Week 1, Day 4

My quals for the PhD program in nuclear science and engineering at MIT are going to happen in the first or second week of February 2026, so I’m blogging my progress on my work (master’s thesis, qual practice problems, research, classes) to keep me on track and motivated.

9 am: This morning was the first half of the final presentations for 22.QTD. They started at 9 am and went on for two hours. I’ve decided to present on neutron magnetic resonance for my 15 minute presentation next week.

11 am: I gathered some data from the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the atomic force microscope (AFM) for a paper on Co2MnGa.

11:40 am: I ordered a burrito from Ole for lunch, and I got started on a qual problem. I worked for a couple hours on qual problems and then took a break to buy a chocolate lola cookie from Flour.

3:00 pm: We went a problem session on nuclear magnetic resonance led by a visiting student in our group. We didn’t finish the session until 5:45 pm. Then I took an uber to rush home to start cooking dinner.

6:15 pm: I cooked Mexican sopes with two of my housemates! We served dinner around 7:30 pm. It was a slow night and only a couple people showed up. We cleaned up the kitchen, and I packed some leftovers for tomorrow.

9:00 pm: I took a break and laid in bed.

9:30 pm: I filled out a couple of forms and administrative things (like change a flight).

11:38 pm: Now I'm gonna get ready for bed. zzzzz