Blogs

Exploring Scientific Boundaries

Musings of a scholar in progress

AUG 2018
by Ricardo A.
Urban Studies and Planning
I was recently asked by a colleague of mine here at MIT whether I thought that urban planning and design could be considered true science. His point was that the discipline lacked the precision of the natural and exact sciences. Whatever findings we get from our research couldn’t really be labeled...

The Yellow Zone

Five Ways to Break Out of the Department Bubble

AUG 2018
by Paige B.
MIT Sloan Master of Business Analytics
In my very first lecture at MIT Sloan School of Management, a professor started class with a drawing of a huge three-ring target. The bullseye was colored green, the middle ring was yellow, and the outer ring was red. “This is your comfort zone,” she said, pointing to the green circle. “We want you...

Don’t Study; Imagine

Creativity is a critical ingredient to learning

JULY 2018
by Dustin H.
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
When I was quite young I asked my mother if I could take apart a VCR – a relic of the old times when movies came from video rental stores on cassettes you had to rewind. Like any good mother, she told me that I was under no circumstances allowed to disassemble what she paid for. Like any ornery son...

Doggos or Manatees?

My journey through machine learning

JULY 2018
by Conner K.
Computational and Systems Biology
This past fall, I challenged myself and hopped on the machine learning bandwagon. It’s been quite the ride. For those not familiar with the field, machine learning is essentially the art of making predictions with computers. Furthermore, it is a HOT field. Researchers are using machine learning for...

Where Are All the Engineers in Congress

Lessons from talk radio

JULY 2018
by Shomesh C.
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The United States has elected one of the most anti-science Congresses in the democratic world. Mainstream leaders unabashedly espouse scientifically untenable positions in areas such as climate change, vaccinations, and evolution. In a world that is becoming increasingly technologically driven, it...

Linguistics Is Basically Physics

Debunking myths about the study of linguistics

JULY 2018
by Elise N.
Linguistics and Philosophy
“Would they hire you to talk to aliens?” “That’s so funny I have a friend who studies French literature!” “So what do you think of Chomsky’s political views?” “Linguistics? At MIT? I didn’t know they had that. I thought they just did science and stuff.” Thanks to the popularity of the movie Arrival...

Passing on the Fountain of Knowledge

Knowing when to say no

JUNE 2018
by Shannon J.
Media Arts and Sciences
As soon as I officially started as a grad student in the Media Arts & Sciences program, I was paired with a more experienced graduate student in the lab to learn protein engineering and molecular cloning techniques for the first time in my life, though my undergrad studies had covered some of...

Finding Work-Life Balance Through Sport

Extracurricular activities can help keep you sane

JUNE 2018
by Shomesh C.
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
After a long day of class or research in lab, there is no better feeling than walking across campus to soccer practice. The stress of the day melts away as I step onto the field. Finally, I am able to clear my head and to connect to the present. We pull on our cleats and start to warm-up, the...

Policy Debate vs. Research

Applying high school debate skills to PhD research

JUNE 2018
by Helen X.
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Unlike many of my fellow graduate students in computer science who have been doing programming and math competitions since high school (or potentially earlier), I spent six years in middle and high school in policy debate. This usually meant...

My First Desk on Campus

The good and bad of moving into a student office

JUNE 2018
by Sherry C.
Linguistics and Philosophy
The key to my new student office finally arrived in the mailbox. On my first day as a graduate student of the linguistics program, I found my way to the office, and stood outside the door for a minute before opening it. I had never had an office of my own before. What would the office look like?...

Getting Your Hands Dirty

Bridging the gap between theory and practice

JUNE 2018
by Rounaq B.
Urban Studies and Planning
How often have you stared at a blackboard wondering whether the formulae you’re seeing will ever be useful in a practical real-life setting? Ever wondered what’s the use of welding and workshop classes if you’re a computer science engineer? Well, to my astonishment, I found out that everything we...

Shaping Another Person’s Decision

Navigating the interview process

JUNE 2018
by Shannon J.
Media Arts and Sciences
After just 30 days of officially starting grad school in the Synthetic Neurobiology group at the Media Lab, my advisor asked me to help interview a couple of rotation...

Good Ideas

They don't grow on trees, so where do you get them?

