Seeking the culture in agriculture
Last semester, the freshmen in 12.000 (Solving Complex Problems) embarked on a mission to feed the entire world. Well, we didn’t quite accomplish that, but we did learn a lot about food security in the face of a changing climate.
Sathya Silva
In my youth, I was happy and outgoing. As an undergrad, I found my place in the world — as a pilot.
Rosalind Picard
I’ve had three episodes of depression that stand out in my life. One was toward the end of my undergraduate career. I was an electrical engineering major at Georgia Tech. When people would take their minor classes in easy topics, I took nuclear astrophysics and stellar evolution. I was taking six EE and physics classes and doing several extracurricular activities. It was insane. I managed to finish number two in my class.
Michael McClellan
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and interview series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.
A voice for those who cannot speak
My mom crossed the border illegally 22 years ago. She was waiting to give birth in a hospital in Mexico when her sister picked her up and smuggled her across the border. My mom made it 30 minutes north of there, in the midst of birth pains, to a small town by the flat Southern Californian lands. I was born there. I, a U.S. high school valedictorian and member of the MIT Class of 2014, was born there in California. But our home was in Mexico.
Grace Taylor
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and interview series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.
Therese Henderson
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and narrative series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.
Behind the scenes at Flour
You could get all the education you could possibly imagine — a B.S., an M.S., an M.D. or even a Ph.D — and it wouldn’t prepare you for working in the food industry. One task isn’t necessarily more difficult than the other, but a majority of the skills required for one simply don’t carry over to the other. At least, that’s what I’ve found throughout my experiences working at the Flour Bakery and Cafe these past few months.
Victor Morales
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and narrative series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.
Why I chose MIT
Two years ago, I faced one of the most difficult decisions of my life yet: where to go to college. Where would I spend my parents’ savings and the next four years of my life? Like many MIT students, I was picking between top institutions. Because I knew I wanted to study computer science, I had narrowed it down to my top three: MIT, Caltech, and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) for its Turing Scholars Program. It was difficult to discern the difference academically between the top three schools, so I chose with my heart.
Barbara Johnson
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and narrative series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.
A microbial bridge to MIT
Editor’s Note: Any student new to MIT experiences a certain level of culture shock, whether they enter as an undergraduate or as a graduate student. For graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds, this shock can be even greater. This article tells the story of two such students.
Random Hall turns 12
The crowd gathered slowly. People trickled in from across campus after a long day of classes. If you looked closely, the crowd was a little unusual: hair in blues, pinks, greens, and purples; a smattering of matching shirts; and half-sheets of paper printed with script-like font reminiscent of a curious hymnal excerpt.
SUCCing it up
Allow me to describe a moment of distilled fear. Imagine Simmons Hall Auditorium: MIT students line the seats, crammed shoulder to shoulder. Audience members spill from plush red rows onto the stairs. Every pair of eyes is fixed on a lone figure onstage. A spotlight chains her in place. As initial applause dies down, she begins to speak into the microphone in her hand — and in that moment, more than anything in the world, she wants the audience to laugh.
Tylor Hess
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and narrative series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.
Lydia Krasilnikova
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and narrative series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.
Mary Tellers
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and narrative series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.
Love is...
I never thought I would have to worry about healthy relationships. My relationships seemed pretty great. I have a close group of friends, two amazing parents, and a wonderful group of women that I get to call my sisters. It took one conversation to make me realize that while I don’t have a directly unhealthy relationship myself, I certainly have felt the effects of one.
In search of an elusive freshman internship
The search for something to do over the summer has been a rough one. As a freshman who wants to code but hasn’t done a ton of coding, it can be quite difficult to secure an opportunity from a company of interest. Nevertheless, last Monday, like many MIT students, I went to xFair to speak with dozens of representatives looking for potential summer interns.
Taylor Shaw
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and narrative series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.