Weak signals can build strong bonds
How science inspires community in a small town in West Virginia
Picture this: You’ve been on the road for 11 hours. Your bladder is full and your stomach is empty, but all you drive by is trees, fields, and the occasional farmhouse. You grip the steering wheel and squint through the dark at the road in front of you, expecting to come face-to-face with a deer around every turn…
Greed, Altruism, and Optics
AKA free food and the pizza incident
Part 1: Greed I am easily MIT’s biggest free food fiend. Of course, everyone here loves free food and the Institute always has plenty to give out if you know the right places to look (spoiler alert: usually not the free food mailing lists). While I as a current MIT Technology and Policy Program student […]
Grad school is like high school for adults (in the best way)
Letting go of the worst qualities I developed in college and re-embracing the best qualities I lost from high school
Since I started my PhD in 2023, I’ve felt like I’m in high school again—I’ve ditched my hyper-focused mentality from college and allowed myself to let loose like a teenager.
Digital Dumpster Diving
A Grad Student’s Guide to Facebook Marketplace
I’m unreasonably proud of furnishing almost my entire apartment with second-hand finds. I learned the joy of sifting through discarded items on the side of the road early on. It was quite often that on the way home from soccer practice my parents would pull the car over to inspect a piece of furniture or […]
Navigating MIT
How I learned to stop worrying and love the maze
When I first got into MIT, I was surprised. Then I felt a rush of excitement, and at last a sense of dread at the immense task in front of me. Getting a PhD is a gruelling endeavour that can test anyone’s intellect, drive, and sanity. So I knew I would face no shortage of […]
