The first pancake

Dr. Meyer-Kaiser and Dr. Schrage

"Grad students are like pancakes: the first one always comes out a little funky."

- just a thing that academics say to each other

Ladies and gentleman, I have incredible news: my very first PhD student, Kharis Schrage, has graduated! Last week, Kharis successfully defended her dissertation and completed the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. She has earned the title of Dr. Schrage. 

I am immensely proud of Kharis. She joined my lab in the summer of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, when all field work was stalled and nobody know where the world was headed. Kharis wanted to focus her dissertation on the Arctic ecosystem, so she asked me to estimate the probability that I could get her to the Arctic within the 5-year program. I estimated 95%. In the end, Kharis made 5 trips to the Arctic during her PhD, including a few without me. She collected enough samples to fill an entire shelf of our lab freezer and enough data to fill its own hard drive. She produced four really solid manuscripts, two of which are already published. She was even featured in a PBS documentary. Kharis was incredibly successful in her PhD - even among her high-achieving Joint Program cohort, she stands out. 

The cake that Kharis's fellow students made for her

On the day of Kharis's thesis defense, some 18 of her closest friends and relatives descended on Woods Hole to support her. I wore a special dress I had made for the occasion - decorated with photos of larvae that Kharis had taken during her PhD research. Kharis gave her public defense, a seminar-style presentation on her research, in Redfield Auditorium. She and her committee retreated to a conference room for the private defense, our chance to ask any lingering questions and go over requested revisions to her written dissertation. When we finally emerged, I got to announce the result to Kharis's gathered support squad: she had passed and could now be called Dr. Schrage. A cheer erupted from the crowd!

As we sipped champagne and ate larval-themed cake, Kharis kept referring to herself as my "first pancake." I have to say - my first pancake turned out great. Kharis is a thoughtful and thorough scientist, and I am very proud of the dissertation she wrote. Now that her program is complete, I get the joy of watching her career develop. I can't wait to see where she goes next!