It’s Never Too Late to Learn

– It’s never too late to fall in love. Sandy Wilson– It’s never too late to start over, never too late to behappy. Jane Fonda– It’s never too late to be what you might have been.George Eliot– It’snever too late togive upour prejudices. Henry DavidThoreauOne thing for sure, it’s never too late to learn or to get an edu-cation. It’s certainly never too late to pursue a doctorate. I hadan experience with this when my roommate and I were goingthrough the engineering doctoral program. His mother wasabout55atthetime,andshesignedupforadoctoralprogramin business. I was in a rush to finish, but my roommate joinedthe Navy and flew jets for a few years in the middle of his pro-gram. His mother not only finished her business degree, butalso obtained a tenure track-position at Ole Miss and retiredasanassociateprofessorofbusinessanumberofyearslater.Over the past 30 years, I have had great fun with my friendthat his mom kicked his butt in school. Although, I have toadmit, my friend ended up being very successful in boththe Navy and as a high-level engineer with many researchand development successes.In the mid to late 1990s, I went to work for RichVollmerhausen, a well-known infrared physicist, toinvestigatetheperformanceofinfraredimagers.Itwasoneofthegreatest5 years of my life as I learned from Rich, and we publishedaround 100 papers, a few of them groundbreaking. Richhad done more significant research than any of the PhDs Ihad ever known. We both learned a great deal and enjoyedthe research that included theory, field experimentation, andlaboratory measurements. After a long successful career ingovernment, Rich retired and consulted for a few years.One day, he decided he was going to go get a PhD, andin short order, he was accepted at the University ofDelaware. In his 60s, he moved to Newark and completedcomprehensiveexaminations,conductedaresearchdisserta-tion,defendedhisresearch,andbecameDr.Vollmerhausen. Ihave always been proud of Rich, but nothing makes me moreproud than to see someone like Rich pursue a program withtheattitudeof“when”theybecomeDr.Vollmerhausen,not“if,”as manyofus youngerpeopleinaprogram experienced. Iamnow proud to call Dr. Vollmerhausen my business partner.My girlfriend, Juliet, who currently works at the WhiteHouse in the area of counter proliferation of weapons ofmassdestruction, hashadacareer of25yearsingovernmentin both the State Department and the intelligence community.She has a master’s degree in international studies fromGeorgetown and is very accomplished. She just recentlydecided to enroll in the University of Central Florida’s doctoralprogram for international security studies, and in the fall shewill bea full-time student. Icantell sheisa little nervous aboutgoing back to school, but I can also tell you she is reallyexcited about it. University of Central Florida is very fortunateto be getting someone with her experience and knowledge onthe subject, and it should make the program stronger for theother students. Juliet is still young, but she is not the typicalage of doctoral students who went through school continu-ously. It is only a matter of short time that she will be calledDr. Smith, and she will be onto her next adventure.I strongly encourage anyone who wishes to go back toschool to do so. Education not only makes your life better,but also improves the lives of the younger students aroundyou. Having someone around with experience helps theothers learn in a more robust way. Rich will tell you it isnot easy, but it is rewarding.