In the hope of making science just a little bit more open and accessible (and to avoid having to reply to everyone individually), I’ve decided to post my application materials online. They’re available on Figshare for anyone who is interested in reading them. I’ve also added them to the Open Grants project, which acts as a central repository for publicly shared grant and fellowship applications.

I’ve also written up a couple of notes about the application process.

These are from the 2013 application, submitted when I was a post-bac RA applying to PhD programs. It was my second time applying: I had previously applied to PhD programs and the GRFP in my senior year of undergrad. The particulars of the application (e.g. page lengths, formatting) have changed a bit since then, but the evaluation criteria have stayed largely the same.

If I were to give any specific advice, it would be to make sure you hit each and every point of the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria. Reviewers will often literally have a checklist they go through to see if an application addresses all of the necessary points. The University of Missouri has a great site called GRFP Essay Insights which I found very helpful when writing my application. Someone also linked me to the awesome NSR GRFP Advice page created by Mallory Ladd, which features detailed advice, suggested timelines, additional examples and more!

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, I want to emphasize that I got lucky. Yes, I’m proud of the application I submitted, but luck plays a major role in who gets selected for the GRFP (and for grants in general). So much depends on who you get as reviewers, their expertise, even whether they’ve had a bad day when they’re reviewing your application. I have read GRFP applications from friends and colleagues that didn’t get funded despite being much better than what I submitted. Remember that no matter the outcome of your application (award, honorable mention, or even rejection), you belong in science just as much as anyone else.

I’m happy to try to answer any questions people might have, though I can’t promise to have any unique insight. Feel free to post a comment.

This semester, I am responsible for leading discussion sections for an undergraduate cognitive neuroscience course. These sections consist of ~30-40 students at a time, and are in addition to two weekly faculty lectures attended by the entire class. Smaller groups give students a chance to interact with the course material more directly than is possible during the lectures, which are given to an audience of well over 100 people.

As a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI), one of my other responsibilities is coordinating with students who want or need to change which of the six discussion sections they attend (3 on Tuesday, 3 on Thursday). Requests to change section are often due to time conflicts with other classes. As instructors, we don’t care which students end up in each section, just that the class numbers are balanced and do not exceed the pre-set class size.

While we initially asked the students to work out swaps amongst themselves, it quickly became apparent that this would fail to resolve most of the conflicts. In a perfect world, every student seeking to switch out of one section and into another would be matched with another student seeking so make the opposite switch, resulting in everyone getting their desired discussion section. In this course, that kind of bi-directional swap was only possible for one pair of students, leaving 8 people stuck in discussion sections that don’t work for them.

The table below contains all requested discussion section changes. The only possible pairwise swap is between students H and I.

Being a nice guy, I started thinking about the swap requests for the remaining students to see if I could figure out a multi-person swap solution. After a few minutes, I realized that this was actually quite an interesting problem, and one that I’m sure others have tried to solve before. So I went online and did some research.

Research on Stable Matching and Optimal Assignment

I’m completely new to this literature, but as best I can tell this student section swapping problem appears to be at least somewhat analogous to a sort of Stable Matching or Assignment problem in which multiple entities must be optimally assigned or matched based on their preferences. Examples of other problems in this class include matching medical residents with hospitals, assigning roommates to multi-person rooms, and matching organ donors to recipients. These real-world problems can quickly become incredibly complex, especially if agents aren’t honest about their true preferences, and their outcomes can have major personal or economic consequences. In fact, these questions are so ubiquitous and important that the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Alvin Ross and Lloyd Shapley for their work in this area. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has a fantastic short summary of their work.

Our situation is a bit different from all of the examples I’ve seen in the literature, insofar as each discussion section can hold a limited number of students (but more than 1), and there is no preference as to which students end up in each section (other than the preference expressed by the student). Further, even though there are pre-set limits on class size, as instructors we may choose to make an exception and allow an extra 1 or 2 students into a section if doing so would result in a section-swap cascade that resolves matches for multiple other students. I’m sure someone, somewhere must have done work on solving problems with these kind of constraints, but I haven’t had much in my searches. The closest I’ve come is the idea of the Top Trading Cycle (an algorithm for finding mutually-beneficial exchanges) and a very old thread about how to solve a student-section matching problem in Perl.

My Solution

Because I’m only dealing with 8 students and 6 sections, I ended up just using a pen and paper to work out a series of swaps and class-size exceptions that would resolve things for all students. Here’s what I came up with.

