Cheerleader

Kharis with her opening slide

I once signed an email to my lab as "Your Cheerleader in Chief." Let's be honest: that is one of the ways I view myself. A big part of my job is mentoring, and to me, mentoring sometimes means cheering from the sidelines when my lab members succeed. I am with them in the struggles, and I am with them in the victories. I love the days when I get to be a cheerleader. 

Recently, I got to cheer on my PhD student, Kharis. She is currently about a year out from the end of her PhD program, and that meant she was due to give a seminar. PhD students in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program present part of their dissertation research in their final year, mostly as a means to gain experience discussing their research in a public context. The seminar also reduces the amount of material they'll have to cover during their hour-long defense and lets the department know what the student has been up to. 

I know I'm biased, but Kharis rocked it. I was very proud to watch her present her work to the department. When Kharis finished her seminar, I presented her with a marble. Yep, it's a super weird tradition. Back in the day, as the story goes, one of the faculty members at WHOI ended up with a large number of marbles painted to look like the globe. This person decided that each PhD student should receive one to commemorate their first departmental seminar. The supply of marbles has been handed off between faculty and distributed to PhD students ever since. Now, Kharis has one. 

Great job, Kharis!