Safety First!
When science comes before safety
As an MIT grad student doing cutting-edge research, have you always keep safety as your first priority? I hope your answer to this question is, “yes”. But in reality, many people feel that paying attention to safety will reduce their productivity. All graduate students coming to MIT are undoubtedly smart and have achieved a lot […]
You Are Not Alone OR I Am Here
Applying to graduate school with impostor syndrome
At this time two years ago, I was considering not applying to graduate school. That is not to say I did not want to go to graduate school. On the contrary, the better part of me wanted to go to graduate school to mentor students through teaching and research while earning the qualifications to […]
Curiouser and Curiouser…
Why being at MIT is like being Alice in Wonderland
On my first day of grad school. I drank a magic potion from the firehose! And there I went, down the rabbit hole… “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as […]
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 […]
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 […]
