Finding Belonging through Community
Make the time to seek out familiar spaces
There’s a common feeling that many incoming graduate students can attest to: I don’t belong here. MIT seems designed to keep us feeling this way, perhaps as motivation to work long hours, or perhaps to perpetuate its imposing reputation. It starts from the moment of acceptance. Elation and surprise are quickly followed by weeks of […]
Boston Left?
Lessons learned from driving in Boston
During my first experience driving in Boston I was waiting at an intersection on campus (Vassar and Mass Ave), my co-pilot, a fellow grad student, turned and said to me: “Watch out for the Boston left.” “Boston left?” “You’ll see.” When the light turned green and I immediately gunned it (I’ve always been irrationally proud […]
Tuning out the Noise
My advice on learning to use challenging lab equipment
Have you ever looked at an instrument that a senior labmate is using – one of those behemoth installations that has a million glowing buttons and wires sticking out everywhere – and think to yourself, “There’s no way I’ll EVER learn how to use that”? That was what I thought when I saw a transmission […]
A Good Place to Nap
Finding the best place to sleep on-campus after a sleepless night
I was in the middle of a formal dinner with the Under Secretary of the US Department of Energy, when my cell phone signaled the Outlook notification: [70 AMHERST] FACILITIES EMERGENCY – BUILDING CLOSING
Fighting Unfair Rules
Aligning MIT’s actions with its mission
When I got an offer to be a Graduate Resident Tutor (GRT), a graduate student mentor who lives in an undergraduate dorm, I leapt across the hallway to exclaim to my friends that I didn’t just get a GRT position: I got assigned to Random Hall – the quirkiest, nerdiest dorm filled with murals in […]
