💡 Because the best advisors don't create followers. They create leaders. Then they beam with pride when the world notices.

🙏 Grateful for mentors like Mark who do exactly that.

🌱 And hoping I can pay that forward to my own students, present and future.

#academicsky #Mentorship #PhD #Gratitude

And honestly? My quiet prayer is that someday, I want to be at a conference, and someone the same thing.
And I'll find the nearest pen. Just like Mark did. ✏️

If that ever happens, I'll know I did at least one part of this job right.

Because the best advisors...

1/3

📍 From the moment I started working with him, he pushed me to establish my identity.

When I wrote bios, he'd say: "Lead with your work. Don't start with 'I'm advised by Mark Riedl.'"

So seeing this badge ("Mark (Upol's Advisor)") felt like a full-circle moment. 💫

1/2

Bro, I love the energy. (South) Asians go hard. Love that people are finally seeing our work ethic at the highest place in NYC. I love everything you're doing.

But for the sake of all humanity, I hope you go to sleep and get some rest! We can't afford a burned out Zohran!

We need to stop pretending brilliant science comes from brilliant minds working brilliantly at all times. Most of the stuff in academia is this unglamorous persistence from people who keep showing up.

7/7
n=7
#academicSky #mentalHealth #grit

If you're in the fog: Try the smallest possible "show up" today. 🌱
If you know someone struggling: Check on your people.

💪 Because sometimes the gap between "almost didn't exist" and "submitted to CHI" is just... showing up.

6/n

Three things that saved me:
📍 Lower the bar, keep the rhythm. Two sentences > zero.
🤗 Lean on kind collaborators. Let people be your structure.
📈 Trust the compound effect. Small deposits add up.

5/n

When the fog lifted, the scaffolding was there: notes, drafts, momentum. The paper had been writing itself in the margins while I survived. 🔥

💡 Discipline isn't about peak performance. It's self-love for your future self: showing up today so they have something to build on tomorrow.

4/n

🛠️ I assembled a small team. Came to meetings even when I didn't feel like it. Some days I wrote two sentences. Some days I just listened. But I stayed in the room.

Here's what showing up bought me:...

3/n

Between global (funding crises) & personal (multiple rounds of racial abuse) challenges, my tank was low. 😔

⚡️ So I did the only thing I could: I showed up. Not heroically. Not with perfect focus. Just... present.

🛠️ I assembled a small team. Came to meetings even when...

2/n

In a time when academia is under siege, it is worth pausing to remember:
This is why many of us stay. For the joy of making meaning with people who make us feel seen.

I hope you get to hold onto your people...and build things that matter, with them.

6/6
N=6

There’s something profoundly meaningful about building with people who have seen you across life stages... the broke TA years, the first conference nerves, the paper rejections and wins. That continuity is a gift. 🌱

5/n

🌍 Hard to imagine all of us as faculty and professionals in different places across the world. We grew up a little. But the joy was still there.

Here’s what this reminded me:

- Brilliance in academia is often common.
-Kindness is not.
-And I would take kindness any day.

4/n

Paper-writing became our excuse to hang out.

📊 Here's how our sessions went: 60% laughter and inside jokes. 40% deep work. 100% joy. Same hilarious banter. Same goofiness. But maybe with a bit more gray in our hair, and maybe more side chats about health than caffeine hacks. 🩺

3/n

🎁 This summer, I invited friends from my grad school days to write a paper. It was the right team --- the kind where there's enough brainpower and chemistry to make any project sparkle.

✨ But the real reason? I missed them. Turns out, they missed me too.

2/n