The Yellow Zone
Five Ways to Break Out of the Department Bubble
In my very first lecture at MIT Sloan School of Management, a professor started class with a drawing of a huge three-ring target. The bullseye was colored green, the middle ring was yellow, and the outer ring was red. “This is your comfort zone,” she said, pointing to the green circle. “We want you to […]
Shaping Another Person’s Decision
Navigating the interview process
After just 30 days of officially starting grad school in the Synthetic Neurobiology group at the Media Lab, my advisor asked me to help interview a couple of rotation students and prospective post-docs. It made sense—those that I was asked to interview were interested the projects similar to mine, so it would be helpful to […]
Do What You’re (Not) Good At
Avoiding the tendency to over-specialize in science
“What do you want to work on?” This is one of the most expected–and sometimes dreaded–questions that prospective graduate students encounter during the interview process. Because, as they say, “it’s a trap!” It’s not an innocent way to determine your area of interest. Rather, it’s a means to evaluate your degree of specialization. […]
Good Ideas
They don't grow on trees, so where do you get them?
Even at MIT, good ideas don’t grow on trees. Instead, I’ve found that good ideas have two ingredients: preparation and practice. 1. Preparation. The act of acquiring new knowledge and ideas. The foundation on which my good ideas will be built. 2. Practice. Generate lots of ideas. Engage with ideas in new ways. […]
In Pursuit of Riches
Publications as the currency of academia
I am a poor grad student. And I don’t mean in the classic, monetary sense. (Although, let’s be real, what grad student isn’t poor?) I am ‘poor’ in the currency of academia- publications. If you’ve never experienced academia for yourself, you might not be aware of how profound and accurate that comparison is. Some people […]