I’m not necessarily going to try to claim that this is an optimal solution, but it works and that’s what matters. In the future, I may try to cobble together an algorithm to solve this problem for me, as even a very computationally inefficient algorithm will likely be faster than me doing things manually. Please post in the comments if you have suggestions of concepts/algorithms to look at or strategies to try.

Further Reading

A few resources I came across in my research which may be of interest to some of you:
– Stanford CS364A: Algorithmic Game Theory, Lecture #10: Kidney Exchange and Stable Matching
– Berkeley EECS 70: Discrete Mathematics and Probability Theory, Note 4: The Stable Marriage Problem
– Algorithm Design – Stable Matching
– Numberphile – Stable Marriage Problem (video)

Less than a week after taking office in January, President Trump (ugh, I want to vomit just typing that) signed his infamous (and immoral, and illegal) “Muslim ban”. Although implementation of the ban is largely on hold for now thanks to the courts (and the tireless work of lawyers and activists), that hasn’t stopped border agents from making life difficult for people trying to enter the country.

As an organization which rightfully values diversity and inclusivity, OHBM quickly denounced the ban, and the council voted unanimously to remove US cities from consideration as hosts for the 2020 annual meeting.

Although the meeting is in Canada this year, I suspect some non-trivial number of international attendees will end up transiting through the US on their way to or from Vancouver. Even those of us who are US citizens or permanent residents are now subject to increased scrutiny at the border, especially when it comes to digital privacy.

In light of these facts, I’ve gathered together a few resources on what your rights are when attempting to enter the United States:

• ACLU – Know Your Rights: What to do when encountering law enforcement at airports and other ports of entry into the U.S.
• ACLU – Know Your Rights: What to do when encountering law enforcement (additional information for non-citizens).
• EFF – Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border: Protecting the data on your devices and in the cloud.
• EFF – Border Search Pocket Guide
• Washington Post – How can you protect your right to digital privacy at the border?
• New York Times – What Are Your Rights if Border Agents Want to Search Your Phone?
• Wired – A guide to getting past customs with your digital privacy intact.

Stay strong, my friends, and I hope to see you in Vancouver.

Please note that this post is a work in progress and will grow a bit over the next day or so as I add more restaurants (particularly more pizza, more bakeries, bagels, and more asian cuisine) and the attractions, so check back on Sunday for an even bigger list.

Coffee

To say there is a lot of fantastic coffee in New York would be an understatement, so I’m going to focus here on places that are within easy walking distance of the conference hotel:

• Little Collins (Lexington Ave between 55th and 56th) – Superb Melbourne-style coffee. Go here to try a real Flat White.
• Ninth Street Espresso (56th between Park Ave and Lexington Ave) – Cash only. Their roast is a bit bolder than what is used around the corner at Little Collins. Tasty baked goods.
• Simon Sips (6th Ave between 46th and 47th) – Tricky to find, but hidden in the lobby of a soulless office building is some seriously good coffee.

Lunch and Dinner

With almost 10,000 restaurants in Manhattan alone, there is no excuse not to eat well in NYC. Amazing food can be had on any budget and in every neighborhood. With so many options, it’s tempting to utter that fateful phrase “We’ll find something.”, but trust me when I say that this is generally not a good plan. Yes, there are indeed a huge number of eating establishments, but most of them aren’t very good, or at least nowhere near as good as the place down the block. Your best bet is to search Yelp for what you’re looking for and use the ratings and reviews as your guide.

First up is a list of my favorite (relatively) affordable lunch spots in Midtown, all of which are walkable from the conference hotel.

• Omar’s Mediterranean Cuisine (55th between Lexington Ave and 3rd Ave, Midtown East) – This place pretty much always has a line out the door (don’t worry, it moves quickly), and for good reason. The shawarma plate is fantastic and almost certainly more than you can eat in a single sitting.
• Land of Plenty (58th between 2nd Ave and 3rd Ave, Midtown East) – The best Sichuan (Chinese) food in the city is found far out in Brooklyn and Queens, but Land of Plenty is a totally respectable and delicious option for those seeking something seriously spicy at an affordable price.
• Chola (58th between 2nd Ave and 3rd Ave, Midtown East) – Does one of the best (if not the best) Indian lunch buffets I’ve found in the city.
• The Kati Roll Company (53rd between 2nd Ave and 3rd Ave, Midtown East) – A kati roll is essentially an Indian burrito, and is just as tasty as you imagine it would be.
• Rafiqi’s (multiple carts in Midtown) – My favorite of the seemingly countless “street meat” shawarma carts, lamb over rice from Rafiqi’s made up a significant portion of my food intake when I lived in NYC. Cheap, quick, and delicious.

