Sullen Congratulations

The standard practice here at CV is to post a hearty blogorific shoutout following one's student's thesis defense. So, given that another of my students just launched himself out of the nest and is happily flapping himself away to a great postdoctoral position, I really should step up and join the tradition of sending my enthusiastic congratulations across the blogosphere. But honestly, I just don't wanna. It's not that my student didn't present an excellent defense of a strong body of work, or that I'm not terribly proud of what he accomplished. It's just that I get completely bummed whenever one of my students leaves. I uniformly adore my students, and every time one graduates I question how in the world I'm going to get over it. Intellectually, my students are my closest collaborators (since the breadth and smallish size of my department naturally limits the degree of research overlap among the other faculty). Thus, when students graduate, I lose a significant source of scientific interaction. Personally, the students in my department are terrific people, and a pleasure to know and work with. So, I flat out miss them when they leave. However, I will try to rise above and say that Ricardo, Master of Supernova Metallicities and Producer of a Seriously Old School Astronomical Thesis (double digits of observing nights on more than 5 different telescopes!) I'm very very proud of you, and deeply happy for you, but if I seem a bit sullen, it's because I'm a selfish git.