Lines from Layla
Our contributing editor Layla Parast recalls how tough she found graduate school—until she found her people, a “pod” of friends…for life:   As the new academic year begins, one of my favorite traditions is meeting one-on-one with each of our incoming PhD students. This year, that tradition is a big…

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Our contributing editor Layla Parast writes in praise of “glorious, unapologetic” email deletion:   Do you ever spend an entire morning, or even an entire day, just dealing with email? I hate that feeling. If you’ve read any of my previous columns, it may not surprise you that I’m a…

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Our contributing editor Layla Parast writes about her new-found appreciation for the surprising complexities of American football:   Mid-February can be a bittersweet time for many in the United States—it signals the end of the (American) football season. For some, this may evoke no feelings at all. Football? Why bother?…

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Layla Parast writes: Fall is the time for apples, pumpkin spice, crunching leaves, and—for me—freshmen. Some people strongly dislike teaching freshmen, but I love it. I feel like a summer camp counselor again, except that this time I don’t have to worry about kids being pushed in pools or whacked…

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Layla Parast, Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, has come up with a new way of working (or deep-working) with her PhD students. She writes: Have you ever had one of those days where you’ve worked all day, responding…

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