ABSTRACT
I reflect upon my academic career path that ultimately led to receiving the COPSS Presidents’ Award, with the hopes of providing lessons and insights for younger researchers.
On a chilly Toronto evening in February, 2007, my wife and I returned home from a restaurant. My wife went into the kitchen to put some leftovers in the fridge, while I flopped onto the couch and absent-mindedly picked up a laptop computer to check my email. A minute later my wife heard a dazed and confused “Oh my god!” and rushed back in to see what was wrong. I was barely able to mutter that, to my amazement, I had just been selected to receive that year’s COPSS Presidents’ Award.
