Happy National Student Parent Month! This month, the Office of Graduate Education is featuring one graduate student parent per week, highlighting their academic work and parenting journey at MIT. Please check back weekly for more student parent features!
Diana Grass
Family: Husband and two children
Degree program: PhD in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics in the joint Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program
Years at MIT: Entering 3rd year
Diana Grass, a third year PhD student at MIT, was raised in Colombia and moved to the Boston area for school. Her cutting-edge research bridges the fields of neuroscience, immunology, and engineering to investigate the communication between the nervous and immune system. She is also the mother of two school-aged children.
After two years living off-campus and commuting between home, her kids’ school, and the lab, Diana is happy to have recently moved her family into on-campus family housing. Originally her family chose to live in Brookline for proximity to Harvard Medical School (one of the sites for Diana’s PhD program), but they did not find the community connections they were hoping for. This move to MIT’s campus adds convenience to the family’s daily routine, and helps them connect with other student families.
In her own words, Diana is “passionate about empowering and advocating for global health, equity in education, and leveraging innovation to catalyze social and economic development in resource-limited areas.” A strong leader and advocate for student parents and first generation graduate students, she has excellent ideas for student parent programming (many of which have been implemented by the Office of Graduate Education), and she is the co-founder and co-president of MIT’s Graduate First Generation and Low-Income student group (GFLI@MIT).
Parenting at MIT
“[Parenting at MIT as a grad student] is like solving a complex equation with constantly changing variables,” Diana shared. “It’s about embracing high-level logistics, adapting to daily uncertainties, and mastering the art of balancing chaos and joys.”
Diana has been very intentional about creating positive memories with her children at MIT so that they associate it with fun times. Some current favorite campus-sponsored activities include attending LEAP Lab events at the MIT Welcome Center, crafts, and off-campus rock climbing with other MIT student families.
One of the most important factors that has helped Diana balance her parenting and academic responsibilities is flexibility of her professors, who have been exceptionally understanding and supportive. Additionally, she credits her husband, her parents, her thesis director, her lab, the GradSupport team, the HST program, fellow student parents, classmates, and the resources provided by MIT as being the village that has helped her succeed.
Giving wings to the next generation
Diana’s example and journey as a PhD student have fired her children’s imaginations. Her daughter has expressed interest in being a scientist just like her mom, and her son is adamant that he will attend MIT when he’s older. Through MIT, both have access to ongoing STEM opportunities.
“To all the parents out there chasing dreams while nurturing little ones, keep going,” Diana shared when asked how she would encourage fellow parents. “You’re not just building your future; you’re inspiring theirs.”
For more information on MIT’s support for students with children, please visit the MIT Grad Families website or contact gradfamilies@mit.edu.
Photos by Corban Swain.
