The unstructured symphony of grad school
Embracing challenges in academia and jazz
My first solo Over the past 4 years at MIT, I have often had my comfort zone pushed. To name a few things, I’ve presented to NASA leadership, received my first peer reviews, and traveled alone to conferences. But one very different anxiety-o-meter peaking experience occurred about 40 seconds into the hard bop standard Nutville […]
Following your fascinations for a fulfilling future!
How chasing his curiosity fulfilled a 13-year-old’s dream
From the moment I realized the significance of the sequence of events I am about to narrate, I wanted to save this story for my thesis defense speech. As I start the 6th year of my PhD, however, I can’t contain the excitement anymore. When I learned this blog post would be read by hundreds […]
How to train your robot
Cool research is built on a series of rather uncool moments.
It’s late on a Monday night, and as usual, I’m standing in the middle of a large playroom filled with a bunch of pretend tools. There are toy hammers, plastic wrenches, and even a pretend drill, all strewn across racks, tables, and bins. I walk around the room, running a final check to make sure […]
Letters to a young engineer
My journey from school to industry, and back again
Well, you finally made it. A well-paying job at a world-renowned company, a 9-5 (ish) lifestyle, actually having weekends — weekends! — to spend on life rather than homework, all conveniently located in one of the best cities on Earth. It’s what your parents always hoped for you, what your professors always promised was just […]
An (MIT) Room with a View
My perspective of MIT’s rhythms from the windows in lab
I did not pick the lab I joined based on the view. But my desk, and everyone else’s in the lab, which is situated on the 2nd floor of building 68, overlooks Hockfield Court. As a coveted area of green space between Buildings 66, 68, 76, and the Stata, the Court serves as a bustling […]