JUNE 2018
by Jacqueline W.
Media Arts and Sciences
Even at MIT, good ideas don't grow on trees. Instead, I've found that good ideas have two ingredients: preparation and practice.   1. Preparation. The act of acquiring new knowledge and ideas. The foundation on which my good ideas will be built.   2. Practice. Generate lots of ideas. Engage with...

Do What You’re (Not) Good At

Avoiding the tendency to over-specialize in science

JUNE 2018
by Sarah B.
Biology
“What do you want to work on?”   This is one of the most expected--and sometimes dreaded--questions that prospective graduate students encounter during the interview process. Because, as they say, “it’s a trap!”...

From Portugal to MIT

Learning to adapt to new time management challenges

MAY 2018
by Cátia B
School of Engineering
I have been a visiting PhD student at MIT since February, coming from a PhD program called MIT Portugal. This is a collaboration between several Portuguese universities and MIT. Some of...

Why Would You Want to Do a PhD?

Student perspectives on the value of a graduate degree

MAY 2018
by Richard Z
Mathematics
If you are reading this blog post, there is a good chance that you are thinking about a PhD, possibly at MIT. But MIT or not, almost every doctoral program would ask you why you are interested in their program and how it fits into your career goal. A typical answer would be: I am interested in your...

In Pursuit of Riches

Publications as the currency of academia

MAY 2018
by Sarah B.
Biology
I am a poor grad student. And I don’t mean in the classic, monetary sense. (Although, let’s be real, what grad student isn’t poor?) I am ‘poor’ in the currency of academia- publications. If you’ve never experienced academia for yourself, you might not be aware of how profound and accurate that...

A Tale of Two Responsibilities

Living sustainably while researching climate change

MAY 2018
by Catherine W
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
“So all my office plants died from how high the heat’s turned up.” “Wait. You mean your succulents?” “Yeah. The ones I specifically got for their drought and heat resistance.” Such occurrences might seem unexpected in the MIT Green Building, where I and many others study humanity’s impact on our...

Learning to Engage in Deep Conversations

How a conflict management class awoke my interest in interfaith dialogue

MAY 2018
by Claire D
Biological Engineering
In the third year of my PhD, two things happened that dramatically changed the way I see the world: I took MIT's 40-hour conflict management course in my training to become an MIT REF, and Donald Trump was...

MIT Graduate Housing

The guide I wish I'd had

MAY 2018
by Lauren S.
Biological Engineering
During my interview weekend at MIT, I went on a brief housing tour of three MIT graduate housing residences that current students lived in. One student proclaimed her room was the biggest bedroom in the whole building. I made a mental note—the biggest room in the furnished dorm is not very big. Don...

Beyond the Dorms

A guide to off-campus housing near MIT

MAY 2018
by Sarah B.
Biology
When I committed to attending MIT for graduate school, I was ecstatic. I immediately began planning out my courses, researching clubs on campus, and looking up potential advisers. But wait, I’d need a place to live, too. Boston’s a city- but how bad could housing be, really? Ah the naiveté! As...

Addir

Where scientists talk religion

APRIL 2018
by Alex T.
Physics
Every Monday night, I shuffle down Mass Ave, past the towering columns of MIT’s entrance to a small unassuming building almost directly across the street. Inside I meet with a group of about ten students. We continue our discussion of something that can make people uncomfortable, something that isn...

Time Travel

The imperceptible passing of seasons in graduate school

APRIL 2018
by Justin C.
Biology
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen all at once. -Albert Einstein Time passes strangely in graduate school. Many days I enter a flow state where I’m completely absorbed in my task. First I am setting up an experiment or a stack of papers to read. Light, streaming in from...

Hurricane María’s landfall in Cambridge

Trying to focus on graduate school despite natural disaster in my home country

APRIL 2018
by Cristina T.C.
Biological Engineering
Moving to a new place after spending a whole life on a small island in the Caribbean was very daunting. My expectations as a first-year graduate student in New England were not out of the ordinary. I would have to adjust to a different culture, prepare for different weather (far colder than...

The Mysterious Markings on the Bridge to MIT

How the stories and history of MIT inspire me

APRIL 2018
by Julie L.
Nuclear Science and Engineering
A bridge: “a structure carrying a pathway or roadway over a depression or obstacle” (Merriam-Webster dictionary). As a daily pedestrian across one such bridge (the Harvard bridge, spanning the Charles River to MIT) I agree that it is a structure carrying a pathway. However, I object to the use of...

