Flying monkeys, hedgehogs, and castles, oh my!
I originally wanted this article to show that graduate students can kick back, relax, and stave off the insanity that is just a stone’s throw away from the genius we all aspire to achieve. However, as I wrote the title, I realized this may actually convince you of the opposite, that graduate school does in fact drive graduate students off the deep end. So, throwing caution to the wind, I am sharing two tales of the silly, the frivolous, and the fun that I’ve experienced this summer.
Supporting grad student families
“In the United States and Europe, around half of those who gain doctoral degrees in science and engineering are female — but barely one-fifth of full professors are women. Women are not invited in significant numbers to sit on the scientific advisory boards of start-up companies. A scientific conference at which half of the keynote speakers are women stands out simply because of that. Why has progress stalled? Child care is one major factor that blocks the career of many women.”
Missed beats
My history with music reads like an I Saw You MIT post. “I heard you, ten second music video clip of ‘Feel Good, Inc.’ on a TV commercial.” “I heard you, midi version of ‘Diary of a Madman’ on a web 1.0 Johnny the Homicidal Maniac fansite.” Yet it was only recently that I started explicitly looking for new and classic bands to listen to, and educating myself in good music.
MIT, in a box
I arrived at the Institute in August of 2009 with two suitcases, a backpack, and a lot of enthusiasm. I was eager to begin my college life — to stay up absurdly late, make friends while psetting, have a swank dorm room, be independent etc. — and I had arrived at school early to participate in my Freshman Pre-Orientation Program (FPOP), the Freshman Arts Program.
Creating your own opportunities
Visit the Museum of Science, Boston this week. Proceed to the Blue wing up the escalators and to the left of the butterfly exhibit. There you will find Ocean Stories, an exhibit housed in the Art Science Gallery, a 2000-square-foot gallery twenty feet tall. By exploring Ocean Stories, you will discover oceanography translated through the prism of artwork.
Events May 7 - May 13
Events may 07 – may 13 Tuesday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Artists Beyond the Desk presents Cate Gallivan on piano — Killian Hall (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) A Conversation with award-winning Portuguese author, Dulce Maria Cardoso — 14E-305 Wednesday (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Soap Box: The Political Life of Cheese, free cheese — MIT Museum (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) Slavery And The American Imagination — Simmons Hall Multipurpose Room Thursday (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Discussion of book 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10 — 4-231 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT DanceTroupe presents: #DTMF — Little Kresge Theater Friday (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Pitch Perfect — 26-100 Saturday (6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Sidney Pacific End of Term BBQ and Outdoor Movie — Sidney Pacific Courtyard MP room (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Concert Choir, director William Cutter — Kresge Auditorium Sunday (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) MITHAS presents Rupak Kulkarni Bansuri — Wong Auditorum (4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Chamber Music Society music for two pianos and other works — Kresge Auditorium Monday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) When the Levee Breaks: Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South? — E62-233 (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Innovation Series Event: It takes more than just Big Data — Evolving Solutions for Pharma and Healthcare — 32-123 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Is there an absolute right or wrong?
Ask A-theist is a column by Aaron Scheinberg G, an atheist, and Stephanie Lam G, a Christian, which uses contrasting worldviews to explore questions and misconceptions about philosophy and religion. This week, Stephanie chose the question. Send us the burning questions you have always wanted answered by an atheist or Christian (or both), and we’ll tackle them!
Don’t be afraid to ask
The Internet is littered with quotes about how it’s the great questions and not the great answers that are important and shape history, science, and the universe as a whole. It’s not as if I had never thought about it; really, I had. I had just assumed this was talking about my research questions, the big important questions I could spend a lot of time crafting. I assumed those were the questions I was being judged on.
Events Apr 30-May 6
Events apr. 30 – may 6 Tuesday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) 11th annual Prokopoff violin music concert — 14E-109 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: The CWG Illustration — E62-262 Wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) One Democracy’s Gains and Pains: the US-Mexico Drug Entrapment, pizza provided — 32-141 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) A Crisis in Civics?, talk by Director of MIT Center for Civic Media Ethan Zuckerman — NW-86 Thursday (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Sacrificing Freedom of Mind: How We Fall Prey to Cults and Controllers — 32-155 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Urban Films: Revolution ‘67 (2007) — 66-110 Friday (12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.) Media in Transformation 8 conference panel: Oversharing of private information using social media — E15-070 (6:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Les Miserables — 26-100 Saturday (11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) Media in Transformation 8 conference panel: Surveillance by digital technologies — E51-115 (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) MIT Anime Karaoke — Student Center Coffee House Sunday (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Tang Hall Egg Drop contest — Tang Hall, W84-24 (8:00 p.m. – 9:30) Techiya Spring Concert: The Hobbit – an unexpected Bar Mitzvah — 6-120 Monday (1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.) The Sequester: The Future of Science Funding and its Impact on MIT – Students, Faculty, Postdocs, and Research — 56-114 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
50 minutes of anxiety
Sitting in class, 50 minutes always seemed like a lifetime. I never thought it could feel longer after leaving undergrad.
