Nico Foley

My thesis was a nonlinear dynamical system.. the problem doesn’t occur fitting the first dataset, but when everyone agrees 2 or 3 more should follow.. and then one realizes enabling assumptions were made, and there are 5 different things that need clarification and there is no clear line to pursue

Because almost everyone I know (myself included) who’s done a PhD experiences a period where it feels like nothing is moving forward, and one’s advisors encouragement starts to feel hollow.. I think it helps to know in advance that it is likely to happen and more importantly that it is temporary

I think you’re in the exponential progress part of your PhD (and submitting this early is great).. just want to warn you that the exponential will end and day-to-day progress will fall under the JND.. doesn’t mean no progress, just no daily reinforcement.. that’s the hard part.. so be ready to grind

Then we’ll see and I hope we can get you NYC

Grad school is a collective experience, one of my proudest achievements was as founding secretary of the CNSO (since replaced due to the destruction of the department by a different CNSO).. good notes have a long half life.. you’re expending a lot effort, might as well leave a legacy

Very few members of the review committee have the requisite diagnoses 😉

More importantly than your advisors, share your notes with any of your cohort who isn’t on bsky.. getting through quals is a collective experience.. if you want to turn it into a study guide, it’ll be a resource for several years, and your advisors will be aware of it

You do have SessionBuddy or similar in case your revelation is not final, right?

Great attitude, you are interviewing the committee.. AI slop and current google slop excised, you’ve solved the principal agent problem

I thought I had a pdf.. I know I have a copy, on paper, in a much abused filing cabinet (4 moves) that is high time I take the wrapping off.. at least several days

Have you seen Jackie Liedermans’s work? Or her developmental syllabus? (I know it’s now dated)

As an enterprise or a prompt?

1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment - Wikipedia

That they thought Minnesota was going to cave and not go elbows up is incredible en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Min...

Great! One of Barry Richmond’s (correct, imo after reflection) of Steve Grossberg was that since he had never done experimental work, he didn’t have a great feel for which papers were rock solid, and which should be taken as weak confirmatory evidence

Even if it’s not wet lab work, I think as a theorist getting some experience with the difficulty of designing experiments and collecting quality data is invaluable.. if only to be able to better assess the experiments your models will rely upon (human neuroimaging is one intermediate modality)

Your quals are sort of the base scientific knowledge you’ll carry throughout your career.. taking them seriously is a good idea.. getting too nervous about them is not, if your advisors think you’re on track to take them, and (as it looks) giving study time, you’ll be prepared

The Haldimand Affair and the negotiations with New York that eventually led to the Vermont Republic joining the union are fascinating

Masters of Magic (slightly above MOO2).. Castle of the Winds (1&2,fav roguelike).. Chuck Yeagers Air Combat.. Empire 1&2 (resource game).. EverQuest (thru GoD, quit to do my PhD).. going with Civ2.. NWN2 with expansions (Dark Suns also great) EU3.. D:AO.. Jade Empire.. Medieval 2 for total war games

One of my friends, career US Army, reminded me to forget the politics and remember the logistics.. there are ~75k US troops in Europe, with ~500k dependents.. there is no way the US can even rattle the sabres..

You want nuts, whether mixed or your preferred, each bite lasts a while

As a New Yorker, I’d say that’s pretty standard, surprised they didn’t ask for 10.. when I applied to (what’s now) my coop apartment they wanted every single address I’d lived at for at least six months (as well as 10 years of tax returns, and all of my financial statements within the last 30 days)

If their labs have separate journal clubs, try presenting the same article to both (trust me, it’s not half the effort).. and make sure to do so for your own draft posters and talks

It’s a great position to be in.. your understanding is only as great as your ability to explain (see the link).. I had the great luck of starting my neuroscience career under Rae Silver (biology), my dad (economics) and @drmikeantle.bsky.social (knew a lot of both).. translation is (good) demanding

If you’re not already aware, I’d recommend checking out SeungJung Kim’s work on the Greek perceptions of time

arthistory.utoronto.ca/people/direc...

If you’ve never read Steve Grossberg’s paper about the split between physics and psychology in the early 20th century I’d highly recommend it.. it is very much part of the BU legacy sites.bu.edu/steveg/files...

I would recommend sending an email with your CV anyway.. anyone in the US who thinks they’re going to get a ton of options via public announcement at this point is deluding themselves

That makes me think about David McLaughlin’s work extremely elegant work embedding a spiking model into a field model www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

My experience is that if you’re getting synchronized spikes within 1ms, it’s very likely a problem with your headstage

Which model are you using? I actually enjoy the smell of a new 9210+.. I think a lot of the plastic smell is due to the non-braided fabric straps

When buying a coop apartment what you buy is shares of a corporation (237 for me) that gives you the right of tenancy, not the actual property like a condo.. maintenance is the common monthly expense to maintain the coop.. our’s is efficient (89% fixed cost) the increase is property tax + insurance