I believe that to be successful in lab you need to spend time doing things you love outside lab. These activities help me step away from scientific questions, reenergize me and often help mee see completely novel solutions. Plus, its fun!
Currently, I am mainly focused on 2 things outside lab:
The biggest reason for my success in life has been the advice and guidance of amazing mentors. These people have not only helped me improve my technical skills but have also helped me navigate graduate school and think deeper about how to be truly happy. Unfortunately, though not everyone has such amazing mentors. Recognizing this unmet need (especially for PhD students), I co-founded the Harvard Big Data Club in 2016 to
1). Improve tech skills of the community
2). Act as a bridge between graduate students and tech companies
3). Increase general data science awareness on campus
I am also actively involved with other graduate student groups at Harvard. Recently, I served as Treasurer of Graduate Student Council where I managed the budget for the council, made funding decisions and was involved in advocacy for student issues such as subsidized T passes.
I believe that while progress in science achieves great progress for humanity, often scientific progress and ideas are poorly communicated to the public. As a result, the general public often suspects science, “experts” and dismisses scientific claims. Climate change denial, free trade critics and vaccine nay-sayers are all excellent examples of this phenomenon. To help change this, I try to explain my own work in a simplified manner through my blog and by giving public seminars about scientific breakthroughs. For example, I recently gave talk on revolution in brain mapping to Boston residents. Previously, I also worked as a science writer for The Munich Eye where I explained recent cutting edge research to the common public in an easy to understand manner. You can find my articles here