PhD defence of Michelle Nygren

Friday was the day where Michelle Nygren defended her PhD thesis ‘Impact of climate variability on dynamic groundwater storage in mid- and high latitude countries’ at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Erik was the examination coordinator meaning he was responsible for organising the defence and invite an appropriate opponent and three committee members. Thus, it was with great joy and relief we could conclude that everything went according to plan, and both Michelle and the opponent Lena Tallaksen from University of Oslo did really well at the defence. In my opinion, Lena Tallaksen is a role model for the rest of us on how to take on the task of being an opponent. She very systematically went through the thesis with slides for each comment and question, which made the defence a calm process. It avoided making the PhD student nervous but rather turned it into an interesting discussion. That said, Michelle did really well both in her presentation and in answering the questions. Well done!

We know Michelle better than some other students because she and Lina Rasmusson came to Iceland back in December 2019 to look after our dogs while Erik and I attended the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, US. They did an excellent job and the dogs have loved them ever since. Michelle even convinced her mother to buy a Smooth Collie, and she is now the owner of a 18 months old male called Bilbo. They live on Gotland. Bilbo couldn’t join the defence, but we had a long talk with Michelle’s mother about dogs, and our Smooth Collie Deli joined the party. The weather was glorious so the grill party started outdoor.

Congrats to Michelle on a well-earned doctoral degree and all the best wishes for the future!