Go before you’re ready
Trusting yourself in a time-limited world
I like being prepared. It gives me a sense of control which is my shield against anxiety. The first time I visited New York, I read a guide on using the subway system. Before attending a beginner bachata workshop, I watched a tutorial. I believed that with research and practice, I could conquer any challenge. […]
Escape the lab: Summer fun!
10 ways to get out of the lab and make the most of summer in Cambridge!
In Cambridge, summer is a season you just can’t beat. The sunshine is fierce, radiant, and clarifying. The heat is a welcome break from the chill, damp months of spring and winter. People bloom from the secret recesses of their homes and step out into the light, tentatively blinking, stretching, unfolding. Yet somehow you find […]
Does this make Epstein my boss?
How MIT handled the Epstein scandal, dirty money, and why I’m still here.
MIT’s Money Mistakes Just as I was starting graduate school at MIT, my pride in coming here was tainted by a national scandal that made me think twice about sporting that MIT hoodie. The arrest of Jeffrey Epstein in July of 2019 may seem like a lifetime ago, considering all the issues we grappled with […]
Bench, bath and beyond
Transform your apartment into a yeast lab, and have fun doing it!
One of the very first lessons you learn in microbiology is that while countless things can – and will – go wrong, you can almost always count on your microbes to grow. There is some strange comfort in knowing that what looks like clear liquid today will reveal countless gleaming colonies smiling up at you […]
Making Whoopie (Pies)
Baking as a stress relief from the rigor of MIT academics
When you think of things a graduate student might do to relieve stress, baking and assembling 90 whoopie pies probably doesn’t make the cut. Here’s the scene: every surface of my apartment is covered in misshapen disks of chocolate cake. I plop fluffy whipped cream onto the disks and sandwich them together—careful to not let […]
