In which Kayla the Investigator, headed down to the Handelsman lab to ask “Have you ever solved a real-world mystery, something small, perhaps on your way to work or school when you were younger? A kind of What’s that? How’d that happen? Why’s that even there? that you could answer with simple experiments or observation." <>

There are many paths to writing a novel and they all go through The Woods. If the children’s story We’re Going on a Bear Hunt has taught us anything it’s that we can’t ease our journeys by skipping over or ducking under obstacles. There is no way around the swampy, buggy, painstaking parts of the writing process. The Woods is where novels are written, and authors are born. If we make it through. [...]

I am thinking about evolutionary biology as applied to society. Specifically, I am questioning the role of literature and fiction therein. It seems that societies–at least the ones that I am familiar with–do not select for fiction writers. There aren’t clearly defined career pathways, as there are for other professions, to help fictionites get from A to B, and this is a way of selecting against the craft. (Even MFA programs are not guaranteed entry passes into the hard and rewarding work of fiction.) […]

Journey to […]

March 27, 2022

March 25, 2022

Writing does not start at the page. It […]

I have come to America to write a novel. No. I have come to America to edit that last sentence and to craft the next, which is, at heart, all that writing is. America is not just the United States, I should be more specific. But then the sentence will suffer musically. How about: I have come to the U.S. to resolve a mystery. Better?

A new website brings together machine learning (ML) practitioners across a variety of departments and disciplines, and provides a space for both novice and experienced ML practitioners to advance their ML skillsets, share knowledge and resources, and form collaborations. Visit the site now to learn more:  Machine Learning Community.

Undergraduate students seeking physics research experience at UW-Madison are encouraged to apply; students from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. No prior research experience is needed. Participating students do not need to have a declared physics major and do not need to have a specific faculty mentor identified in advance to apply.