What’s the PC Term for Santa?

How we overthink issues that don't deserve the time and energy that we put into them

APRIL 2018
by Nour G.
Urban Studies and Planning
The US is often dubbed the land of the free. As someone who was raised in the Middle East, arguably a place not as free, Americans have always seemed to me to be fiercely proud that the First Amendment of their Constitution protects the freedoms of press and of speech. Many of the Americans I have...

Introductions

What to do if nothing goes according to plan

APRIL 2018
by Julia M.
Technology and Policy Program
As a military brat, growing up was often an exercise in how to exist in the in-between. Moving every two years fostered a patchwork identity that seemed too foreign for anywhere, and so I was content to introduce myself in a brief, adapted way: Hi. I’m Julia, I’ve moved around a lot, but I consider...

Inaccurate Prior Probabilities

Moving to a new city and worrying about the future

MARCH 2018
by Conner K.
Computational and Systems Biology
The day after I committed to MIT for my PhD, a wave of panic set over me. I felt like I was about to repeat a disaster. I’d tried moving to a new city before and things hadn’t worked out well, yet here I was doing it all over again. I’ve been a west coaster almost my whole life. I was born and...

Teaching as a Graduate Student

My experience as a TA and advice for future TA's

MARCH 2018
by Helen X.
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
When I signed up to be a teaching assistant for MIT’s performance engineering course (6.172) in Fall 2017, multiple people warned me about how much work it would be. Their advice made me nervous...

An MIT Professor's Advice While Crossing a Bridge

We are all being formed into our best selves by the professors at MIT

MARCH 2018
by Julie L.
Nuclear Science and Engineering
It is fall and the Charles River is a deep black beneath the shining man-made light of the Boston skyline. I am walking home across the Harvard bridge from MIT to my home in Boston after a day of classes and a lab. As I marvel at the beauty of the evening and my luck at being able to study my...

Option B

How to help a grieving friend

MARCH 2018
by Bora O.
Technology and Policy Program
On November 1st, 2017, I lost my father. He was one of my best friends. And now, instead of my best friend, all I have left is memories and emotions.   My father died of an unexpected heart attack in my hometown of Izmir, Turkey at the age of 57. The two weeks that followed were the hardest of my...

My Life as a GRT/Two Time Scootah Hockey World Champion

MARCH 2018
by Alex T.
Physics
The 2017 Scootah Hockey World Championship was certainly a nail-biter. Each year, the tournament is hosted by MIT undergraduate dorm Simmons Hall. For the past two years, B-Towah (i.e. 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of B-Tower in Simmons) has scooted away with the trophy (check out the 2017 exciting...

The Art of Giving Things Up

MARCH 2018
by Justin C.
Biology
I’m not sure if I would be a graduate student at MIT if I had kept playing the double bass. I’ve had many identities including son, brother, student, runner, and musician, but one of the challenges of becoming a scientist is that research becomes your sole identity. As a professor of biology once...

Mugshots

Amassing collectibles as a graduate student

MARCH 2018
by Catherine W.
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that every graduate student has an item they become a collector of, squirreling away specimens like it will keep them warm through the Bostonian winters. One of my friends has filled two drawers in his search for the perfect pen; another has acquired enough...

According to Plan

How facing and conquering obstacles makes us better scientists

MARCH 2018
by Olivia F.
Chemistry
Many people I talk to at MIT have high expectations for their first year. They’ll ace their classes, breeze through teaching, and have two publications by the time they are a second-year student. A sixth-year student I met, however, summed up reality: “If there’s one thing I learned in grad school...

Eating and Socializing on a Budget in Cambridge

Cooking dinner with friends as an alternative to overpriced, generic restaurants

MARCH 2018
by Elise N.
Linguistics and Philosophy
Ok, so you’re in a restaurant looking at a menu. The walls are unrefined brick or cement with steel beams, the ceiling has an old warehouse look, the lighting is dim, there are subway tiles on the floor and Edison style lightbulbs. The menu has fancy cocktails and dishes like pork belly, brussel...

Home

MIT has gradually morphed from a place of discovery to a place of belonging

MARCH 2018
by Ricardo A.
Urban Studies and Planning
MIT is my home. There is no other way to say it. Over the years (let’s just say I’ve been here awhile), this place has gradually morphed from a place of discovery to a place of learning to a place of belonging. There is a daily routine that sets in after a while; in my case it’s walking through the...

