Grad School is Just Chess with Pipettes
Lessons learned from 10,642 chess games that also applied to my PhD
In grad school, I learned how to play chess—and got addicted to it. At first, it was just a fun distraction from experiments and papers, but over time I realized that many of the lessons I was learning over the board applied just as much to my PhD. Strategy, patience, resilience—the same principles that helped […]
These Boots Are Made for Walkin’
The first 10 places to locate in Cambridge
There are an incredible number of buildings, parks, and attractions to visit across the MIT campus and greater Boston area. When I first arrived, though, I needed to identify and find the places that were most immediately important for orienting myself. Here are the first locations I scouted out upon landing in Cambridge. The first […]
Centering Myself by Looking Up
A Story About My Journey Into Birdwatching
Having just started a graduate program in a new city, one of the questions I’ve been asked most over the last few months is “Where are you from?” I usually take a quick beat, chuckle, exhale, and then say “Well … it’s complicated, but I was born in and grew up in New York, and […]
Digital Dumpster Diving
A Grad Student’s Guide to Facebook Marketplace
I’m unreasonably proud of furnishing almost my entire apartment with second-hand finds. I learned the joy of sifting through discarded items on the side of the road early on. It was quite often that on the way home from soccer practice my parents would pull the car over to inspect a piece of furniture or […]
I can see clearly now
Getting contact lenses and defining a research vision
Over the winter break, I got contact lenses for the first time. Putting them in produced an effect like removing a plastic sheet from before my eyes. Every detail, even in the distance, was crisp and clear. When driving, I could read the small print on signs, and in the mirror I saw every pore […]
