Agent Plus Environment

Northeast Conference Champions

That’s right: For the first time in program history, the VC Women’s Fencing team has triumphed over the other schools in our conference!

I just wanted to give us a shoutout. We’ve been having a great season, going 30-6 so far — certainly the best in my time at Vassar, both personally and as a team. This was a good year for it, too. I’m going to miss the team when I graduate.

Take a look at the official Vassar Athletics story!

A new semester…

Long time, no writing — it’s the start of a new semester (my last semester!) and I’ve been busy with a number of different things:

1. The VC Women’s Fencing team. We’re in full competition mode. We conquered in Cleveland recently, vanquished difficult foes at Brown University, and are gearing up for a big match at Wellesley next Sunday, which will decide whether we claim the Northeast Conference Championship this year!
2. My undergraduate cognitive science thesis. I’m looking at the emergent behavior of a group of simulated prey robots that can communicate with each other about the presence of a predator. I have questions about communication, environment, and motivation. Being a year-long project, I’m supposedly halfway through, though in reality, it’s not so clear-cut. I spent all summer reading papers and doing background research, filled last semester with hypotheses, possible architectures, and more background research, wrote up a first draft this winter break, and am now hard at work on the simulation itself.
3. Taking photos of the weather. An unusually large amount of snow has fallen at Vassar — what better to do than document it with a camera? (Click for larger versions.)


Sunset Lake II



Snow Forest



Winter Picnic

4. Figuring out my post-graduation life. On the advice of many folks, I’m not heading immediately to grad school. My enthusiasm for learning, research, and knowledge hasn’t vanished — quite the contrary. I’m going to spend at least a year exploring the places outside the classroom, longer depending on where I end up. Academia-land? The wide world beyond? Still up in the air.

A soundtrack for writing papers

Through force of habit, a particular set of Goo Goo Dolls albums has become my paper-writing music. It was by chance at first: tunes I was familiar with and could mostly ignore while working on a final draft freshman year. I happened to listen to those couple albums on repeat for a good six or seven hours. I was fairly productive.

Later that year, utterly unfocused and unproductively poking at another paper, feeling entirely unmotivated to synthesize information and string useful arguments out of the sets of research articles I had collected, I remembered that music. I decided to give it a try — perhaps, I thought, if I gave myself the right soundtrack, I’d get something done. (I was running out of other homework to do, anyway.) And hey. It worked.

I continue to pick the same albums when it comes time to resolutely sit down and pound out pages of words. I have to wonder how much is a placebo effect: I think the songs will help focus my attention on writing a good paper, so I listen to the songs and focus better. (Perhaps I shouldn’t think about that too much just in case the effect disappears when I do.) Do recall what I’ve said previously about the importance expectations!

Perhaps I could, if I tried, decide that “okay, now it’s work-on-paper time” and then crack down and work. But the motivational kick from the music — “this is working music, so if I’m listening to it, I should be working” — keeps me going.

Given that I’m certainly motivated to keep my productivity-enhancing paper-writing albums solidly in the category of music that’ll make my homework happen, perhaps I don’t need to worry about the effect slipping. Part of my productivity may be a result of not wanting to prove that it’s mostly a placebo!

And a question for you

Do you have similar soundtracks? Particular songs you use for warm-ups before a sports game, albums for homework, tracks you save for the last sprint at the gym? I’m curious, so do share.

During one of the brief moments I was in my room yesterday afternoon, I was struck by the view out my window.

A bare-limbed tree, autumn decor already a crunching carpet on the lawn, stood silhouetted before its bright red-orange neighbor. I’ve been watching these trees change all semester. Add in a backdrop of dramatic slate storm clouds, and how could I resist?

Here’s the relatively quick sketch I did to capture the scene (black pen and colored pencil – click for larger version):

View from my room III

Which is your favorite season?

Usually, I can’t decide. But when my Hudson valley campus is decked out in full-blown autumn colors, my vote swings in favor of chill fall air, feet crunching through drifts of leaves, and myriad shades of red, brown, orange, and yellow.

Yes, I do, on occasion, meander across campus with my camera. Click for the larger versions!

Sunset Lake

View from the room

Branch of doom

Red glow tree

More advice!

