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 […]
An Indian Spice Blend™ you won’t find at Whole Foods
Add one tablespoon of Indian to one tablespoon of American to achieve optimal confusion
One of the most challenging tasks every family must undertake at some point in their lives is deciding what to watch together. One evening, the compromise for our family was Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix standup special, Homecoming King. It was a win-win: my immigrant parents got to see a young brown man rise to fame, and […]
Big changes in the qualifying exam procedure
The many responses to AeroAstro's new quals process, and how it might be linked to implicit gender bias
Imagine standing in front of a panel of faculty members, some of the most prominent academics in the world of aerospace engineering, having prepared for a short 60 minutes to complete an oral exam and prove your competence in the field in which you hope to receive your PhD. In many departments at MIT, this […]
Teaching a lab module…on Zoom
How the pandemic impacted my life as a TA this semester
“The first thing we have to talk about is coronavirus.” That’s what the director of the undergraduate chemistry laboratory said when all the lab teaching assistants (TAs) gathered at the beginning of the semester. Back then, our only concern was helping students who were missing class due to self-isolation after winter break travel. Since I […]
The bright side of isolation
A few positive aspects of social distancing
Being a graduate student whose work mostly takes place on a PC, the changes in MIT policies related to COVID-19 have not impacted my academic work by a large amount so far. On the other hand, the social impact of it has been much more profound. From an exponential increase in the discussions (mostly about […]
