diff --git a/_posts/2024-02-17-Saturday-February-17th.md b/_posts/2024-02-17-Saturday-February-17th.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000..1899061a2a580 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024-02-17-Saturday-February-17th.md @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ +## My last week as a Visiting PhD student + +## Y'all.... +- Simons is *such* a vibe! I love it here! Apparently my key card even works a day after I said I would be leaving the programme, which +was awesome because I could enjoy one last round of Bibimbap and ginger boba. I keep running into super-nice people, and I am SO +tired because we were up until after 1am celebrating Happy Hour, in which one of the waiters told us that we had booked a 15-top +and like, 50 people showed up. It was just so much fun and I haven't laughed so much in a long time. +- Again, I have to say that everyone is just SO nice here! People give you smiles as you make your way to grab a cup of coffee or tea, +while working on whiteboards and blackboards and even on a rush to a meeting. The energy here is great and if I ever imagined what being +a researcher would be like, this is pretty close to it. It's so amazing! I almost got a bit teary-eyed the night before last, thinking +of returning, but I am happy that the night after that was filled with so much joy. Quantum researchers are amazing! So far, I've just +met some really friendly, humble but intensely passionate researchers who know how to have a good time. And a good time we do have! + +## So... +- My week started out after a hike with a lovely DM about being taken out for lunch. And it was amazing. We lunched at an Iranian +restaurant, I got to meet Jelani, a researcher I have admired for a long time (especially his stance on Mathematics!) while he was +running between appointments, with four minutes to spare. I was even able to chat with him afterwards, which was amazing! Everything +has just been amazing. I got to visit some of my friends on Wednesday in San Francisco, which was also a surreal and wonderful experience! +It's just been an unforgettable time in grad school for me. +- Finally, I got to tell my host, on the day she was stepping down from her position, how much the experience meant to me. I'm super thankful +she was able to make it happen. This place is such a magical and great opportunity for any researcher. It really does feel like a place +one can take the time to think and do research. The whole experience was incredible for me. + +## Here are some photos + + + +- A talk about homology and error-correcting codes; specifically, Homological Quantum Rotor Codes. +Hilariously, this led to myself and another PhD student explaining what the dual is +to another friend of ours who is a Quantum Simulation architect. I really liked that about this space in general; there were a mix of people +whose background was anything from Physics, Maths, Chemistry, Computer Science and even Economics (apparently either micro or macro +has some crossover, I was told, or maybe my friend was trolling me lol). Anyways, it was kind of awesome. + + + +- I took this for my friend. He kind of resembles Bob (j/k I know you're going to give me crap for saying this). + + + +- This was part of the Error Correction and Neural Atom QC session. This was a fascinating talk. + + + +- The reconfigurable atom arrays talk. It got pretty heated in terms of the conversation, but also really interesting talk. I enjoyed this +part on hypergraph products (of course lol). + + + + + + + + + +- Berkeley is so random sometimes idk. + + + +- Like this place where apparently you have to get a running headstart to do the 9 and three quarter Harry Potter thing to find the restroom. + + + +- Saint Frank's is amazing. This is from my day in SF this past week. Highly recommend their Maple Pine Latte. Sooo good! They're also just +really friendly and nice. + + + +- Love the Arts in the Mission. I hung out after visiting some friends and bought a card for my host here. + + + +- This passed me as I was waiting for the bus in SF. It was the week after some people rioted and burned one of them. I spoke with someone +at the workshop who lives in Berkeley who said he had some free rides for ones from another autonomous company, and also this one. +I've only ever been in this one through a friend at X years ago (like in 2017 or something). + + + +- Beverland is a G. Such a nice guy! He didn't even know me and walked right up to me on the first day he arrived and started chatting with me, +a student. Much appreciated! That was the general vibe, though, and people care as much about what school you went to, as what you found +interesting, and what you were interested in working on. I was surprised when I mentioned what I was interested in, and a postdoc told me +he was super interested and told me about one of the most beautiful papers he had ever read related to that. People were just constantly +willing to share knowledge. Of course, there are people who are working on things that they can't have scooped, and there was a nice +boundary that didn't feel gate-keepery, but was respectful of that, which was appreciated. + + + +- Calderbank gave an amazing talk. Interestingly, there was something in the Maths community I had been working on with a group on and he +was also working with a postdoc on, so there is room for collaboration, I think! Plus, his postdoc is my boba buddy and just a lovely person! + + + +- Tea time is at 3pm each day! + + + + + +- Elena bought me lunch at the Iranian restaurant. She is just so nice! We also have overlap in some areas of research, and she was very keen +to stay in touch. Definitely plan on doing that! + + + +- She took a photo of me by the clock tower before we went to lunch with another professor and her student. I don't do a lot of these, +but my mom loves when I send her photos, so it worked out. + + + +- On the way to the lab. I loved this. It says: "From here, I can go anywhere. Anchored to this desk, I see three narcissus in a slender pewter +vase. On the floor by my feet is my black bag with its white clown faces, empty now of my teaching tricks, it sags. French doors open out to +campus past trees, buildings, the town out, out across the land then up, up past clouds, up out to the universe planets, stars, galaxies, +black holes then I return, see again the desk a highly glazed fat cup holds pens that free my imagination to soar....to soar. By Adam David Miller. + + + +- Another tea time + + + +- Shruti's talk on EC and Hybrid Fusions. + + +## And that's it