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``It's been a long road, to get from there to here.'' These are the opening lyrics to ``Faith of the Heart,'' a Rod Stewart song written by Diane Warren. (It is also the theme song for the latest spin-off of Star Trek, Enterprise, which is where I first heard it. This, of course, implies two things about me. One is that my knowledge of musical history is severely lacking. The other is that I'm a nerd.) For those who are not familiar (as I was not) with the lyrics of this song, it is listed at the end of this section. This journey certainly has taken a long time - from the sixth grade, through junior high, high school, five years in college, and six years in graduate school. As with many astronomers in my generation, my yearnings to contribute to the general knowledge of our universe began with the Carl Sagan's {\it Cosmos} series. To accentuate this, in 1984 (or was it 1985?), I met Abhijit Saha, a Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellow who had come to work at the National Optical Astronomical Observatories in Tucson, Az. Carl Sagan showed me the wonders of the universe and marvellous history of astronomy. Abhijitkaku (``uncle Abhijit'') showed me how cool it was to be an astronomer. Through all the trials and tribulations of growing up, and leaving home for this first to come to Penn State, I've remained true to these inspirations.

Along the way, I've accreted many collaborators (and they will certainly not forgive my puns), made many friends, and lost loved ones. There are many many people to thank, some who have contributed directly to my work, some who educated me otherwise, some who provided emotional support, and some who simply inspired me. There is one person who falls into all of above categories and deserves special recognition. Thank you, Jane (Charlton), for being everything an advisor should be and more - a teacher, a collaborator, a parent, and a friend. It would require an entire treatise to provide sufficient thanks to all the people who deserve it and I will not attempt to do so. I simply list them (in alphabetical order) and leave it as an exercise for the reader to decipher into which category (or categories) they fall: Mark Adams, Nahum Arav, Nick Bond, Niel Brandt, Chris Churchill, Stephané Coutu, Jie Ding, Michael Eracleous, John Feldmeier, Sarah Gallagher, Jibamitra Ganguly, Santosh Kumar Ganguly, Sucheta Ganguly, Sujoy Ganguly, Fred Hamann, John Hill, Ann Hornschemeier, Sally Hunsberger, Buell Jannuzi, Suzanne Linder, Joe Masiero, Phil Pinto, Larry Ramsey, Jane Rigby, Ram Bramha Roy, Carl Sagan, Abhijit Saha, Blair Savage, Ken Sembach, Matt Shetrone, Ramona Skriiko, Michele Stark, Richard Wade, Mike Weinstein, and Stephanie Zonak. Thank you all for everything.

Faith of the Heart
Written by Diane Warren

It's been a long road,
to get from there to here.
It's been a long time,
but my time is finally here.

And I can feel a change
in the wind right now.
Nothing's in my way.
And they're not gonna
hold me down no more.
No they're not gonna hold me down.

'Cause I've got faith of the heart.
I'm going where my heart will take me.
I've got faith to believe.
I can do anything.
I've got strength of the soul.
And no one's going to bend or break me.
I can reach any star.
I've got faith,
I've got faith,
Faith of the heart.

It's been a long night,
Trying to find my way.
Been thru the darkness,
Now I finally have my day.

And I will see my dream
come alive at last.
I will touch the sky.
And they're not gonna
hold me down no more.
No they're not gonna change my mind.

I know the wind's so cold,
I've seen the darkest days.
But now the winds I feel,
Are only winds of change.
I've been thru the fire,
And I've been thru the rain,
But I'll be fine.

'Cause I've got faith of the heart.
I'm going where my heart will take me.
I've got faith to believe.
I can do anything.
I've got strength of the soul.
And no one's going to bend or break me.
I can reach any star.
'Cause I've got faith,
'Cause I've got faith,
Faith of the heart...

Faith of the heart.
I'm going where my heart will take me.
I've got faith to believe.
And no one's going to bend or break me.
I can reach any star.
'Cause I've got faith,
'Cause I've got faith,
Faith of the heart...

It's been a Long Road...