I collected a lot of good advice from the women at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, which I recently attended. I shared what they had to say about undergrads looking ahead to grad school.

This is Part II: applicable to everyone! A lot of it comes from the Imposter Plenary Panel. Those women had good things to say!

1. One of the women on the Imposter Plenary Panel, Fran Berman, emphasized confidence. When you get the opportunity to sit at a table with the most important people in your company or in your field, is sitting there a right, or a privilege? “You’ll do best in that room if you think you have a right to be there,” said Fran. She said it’s a tightrope between who you believe yourself to be and who you want to be in that situation.
2. Yolanda Rankin, another of the women on the Imposter Plenary Panel, said the crux of managing situations is managing relationships with people.
3. Diane Gonzelez, another of the imposter panelists, explained her “Don’t ask, don’t get” policy. You have to tell people what you want, she said. If you want a promotion, your manager may pass you up until s/he knows you’re looking for a promotion. This doesn’t just apply to the job market, either. Diane shared a quote from Althea Gibson: “No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.”
4. Fran Berman agreed with Diane Gonzalez: “there is no recognition fairy” who’ll come along and give you an award. You must advocate for yourself and your career.
5. From the “How do I become a Researcher?” session: You have more control in academia than you do in industry. In general, anyway, because in industry, divisions get outsourced, proposals and ideas get turned down, and companies get reorganized. Unless you’re the one in charge, you don’t get as much self-determination.
6. Diane Gonzelez said she has observed a tendency among women: There’s a job with ten requirements. A man may look at it, see he has two of the requirements, and apply, claiming that he can do all ten. A woman may have eight, but think, oh gosh, I’m not qualified, I shouldn’t apply! Her advice: Don’t doubt yourself so much.
7. Fran Berman also talked about mistakes. She said, when you make a mistake, “You have to learn from it and don’t repeat it… right away.”

A lot of advice

Words of wisdom were being traded as often as poken high-fours at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, which I recently attended. Academics and professors shared their knowledge of navigating grad school; current grad students explained how not to do what they’re doing; women in industry and government labs elucidated how they got there and why they enjoy their jobs.

These are a few nuggets I found to be particularly applicable. This list focuses on advice for current undergrads or early grad students — I’ll be following up soon with a list of more general advice!

1. One of the women on the Imposter Plenary Panel, Fran Berman, said, “You were not born as an undergrad, and you were not born as an intern.” The skills you used to get to be an undergrad or intern will help you get to the next step, too – whether that’s grad school or your first full-time job.
2. During the “How do I enjoy and succeed in grad school?” session, it was suggested that when investigating grad schools, talk to the students. Ask the students about advisors. How often do you meet? What’s it like working with them, writing with them, and writing for them?
3. From the “How do I become a Researcher?” session: If you apply to grad school without knowing exactly what your focus will be, when you write your application essay, pick one thing you’re interested in and write about that.. Even if that’s not the only thing that interests you. You can change your mind later. The admissions folks are looking passion, interest, and focus.
4. Both the “How do I become a Researcher?” session and the “How do I enjoy and succeed in grad school?” session mentioned the following: When contacting potential grad schools, be conscious of professors’ time. Professors are very busy people. Schedule meetings well in advance when visiting their schools. Show you’ve done your research: read their papers and ask questions about their work. You’re not just finding out if these professors want you in their labs – you’re finding out if you want to be in their labs! Oh, and if you send your resume to a professor, send it plain text, not as an attachment.
5. Erika Shehan Poole, during the “How do I enjoy and succeed in grad school?” session, suggested that students keep a research journal. Any ideas you have, good or bad – write them down. Questions you have. Later on, when you’re planning your thesis (or any other time you need ideas), you can look back. Maybe there’s a theme. Maybe some of those idea – even if they sounded dumb at the time – are actually good. Maybe they’ll spark new ideas.
6. Duy-Loan T. Le, Thursday’s keynote speaker, told all the students in the audience, “If you want to be the top of your class, don’t fall in love.” This speaks, I think, to the notion that time is finite. You cannot put all your time and energy into your coursework if you also want to put some time and energy into your relationships with the people you care about. As I’ve oft been told, it’s a matter of balance.