From Neurons to Language

Joys and sorrows of interdisciplinary research

MARCH 2018
by Anna I.
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
When I was waitlisted for MIT undergraduate admissions, I put together a statement that would serve as an addendum to my application. It included a Venn diagram that depicted my scientific interests at the time.  Not a single person from the waitlist was accepted that year, but little did I know...

Auspicious Boston Snow

Celebrating the successes of my labmates in the new year

MARCH 2018
by Jiayue W.
Nuclear Science and Engineering
As an old Chinese saying goes, “A timely snow promises a good harvest.” In China, it is thought, snow at the New Year always brings some good luck. In early January, I found myself thinking, what kind of good luck might a really heavy Boston snow (“near blizzard conditions,” according to The...

The Duality of a Dual Program

The challenges and rewards of MIT's MST-MCP Program

MARCH 2018
by Rounaq B.
Urban Studies and Planning
Since the dawn of human civilization, we have been fascinated with duality: good and evil, yin and yang, darkness and light. (Oh yeah, light -- the epitome of duality in a scientific context!) It’s kind of funny that I am writing this post in January, a month named after Janus who is the god of...

To stay in academia or not, that is the question

Weighing the costs versus the benefits of pursuing an academic career

MARCH 2018
by Richard Z.
Mathematics
Should I stay in academia or not after I graduate? It’s a question that most PhD students find themselves asking at some point in their graduate careers. Some have unequivocal answers from the beginning, while others struggle with the decision even towards the end of their studies. Some just don’t...

PhD and a Baby

Debugging code and changing diapers

MARCH 2018
by Jacqueline W.
Media Arts and Sciences
I wasn't married when I got to MIT, but I had a boyfriend named Randy who moved up to Boston with me. Two years in, we discover that it is, in fact, possible to simultaneously plan a wedding and write a master's thesis! Two years after that? I'm sitting uncomfortably in a floppy hospital gown at Mt...

Drawing the Lines of Work-Life Balance

How my time-management skills are crucial to my productivity, and more importantly, to my happiness

MARCH 2018
by Maddie P.
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Most mornings, I don’t set an alarm. As a student in cognitive science, when I’m not working with participants, almost all of my work is done on the computer and can be done from anywhere at any time. This is both a blessing and a curse, but it translates to the fact that I am almost entirely...

Remember That Undergraduate Internship?

How an unhappy internship experience helped me discover my passion for research

MARCH 2018
by Josh P.
Biological Engineering
I did not know I was considering graduate school until the beginning of my senior year. During undergrad, I felt like a squirrel in a nut factory jumping at every opportunity that came my way. In the summer of my sophomore year, I began working for a traditional chemical engineering company called...

Defense of the Ancients

An alternative get away

MARCH 2018
by Murat U.
Civil and Environmental Engineering
After losing an 82 minute Dota2 match, maybe it is time for me to step back and write a brief, informative post about competitive video gaming and how it helps to relax. Wait, what is Dota2 – other than being the sequel or re-creation of the Defense of the Ancients (DotA)? For non-gamers: Dota2...

Are You Alive Still?

Maintaining a healthy marriage in the face of graduate school challenges

MARCH 2018
by Misael G.
Urban Studies and Planning
“Are you alive still?” the text read. My wife Alex woke up in a panic. 4:41 AM and the bed was still empty next to her. My team and I had been working in the urban design studio on our final proposals for a development in Union Square since 9 AM the morning before. I laughed. Her texts and...

Impostor Syndrome vs. the Scientific Method

My strategies for fighting the idea that I don't belong at MIT

MARCH 2018
by Julia M.
Technology and Policy Program
I received my acceptance letter to MIT a few days after the 2017 Oscars – shortly after a human error led to the wrong film being announced as Best Picture winner live on national television.   The mix-up loomed large in my mind.   As I slowly read the email informing me that I had been admitted to...

What Do I Do with My Spare Change?

Learning to be proactive with my money and financial habits

MARCH 2018
by Nour G.
Urban Studies and Planning
I am now at that age (25!) where I have become too old not A) to be fully aware of my financial situation and its grim reality, and B) to realize that I need to begin investing what I have if I plan on retiring. Now this thought scares me terribly, as I’m sure it scares many people in their mid-...

