Katya Ivshina is a PhD student in Applied Mathematics at Harvard studying geometric machine learning

Katya's Instagram: @katya.ivshina

Katya's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KatyaIvshina

YouTube канал Кати на русском: https://www.youtube.com/@ekaterinaivshina

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(1:16) Katya’s research explained at two different levels

(23:25) What excites you about the future of this field?

(29:20) Katya’s journey to doing a PhD at Harvard

(42:20) Cultural differences in the US

(54:22) What do you do outside of research and academics?

(1:03:20) Advice for current and prospective grad students

(1:14:05) Closing question: Topological data analysis explained simply

Ana Tsai is a PhD student in Biology at MIT from Stockton, California.

(0:30) What was your childhood like?

(3:25) Growing up with mixed heritage

(9:50) Smell of freshly picked tomatoes

(11:57) Did you ever imagine becoming a grad student?

(15:18) Researching immortality

(20:24) What do you do on a daily basis, Zelda protein

(24:30) Humans (and fruit flies) are basically a donut

(25:10) Optogenetics

(28:40) Generalizing from fruit flies to other species

(32:00) Setting goals in grad school

(34:20) Teaching and connecting with students

(42:00) Breaking out of bubbles

(51:00) Bees are really cute

(55:00) Potlucks with friends

(57:15) Where do you see yourself going after grad school?

(1:07:00) What would you tell someone who’s thinking about going into research?

Gun Ahn is a visiting graduate student at MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences, where he studies pathways in the brain that are important for our understanding of depression. He is the author of several books, including one about why Finland has the reputation as the happiest country in the world.

Anna Ivanova recently completed a PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT. She studies language and cognition in the brain using tools such as fMRI brain imaging. She is now starting a post-doctoral researcher position at the MIT Quest for Intelligence. 

Language models & speech vs. thought: https://theconversation.com/googles-powerful-ai-spotlights-a-human-cognitive-glitch-mistaking-fluent-speech-for-fluent-thought-185099 

Language vs. computer code comprehension: https://news.mit.edu/2020/brain-reading-computer-code-1215 

Mental health blog post: https://oge.mit.edu/the-breaking-point/