To the mom applying to grad school:
How Motherhood led me to MIT
“Can’t believe you got it done with children! Good for you!” an old friend told me. I received similar remarks from other people as they learned that I had applied, enrolled and now attend graduate school with two young toddlers; they applaud my ability to do so DESPITE motherhood. However, as I reflect on my […]
Vacation time!… What to do? What to do?
Opportunities for graduate students during pandemic and non-pandemic periods
When packing my suitcases to do my Master’s in Engineering and Management at MIT, I was not just thinking about which classes I was going to take, but also about what I was going to do over the vacation period. Three months of summer vacation is a lot of time to travel around the […]
Pass the class — get a tat
The process of making permanent decisions
Of all the injustices committed by well-intentioned cartographers, the one dealt to Antarctica is one of the most common and, from the point of view of this glaciologist, the worst. Picture Antarctica: do you see a wide, skinny strip at the bottom of the map, like this? The Robinson projection, which was used by National […]
My journey home
How I Came to Love Cambridge
I am a California girl. I love walks on the beach, wearing shorts in January, cultural acceptance of athleisure wear as commonplace dress, and every restaurant having a vegetarian option. As a result, moving to almost the furthest state possible for at least half a decade came with some concerns. What will the winter be […]
Piruksraurugut!
We have to do it!
For thousands of years, Inuit women celebrated womanhood and rites of passage by giving and receiving traditional markings. Two years ago, I received my tavluġun (chin tattoo) through a traditional Inuit hand poke method, where a needle is dipped into ink and then poked into the skin. Part of the meaning behind the two thinnest […]
