Making it work
Makerspaces, corgis, and my Grad School Puzzle
What if I told you that a grad school education could include the finer details of wooden corgi carving? If you told me that a year ago I would immediately respond with skepticism — “right, because that’s a productive use of time”. Yet, today I would argue that such education is not only possible but […]
My year in the wild
Why I Chose to Go into Industry Before Pursuing Grad School
Once I realized I wanted to be a professor, grad school felt inevitable. It was a question of when I wanted to spend at least five more years in school, not if I was going to do so. I spent my last couple years of college deliberating whether I was going to apply to graduate […]
Is grad school harder than a headstand?
How practicing my headstand turned into a metaphor for my PhD
Editor Note: This post was originally written before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. The first semester of graduate school is pretty hard. You’re surrounded by new people from all over the world, you’re taking challenging classes, and in many departments, you’re also required to teach and do research right off the […]
Terraforming friendship
How friendship started to flourish after a game of Terraforming Mars
My friend recently flew back to visit his grad school friends. All of us used to do many things together. Since he was back, we decided to play a game we enjoyed — Terraforming Mars. The game took place on a very special Sunday in Boston: it was 70 degrees Fahrenheit — in January. His […]
Loafing around at MIT
Why baking bread should be your next hobby
I started baking not too long ago, mostly at the advice of acquaintances who were already proficient bakers. My first few attempts weren’t great; I once managed to omit an entire cup of water from a naan recipe, resulting in a hard puck-shaped mass with the texture of stale Ritz crackers. But I kept at […]
