PhD defended!!!

1/3 Today, an anecdote shared by an invited speaker at #NeurIPS2024 left many Chinese scholars, myself included, feeling uncomfortable. As a community, I believe we should take a moment to reflect on why such remarks in public discourse can be offensive and harmful.

It is just so sad that the #NeurIPS2024 main conference ended with such a racist remark by a faculty when talking about ethics. How ironic! I also want to commend the Chinese student who spoke up right on spot. She was respectful, decent, and courageous. Her response was exemplary: she began by acknowledging the speaker’s efforts, then gave the speaker an opportunity to clarify (though, regrettably, the speaker’s reply only reinforced her bias), and ultimately called attention to the inappropriate racial bias and offered constructive suggestions. Thank you for speaking out!

Proud of you and the team!!!

An adaptive learning mechanism shows that sparse inter-hemispheric connections in the olfactory cortex enable consistent neural responses across brain hemispheres, with a trade-off between accuracy and learning speed. #olfaction Read the paper: go.aps.org/3ViParA

Sea cucumbers eat with the help of their tentacles.

finally got a chance to post the recording of my PhD defense 😍🎓 was one of the best days💫 #phdchat #thesis #defense piped.video/watch?v=MgsoEfEX…

Nature research paper: Dopamine dynamics are dispensable for movement but promote reward responses go.nature.com/3zX61IV

Finished another painting for the lab: Pacinian corpuscles that sense vibration! 🤗🤗 #scienceart #Neuroscience

World Mental Health Day is Today!

So excited to be able to witness the press conference for Dr. Gary Ruvkun winning the Nobel Prize! Honored to be in this great department - MGH Molecular Biology 🧬! piped.video/sTqJaAVTyLM

Excited for these 3 accomplished and kind scientists to go on the faculty job market this fall and share their exciting programs for the future. @TravisDGoode @tararaam_ and Twitter less Yu-Tzu Shih. It has been my pleasure working with you. Good luck and enjoy the milestones.

We're excited to announce this year's virtual open house series in Oct/Nov and the launch of a new student-run application assistance program for applicants to PiN! Details at pinphd.hms.harvard.edu/apply

A happy G6 spot in the wild, together with a lovely G3 @ksanagustinr !!! Had so much fun at the annual @PiN_Harvard Retreat!! Beat that PhD shark together!!

First time spotting some bioluminating crabs in woods hole!!!!

✨it's PhD application season again!✨ i am re-sharing my popular guide on applying for PhD programs in STEM, that has now been viewed 60k+ times over the past 6 years😍 please RT and share with anyone that might find it useful! lucylai.com/blog/gradapps

SPARED researchers show delayed sleep disruption reduces conditioned fear in male & female mice, substituting for extinction training (rdcu.be/dStKU).  Potentially beneficial effect?

*Very* excited to see the last study of my PhD making the cover of @ScienceMagazine on the macaques of @CayoSantiagoPR. We show that ecological disturbances can alter selective pressures on social ties leading to persistent societal changes. shorturl.at/i2WIB 🧵👇

📢 My lab at Vanderbilt University is recruiting 1-2 postdocs and 1-2 technicians to work on mammalian somatosensation development and function! Application details are available at my lab website. shanmeltzerlab.com Please apply soon and get in touch!! Please help me RT! :)