Day 1, 6 PM (Andi)
Today is the first day of MARC 2025 (the Microsystems Annual Research Conference) – MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratory’s (MTL) annual conference, featuring two days of MIT students presenting their research to MTL’s industry sponsors like Lam Research and GlobalFoundries. It’s also a (heavily subsidized) ski trip! Because MARC isn’t only about serious science; it’s also an opportunity for the MTL community to get together and have fun before the spring semester starts.
Unlike last year, when I tagged along at MARC despite my nonexistent research output (I guess being an undergrad made it okay), I have a poster to present this year! (Stay tuned until day 2 to see it.) Also unlike last year, when our blogs were restricted to use only the top 1000 most common English words, I can describe things in a non-caveman-like way this year! Goodbye “sticking-together rocks”; hello “magnets”!
Anika ’26 is here too, which was a pleasant surprise!
I look dead inside here, but I assure you I was very excited for the conference. It was just that I had to wake up at 6 AM.
The conference kicked off at 10 AM with “winter activities” at the ski resort by our hotel. I went snowboarding, while Anika went cross-country skiing. It was my first time ever snowboarding; I went skiing last year during MARC and thought the snowboarding people looked so cool, so I decided to give it a shot this year.
Unfortunately, I severely underestimated the difficulty of snowboarding, which I quickly realized as I fell onto my face within the first ten seconds of going down the bunny slope. It turns out that snowboarding is completely different from skiing, skateboarding, or any other sport I’ve tried before. It’s fast, terrifying, and cold. (Just like MIT.) But it was really fun and I loved it, even though my body now hurts everywhere because I kept falling on my face. (Just like MIT.)
I heard Anika had a great time cross-country skiing though, with none of the wipeouts I endured during snowboarding.
Anyway, after all that excitement, we got to the hotel and checked in. I’m currently sitting in the lobby writing this post while I wait for the opening ceremony (and dinner!) to begin. Be back in ~1 hour.