i have spent every weekend since i turned 24 in bed knitting + nursing a mug of peppermint tea. i am grandma but i am free

Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment. The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

🧵 Thread about how the NSF GRFP eligibility policy change is bad for science, but especially bad for bridge program students:

My first 1st author paper is published! Explainer thread from when it originally went live on arXiv quoted! 🔭🧪 Evolution of LISA Observables for Binary Black Holes Lensed by a Supermassive Black Hole doi.org/10.3847/1538... via @ioppublishing.bsky.social

today in nyc: another tropical downpour. soaking wet and a bit irritated 😒 but my day has been slightly improved by my rain-induced tastefully messy, wavy hair 😏

Hey folks! I promised some comments on GW231123 (the most massive BBH merger detected in GW so far!) a few weeks ago. Well, here are my comments, in whole paper form, led by the fabulously amazing multitasking @xevra.world (who put this out WHILE MOVING INTERNATIONALLY!), with usual collabs… 🔭⚛️🧪

So, @xevra.world leads a great paper out today on arXiv arxiv.org/abs/2508.13412 on how the recent event GW231123 detected by @ligo.org @egovirgo.bsky.social could've happened in an AGN. With @saavikford.bsky.social @spacekaila.bsky.social @astrowithemily.bsky.social @jakepost.tech & McFACTS crew!

If you wanna know why the AGN Channel folks are VERY EXCITED about today’s LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (gravitational wave, binary black hole merger) announcement, read this thread 🧵:

We are excited to announce the discovery of #GW231123, a gravitational-wave signal from the merger of two high-mass black holes to form one about 190–265 times the mass of our Sun ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k... #O4IsHere 🔭🧪☄️

this is so exciting!!

i miss climbing so much but i cannot fork over a oodles of money/month for a climbing gym membership here in nyc </3

in regular nyc apartment hunting fashion, the broker pushing us to sign this lease argued that the toilet seat that is completely detached on one side (and also, not the right size for the toilet), which swivels in a full 180 degree range of motion, was a “design feature” of the toilet seat🙄

#FlatironCCA researcher Carrie Filion makes galaxies sing. As part of our Symbiosis program, Filion worked with filmmaker Em Oliver to create the short film "Did You Know That Space Can Sing?". Watch full video here: www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/07/02/w... #science #astrophysics

carrie filion mention!! that’s my career mentor!!

It’s a good thing Congress isn’t alive to see this

erykah badu the woman you are.. youtu.be/94JTlZDt5Xw?...

my GOAT👏👏

It’s blindingly clear at this point that the protestors in Los Angeles are in fact helping to prevent a fascist takeover, and the pundits who suggested that protest is counterproductive were being either stupid or actively malicious.

got my ms degree in astrophysics. this is a dream come true — for Shirin in 2015, who started in physics, for Shirin in 2017, who switched to planetary science due to harassment, for Shirin in 2019, who realized she wanted to do nothing but research forever.

I did it! I gave a plenary and everyone* had to listen to me! I’m going to post some of my fav pics! *ok not everyone but kinda a good fraction of the meeting?

LAPD when they think nobody is watching

Reposting today for no particular reason.

i was thrilled + honored to present preliminary results of my master’s thesis project at the Dynamix conference hosted by @cambridgeastro.bsky.social this week! hope i can get back to Cambridge soon :)

my brother, my parents, and my bestie are all flying in for graduation and this is the most excited I’ve been in a minute!! I didn’t get to celebrate my undergrad graduation (2020… oops!) so getting to celebrate my masters in nyc is bringing me so much joy

after ~14 hours of travel i am unbelievably happy to be in my apartment unpacked, showered, and now eating thai red curry!! :)

Under Trump’s budget, NASA would face its lowest funding in over a decade, and its most ambitious science missions would be canceled. Davinci+, Veritas, Mars Sample Return? Gone. If Trump gets his way, the future of U.S. space science will die on the launchpad. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

this is a nightmare. Telescopes aside, funding woes are so bad that people like me trying to get into phds are facing great difficulty even breaching the acceptance threshold — it’s been exhausting as someone who first applied in 2020!

I'm coordinating a How to Read a Paper workshop for undergrads i and was wondering if people have any resources they have found helpful for outlining readings/building that skill? Any resources or advice help!

If you passed thru JHU astronomy in a certain period, you know Kathy Ziolkowski as a kind, generous person who went out of her way to settle in (esp foreign) postdocs & grad students. She was also a great community builder & a miracle worker with paperwork. She’s the one who needs our help now:

four years ago I failed calc 2 and was told to reconsider my physics major. today I received an A+ in radiative processes and finish my first year of my masters program with a 4.0🥲😭 excuse me while i cry a little bit

everyday i dream of having a stand mixer. i could make so much bread. i could make so many treats💔

ATTENTION: NSF GRANT RECIPIENTS We received a heads up from a trusted source that you should proactively download/print/screen shot any documentation on research.gov pertaining to your NSF awards, both those that are current and any that have closed in the last 5-6 years. 1/n

US students. Looking to apply to graduate school? Had an offer rescinded recently? The University of British Columbia in Canada will re-open the application portal in some departments for US students from April 14-18. Details: www.grad.ubc.ca/us-applicant... #ubc #AcademicSky #PhDSky #ScienceSky

My McFACTS colleagues got me get-well-soon flowers!!! 🥹 @spacekaila.bsky.social @jakepost.tech @emilymcpike.bsky.social @xevra.world … anyone else on Bsky? Shawn? Harry? Richard? Rosalba? Austen? Rachel?

how am i already fighting for my life to avoid White Lotus spoilers! the finale just came out last night pls💔

Mahmoud Khalil's new op-ed from detention— "Faced with a movement for divestment they couldn't crush, your trustees opted to set fire to the institution they're entrusted with…History will redeem us, while those who were content to wait on the sidelines will be forever remembered for their silence."

DAMN that is way higher than I thought it was 😤😤

Hampton U (HBCU in VA) is looking to hire assistant/associate prof in atmospheric and planetary science! They are interested in exoplanetary science too! #BlackInphysics #BlackandSTEM #BlackInAstro #BlackInChem home.hamptonu.edu/hr/2025/02/1...

hey!! i have a live website now. check it out here: emilymcpike.wordpress.com

FREE HAMDAN BALLAL! apnews.com/article/no-o...

great article and an important read - give it a read when you can: magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/online/why-g...

Come on out for Astro on Tap #151 - Celebrating Diversity in STEM at Pete's Candy Store!

If you can choose to be Sophie Scholl or Karl Von Frisch… be Sophie Scholl:

right next to you :-)

Stand Up For Science!

Stand Up For Science Rally in NYC, Washington Square Park #StandUpForScience 🧪

Scientists who are actively against fascism because fascism is bad, not just because sometimes it hurts scientists, are my people

NYC local rally will be in Washington Square Park from 12-3 PM.

Hochul’s move here is profoundly racist and dehumanizing. Defining Palestinian studies as fundamentally antisemitic means defining Palestinians as something to be erased. It is genocidal. This is also an unacceptable attack on academic freedom. The governor should have no say in faculty hiring.