Author Archives: Melanie Laffin

“Good is the enemy of done.”

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Melanie Laffin

When you are doing homework for a class, it is nice to know that there is a solution to the problems that you solve within a given time limit (even if that time limit is the end of the semester). … Continue reading →

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Organizing my organizations

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Melanie Laffin

As a graduate student for the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to have an a free or significantly reduced fee membership for the AMS, MAA, Association for Women in Mathematics, Association for Computing Machinery and SIAM. While I … Continue reading →

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WW2 Computerettes

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Melanie Laffin

While I was procrastinating the other day, I came across a documentary entitled Top Secret Rosies: Female computers of WW2. Now, I am competent enough to know that “computers” referred to people. During World War II it was largely women … Continue reading →

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The Glory of Starting Over

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Melanie Laffin

After finishing a Master’s program in Discrete Mathematics last spring, I moved onto a PhD program in a (completely) different school. Whereas the Master’s was very focused on very esoteric fields of math, the PhD program I’m in has a … Continue reading →

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The Unbearable Ease of Being Overnetworked

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Melanie Laffin

When I started graduate school, the first piece of advice that I was given by a senior graduate student was to network as much as possible. Which, at the beginning of my graduate career, I replied, “What the hell am … Continue reading →

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