Visiting CMU!

Hello from CMU

• I have been here since Sunday around noon, and it’s been incredible and another highlight for me again this year!
• I was picked up from the airport by a mutual friend and PhD student I had met at a summer school last year, dropped off my hotel, and then I met up with Jenny (who was flying out the following day!), who took me out to dinner and showed me around the city. It was incredibly clear, and we headed to campus for a brief tour. This was pretty smart of her, because it really facilitated my heading to campus the following day to work and get stuff set up for the talk, as well as meeting persons.
• What they did was really smart; in the evening, the day before my talk, she sent out several emails to faculty and students to let them know I was in town, and to connect me with relevant people I should meet. It meant that the following day, my inbox was pretty much overflowing with people who were interested in meeting me, excited to hear about my talk, show me what they were working on, and the whole experience was really just quite incredible.
• I had been meeting with students and faculty since 9:15am, all the way up to 3:30pm, and we started the talks at 3:30pm, and they were all really interesting! I found out that in their lab, PhD students have to all give a talk to the department each year, and they are given feedback on how to improve, etc. It’s such a really creative and helpful way to help PhD students get accustomed to talking about their work and communicating their work. I was also told that sometimes this can be traded if one has given a talk at a conference, so that is also a motivation (if you didn’t want to give a talk to your department) to publish and get your work accepted at a conference!
• I can’t reiterate how thoughtful and kind everyone has been! I really, really enjoyed my time there!
• I was also able to finally meet a professor with whom I have been chatting for several years, who is a mentor to me. We were supposed to meet briefly, for five minutes, but we ended up chatting for around 17 minutes, and I am so sorry to his students for making him late today! But it was such an incredible experience to finally meet him, and one of my highlights was hearing him talk about a postdoc he hired; he spoke about his students in such a caring way; it was inspirational to hear someone just care so much about seeing their students succeed!
• Finally, I got back to my hotel and did laundry; amazingly, my hotel has laundry! I haven’t felt in a long time like I have connected so much with a lab in such a short time! It was the chillest, kindest group of people and quite a whirlwind. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity!

Here are some photos!

• spinach and shrimp dumplings! So good!

• sesame balls! Since Berkeley, I have been going hard on these things; they are so good! I’m hoping during summer I can find some more since I’ll be back in the Bay!

• Fish fillet with rice. Also very good!

• This sort of just blew my mind! So amazing!

• The three sisters were visible. It was so clear but also windy in Mt Washington.

• downtown Pittsburgh

• Okay, obligatory photo together for my friend from Berkeley, who told us we were his two favourite people and so we had to meet! Did not disappoint!

• Sam took me on a tour of one of the highest spots in the area, which was at the University of Pittsburgh. We went up to the 36th floors and the views were incredible!

• How can you ever have a bad day with this view!?

Robots!

Thrilled and happy!

• Visiting the lab and the campus was a thrilling experience I will never forget. I left thinking so highly of this place and all the people I met. They were just great people, super passionate, creative, and genuinely lovely people. I’ve felt like it’s been such a gift this year to have been giving the opportunity to be in such a positive space, both during this time and at Berkeley. Also, in the midst of all of that, I was working on research and a paper, and I felt like they really made it a healthy and productive space within which I could work. You really got the sense that the people here work hard but are also just good citizens, and that was something I super appreciated. Again, I’m super thankful for the opportunity and had an absolute blast! What a beautiful city and wonderful people!
• Also, I bought another quantum book today, as I got a gift card from an organization I’m in. I’m hoping it arrives in time for my next flight, so I can read it along the way!

And that’s it!