Dressing Down for Success

A fashion conscious female navigating the judgement of her peers

MARCH 2018
by Lauren S.
Biological Engineering
What you need to know about me: I am a 25 year old white female, 5’5”, with long legs and a burst of tangled brown curly hair. I have more Lululemon leggings than pairs of jeans, and I prefer wine to beer. I listen to NPR and the Chainsmokers, and love any season of the Real Housewives (except...

Sticky Little Scientists

Working towards better community sampling for psychology studies

MARCH 2018
by Maddie P.
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
The excited squeals of a young child as she bursts into a new place designed just for her to explore can be a magical thing to witness; but multiply that excitement and noise (and sticky hands) by a few hundred and you have a typical Sunday at the Boston Children’s Museum. As a second year graduate...

The Importance of After-work Beer

Building personal connections through the medium of alcohol

MARCH 2018
by Jiayue W.
Nuclear Science and Engineering
I never took beer so seriously before coming to MIT. I’ve had beers, of course. But before, most of the times when I go out with my friends to have some beer, we would have something really nice to eat. In fact, I was always more into the food.  However, things are quite different here. If a person...

Behind on the race towards education

How we can tackle the systemic problems that affect disadvantaged students

MARCH 2018
by Cristina T.C.
Biological Engineering
Skimming through current MIT undergraduates’ CVs (for potential UROPs), I realized I probably wouldn’t have gotten into MIT for an undergraduate degree. There wasn’t really anything exciting about me five years ago. Back home in Puerto Rico, competitiveness to get into college isn’t really a thing...

Being very far away…

Always make time to talk to your loved ones

MARCH 2018
by Murat U.
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dear Friend, I am going to tell you a very personal story that has changed my perspective towards the many challenges that become default as you move forward as an MIT Ph.D. student. It was a Tuesday evening, and I was in the Z-center, the athletic facility at MIT. I was standing on the second...

An Open Letter to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

The life lessons I have learned from my favorite extra-curricular

March 2018
by Misael G.
Urban Studies and Planning
Dear Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, When we first met, I was a chubby fifteen-year-old kid. I had no real experience with martial arts, nor any natural physical ability I could call “athleticism.” You first captured my imagination through reruns of the Ultimate Fighting Championship that aired late night on...

Myths Worth Busting to Stay Sane in Grad School

March 2018
by Zoya B.
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Caricatures by Maria G. (Zoya’s sister) As we approach the middle of the second semester and inch on all-fours towards the summer, we look back at what we’ve gained and cultivated since the year began, and we inevitably start to make resolutions to do things bigger, better, and faster before the...

Let’s Break Down Echo Chambers

The importance of different perspectives in science and in life

March 2018
by Anna I.
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
“Luckily, we live in a blue, blue state. I mean, if you don’t like living in a blue state… well, too bad.” I shivered. I was at a mandatory ethics training session held here, at MIT. We had just finished talking about inclusion and acceptance. And yet our instructor demonstrated the very opposite...

Undercover Art

Discovering the (not so) hidden artsy side of MIT

MARCH 2018
by Zoë L.
Mechanical Engineering
Before coming to MIT, I had this idea in my head that it was a super tech focused, STEM-driven institution. And it is, in many ways. But thinking of it that way scared me a little, because despite being a physics major in undergrad and a mechanical engineering major now that I’m in graduate school...

Turning to the Dark Side

Questions about Industry Options for PhD Candidates

FEBRUARY 2018
by Richard Z.
Mathematics
Last semester I Ubered home every night. Often times I got into interesting talks with the drivers. Whenever my PhD study came up in conversations, two of the most typical responses were, “Oh so do you want to teach afterwards” and “are you going to be a professor?” I am always baffled there. To be...

Exploring Options

Navigating "big science" as a trainee

FEBRUARY 2018
by Josh P.
Biological Engineering
After arriving at MIT in September, I was excited to begin rotating in labs. I did my research, so I knew what professors I wanted to work with. I was ready to meet labmates, do some projects, and find a lab I matched with. Little did I know that some professors not only ran their own lab but also...

Literature Review for Pleasure

The importance of reading in my life, both for research and personal pleasure

FEBRUARY 2018
by Rounaq B.
Urban Studies and Planning
Literature review - nothing strikes terror into a graduate student’s heart more than these two words! You can’t live with it, you can’t live without it. Considered an essential part of research, you print hundreds of papers till the printer’s ink and/or paper runs out, read tens of papers with...