Week 1, Day 5 & 6

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.

Yesterday

The first thing on the agenda was a meeting with my professor and a collaborator at 10 am. Then I headed over to get breakfast before I had a one-on-one meeting with my professor. After my morning meetings, I spent almost the entirety of the day doing heavy administrative work (forms, drafting letters, emails, etc.). I also called our landlord’s team to discuss our house’s water bill. After my non-physics work, I reviewed a quantum mechanics problem for my quals prep. To end the day, I went to the gym and did some upper body workouts. I think I’m going to just do three workouts a week instead of four.

Today

Today, I woke up around 10 am and then headed to Bagelsaurus and Simon’s around 11 am. I did some more administrative work for an hour. Then I got started with quals prep, and I stayed until 3:30 when they closed. I headed over to MIT, and I pivoted to studying 22.QTD so that I could pick a topic for my final presentation. I think I’ve settled on Rydberg atoms. I made a giant mind map of quantum control of a qubit using both classical and quantum electric fields and interactions with matter qubits. Some of the subtopics of quantum control include rabi oscillations, ramsey measurements, and neutron magnetic resonance. I didn’t get a chance to make a mind map of dynamical decoupling and controllability, but I’ll do that tomorrow. Then around 7:30 pm, I headed over to a birthday dinner! I got home around 9 pm, started my bedtime routine, and called a friend.