May 27Advice for international PhD studentsI recently received my Ph.D. as an international student, in a small town near Boston. Here are three things I learned. Immediately after you decide where to go, find out if your university has a summer immersion program. When I was admitted, I had no idea that some universities hold…International Student3 min read
Aug 17, 2020Why It’s a Good Idea to Click Campaign Ads from Candidates You DislikeAs the November election nears, we are all receiving campaign ads from politicians. Here is a surprising suggestion: don’t click the ads of the politicans you endorse. Instead, click the ads from candidates you dislike. There are five reasons why. Clicking ads may cost the campaign money. For example, if…Elections3 min read
Apr 3, 2020Mask or Ventilator? Your CallSlogan Turned Idiom Slogans are propaganda, pushed out by political machines. Idioms are condensed wisdom. They have their own life and spread by themselves. The boundary between slogans and idioms was blurred in China this February, when villages and street committees — the lowest level of governance in the country…Coronavirus11 min read
Mar 23, 2020Imagined Futures Under COVID-19What will future look like under COVID-19? For now, most of us are imagining a future defined by the following graph. By washing hands and avoiding crowds, we try to “flatten the curve”. We don’t contain the pandemic; we attempt to mitigate it. Only one problem: this imagined future is…Mitigation8 min read
