throw in the fact that I'm doing systems research covering problems that aren't necessarily recognized as mainstream by the research community, and you probably end up with a recipe for disaster, or at least something close to that.

So, at this point I've had the privilege of watching four (maybe more accurately three and a half when considering material reuse) papers get rejected from four conferences. On the plus side, I take a small amount of solace in the fact that the project I'm working on should eventually result in a practical, publicly deployed system. Which, admittedly, is a rarity in today's research environment.

Nevertheless, I grow increasingly frustrated and at times struggle to find motivation to continue. It is not impossible to graduate without publications (there is no explicit requirement in that regard), but such a result is less than ideal.

And so, all official requirements aside from writing my dissertation now met, I continue to bash against the giant barrier to entry that is the research community. Perhaps somehow I will find a way to make it through.