Observations from the 2024 Geophysical Plasma Expedition
Chasing the aurora from Cambridge, MA to Fairbanks, AK
We stand spread across a frozen hilltop, gazing North at a pale green band low above the horizon. The landscape around us is blanketed in unbroken snow, appearing almost extraterrestrial in the flat light of the waxing crescent moon. We fidget to stay warm and murmur to one another about the slight undulations of the […]
Weak signals can build strong bonds
How science inspires community in a small town in West Virginia
Picture this: You’ve been on the road for 11 hours. Your bladder is full and your stomach is empty, but all you drive by is trees, fields, and the occasional farmhouse. You grip the steering wheel and squint through the dark at the road in front of you, expecting to come face-to-face with a deer around every turn…
Greed, Altruism, and Optics
AKA free food and the pizza incident
Part 1: Greed I am easily MIT’s biggest free food fiend. Of course, everyone here loves free food and the Institute always has plenty to give out if you know the right places to look (spoiler alert: usually not the free food mailing lists). While I as a current MIT Technology and Policy Program student […]
Grad school is like high school for adults (in the best way)
Letting go of the worst qualities I developed in college and re-embracing the best qualities I lost from high school
Since I started my PhD in 2023, I’ve felt like I’m in high school again—I’ve ditched my hyper-focused mentality from college and allowed myself to let loose like a teenager.
Sourdough and the Scientific Method
Exploring the Intersection of Yeast, Experimentation, and Life's Milestones
It was inevitable. I was staring down the barrel of the hardest academic semester of my life and needed an outlet to restore my energy– something to reinvigorate my creativity. The answer floated into my consciousness one fateful October night: Yeast. I think it takes a certain kind of person to become addicted to sourdough. […]