Events apr. 23 – apr. 29
Events apr. 23 – apr. 29 Tuesday (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Screening of Emerging Thailand: The Spirit of Small Enterprise and discussion with MIT economics professor Robert M. Townsend — E25-111 Wednesday (11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.) MIT Parking and Transportation and Cambridge Bikes presents free bike repairs in conjunction with Earth Day — W20 (5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Screening of Pandora’s Promise and discussion with filmmaker Robert Stone — 34-101 Thursday (11:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Choose to Reuse — 32 first floor (7:15 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) MISTI Foreign Film Night: Volver — 1-277 Friday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) 100 Years of Service: Snapshots of the MIT Women’s League (refreshments provided) — 10-340 (4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Earth Week film screening: Chasing Ice (refreshments provided) — 6-120 Saturday (8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.) Reverend Freakchild performs live on WMBR’s Lost Highway program — 88.1 FM (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Songkran Festival hosted by Thai Students at MIT (TSMIT), $1 per food ticket — W20-306 Sunday (7:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Skydiving trip hosted by MIT Skydiving Club — Skydive Pepperell (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Ohms Spring Concert: COhmmencement — 10-250 Monday (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) MIT Fashion Event sponsored by the Martin Trust Center, featuring fashion startups and industry experts (free tickets on eventbrite) — E51-115 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
The importance of adaptations
“Did you know,” I said to the eight-year-old boy in a Red Sox cap, “that about 50 percent of the oxygen in our atmosphere comes from the ocean by way of the tiny, drifting marine animals and plants called phytoplankton? So for every second breath you take, thank the plankton!”
IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME: Leaping into the unknown
“JUST DO IT!” rang the screeches from far off in the distance. As I teetered over the edge of the stone cliff and peered out at the water below, I could see the jagged outlines of the sharp rocks lurking below the surface. I wasn’t very keen on getting too friendly with those rocks, and their closeness did little to appease the nervous, bubbling feeling in my stomach.
Chasing salt
Gripping the desk as waves rock the ship back and forth, it is occasionally hard to sit upright at sea, let alone walk about the ship. I have strapped my chair to my desk with a bungee cord to keep me from sliding across the lab. A few minutes ago a large wave washed across the stern of the ship and sent salt water into the lab. Some of our equipment got wet, but nothing too bad.
Changing the face of the nuclear engineer
Students of nuclear science and technology learned from experts in the field, presented their unique research, and captured on video what it means to be a nuclear scientist or nuclear engineer last week at the 2013 American Nuclear Society Student Conference. The first ever “I’m a Nuke” videos will be featuring nuclear science and technology students from across the world who participated in the conference hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Student Section of the American Nuclear Society.
Why claim one religious authority?
Ask A-theist is a column by Aaron Scheinberg G, an atheist, and Stephanie Lam G, a Christian, which uses contrasting worldviews to explore questions and misconceptions about philosophy and religion. This week, Aaron chose the question. Send us the burning questions you have always wanted answered by an atheist or Christian (or both), and we’ll tackle them!
Events Apr 16- Apr 22
Events apr. 16 – apr. 22 Tuesday (4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) MISTI Foreign Film Night: Jiro Dreams of Sushi — E25-111 (9:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) Video Game Tournament with Bubble Tea — Sidney-Pacific Wednesday (4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) SSRC Seminar: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America — E25-111 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) What High School Science Should Have Been — MIT Museum (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) The Future of Print in the Digital Age — 6-120 Thursday (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) CMS Colloquium Series: Size Is Only Half the Story: Valuing the Dimensionality of BIG DATA — 4-231 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Non-Monosexuality: Beyond the Basics, dinner provided — 5-134 Friday (8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Piano Recital by Alan Feinberg, Guest Pianist in Residence and American music specialist — Kresge Auditorium (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) The Wedding Singer, opening night — Kresge Little Theater Saturday (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) The Festival of Bad Ad-Hoc Hypotheses (BAH!), hosted by Zach Weinersmith of SMBC, the SMBC and xkcd publishers, and the LSC — 26-100 Sunday (4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) MITHAS presents Leela Samson and Bragha Bessell, Bharatanatyam Dance — 14W-111 Monday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) A Tale of Three Laboratories: Rabies Vaccination and the Pasteurization of New York City, 1885-1920 — E51-095 (8:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) For the Bible Tells Me So Screening — 4-145 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Events Apr. 09 - Apr. 15
Events apr. 09 – Apr. 15 Tuesday (4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) Oil Dependence, “Oilpacity,” and U.S. Foreign Policy in Africa — 66-110 (7:30 p.m.) Screening of Spanish movie Blancanieves — 10-250 Wednesday (12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.) CAST Music and Technology Seminar Series presents Tristan Perich — 14W-111 (5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) IMES Distinguished Speaker Series: Is the Genome Useful in Medicine — NE30, Broad Institute Auditorium (6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.) The Neuroscience of Musical Improvisation — NW-86 Thursday (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) News or Entertainment? The Press in Modern Political Campaigns — E14-633 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Urban Films: Up the Yangtze (2008) — 66-110 Friday (4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Starr Forum: On the Rocks: China and Japan in the East China Sea — E15-070 (8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Roadkill Buffet Presents: The “Mandatory Class of 2017 Welcome Meeting” — 6-120 Saturday (1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.) Marvelous Molecules in Play — Cambridge Public Library Lecture Hall, 449 Broadway, Cambridge (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Music and Technology Bleep Blop Performance — 14W-111 Sunday (7:00 p.m.) LSC presents The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey — 26-100 (8:45 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Game of Thrones Viewing Party, 21+ — Thirsty Ear Pub Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Multiple moods
For a couple of years, I could never be sure how I would feel during any given day. Some days were really good: I felt elated for no particular reason and enjoyed everything I did. Some days, though, were fairly bad: I struggled to care enough to even do anything like get out of bed. Though most days were somewhere in between, and though the bad days outnumbered the good, I thought that this was just everyday life, that a lot of people were experiencing the same thing.