If you’re willing to pay a bit more, wait a little longer, or venture away from Midtown, the following is a selection of what I consider to be some of the best restaurants in the city.

• Shake Shack (Madison Square Park, Flatiron) – My favorite burger anywhere (in the under $10 category). While Shake Shack has expanded and opened locations in many cities around the world, there is nothing like lining up on a nice day in Madison Square Park and eating at the original.
• Katz’s Delicatessen (Houston and Ludlow, Lower East Side) – The quintessential New York Jewish Deli, established in 1888 and still going strong. Arguably the best pastrami in the world (tip at the counter when you order to get the best cuts). Open 24 hours on Saturday, a whole (huge) sandwich is pricey but worth every penny, and can easily be two meals. If you only have time to visit one classic NYC eatery, make it Katz’s.
• Hide Chan Ramen (52nd between 2nd Ave and 3rd Ave) – Less famous than Ippudo but (in my opinion) much tastier. Amazing rich, salty tonkotsu broth with a generous serving of moist, fatty char siu pork and multiple noodle options. Nice ambiance too.
• Grand Sichuan House (Bay Ridge, Brooklyn) – My favorite Sichuan restaurant in the city. It’s a long train ride from Midtown, but everything I’ve ever ordered there has been superbly spicy and flavorful.
• Mile End Delicatessen (Bond Street, NoHo) – Another deli, this one Montreal-style. The original location is around the corner from our old apartment in Brooklyn, but their NoHo store is bigger and more centrally located. Delicious smoked meat, which you can get in a sandwich but is even better as part of the indulgent Smoked Meat Poutine.

Baked Goods and Desserts

When you’re passionate about something, you want to share it with others, so I thought I’d take some time and write a quick guide to the city for those attending the meeting. Countless books and articles have been written which provide much of the same information, so I’ve tried to distill things down to the essential information and include stuff that might not be found elsewhere. This has been a lot of fun to write, and I hope people find it useful. I’m also more than happy to answer specific questions about the city or make recommendations, just post a comment here or ping me on Twitter @danjlurie.

I’ve decided to break the guide down into two parts. The first, focusing on transportation and sightseeing, is below. The second (to be posted this weekend) will be dedicated to the amazing food and drink the city has to offer as well as advice about what to see and do when you’re not at the conference.

Airport Transportation – JFK

Unless your flight gets in after ~8pm, there’s a good chance that taking a taxi is going to take just as long (or longer) than the train, despite being many times more expensive ($7.75 for the AirTrain + Subway vs. $52 flat rate taxi fare into Manhattan). The AirTrain connects JFK to the NYC Subway and Long Island Railroad (LIRR), and costs $5 (which you pay at the end of your AirTrain journey).

If you’re staying at the conference hotel (New York Hilton Midtown), take the AirTrain to Sutphin Boulevard and then transfer to a World Trade Center bound E train. Get off at 7th Avenue in Manhattan and you’ll be on the same block as the hotel. If you’re staying somewhere else, use Google Maps to plan your route.

If you do decide to take a cab, be prepared to wait in line. Depending on what terminal you’re in and how many other flights landed around the same time, you could be in for up to an hour wait, though thankfully it’s usually closer to half an hour. That said, if you encounter what seems to be an unusually long taxi line and are feeling adventurous, there’s a trick I discovered that often works well, which is to take the AirTrain to another, less busy terminal. Let’s say your flight landed at Terminal 4 just after the daily Emirates A380 from Dubai, and now you’re stuck in line behind 300 people who have been sitting in a plane for the past 12 hours. Simply head upstairs to the arrivals hall and get on the AirTrain for a few stops (you can see the taxi line for most terminals from the train). Worst case scenario you’ve wasted 15 minutes, best case you’ve saved yourself an hour of standing in line.

Airport Transportation – La Guardia

La Guardia is widely held to be one of the worst airports anywhere, and so it’s appropriate that public transport options to and from LGA are equally terrible. Yes, there are theoretically ways to get into the city via a combination of busses and subways, but unless you’re going to Queens or Upper Manhattan, it’s usually not worth the hassle. That leaves a taxi or one of the many airport shuttle bus services. Taxi lines at La Guardia can be as bad or worse than at JFK, but it’s usually at least worth a look to see how long the wait is since your options are limited. If you get the sense you’ll be waiting longer than you’d like, I’ve had good experiences with the NYC Airporter busses, which runs every 20-30 minutes and will get you into Midtown Manhattan for $14 bucks.

Airport Transportation – Newark

A lot of people hate Newark just as much as La Guardia, but in my experience it really isn’t so bad. Unlike LGA, it’s actually pretty easy to get to and from EWR via public transportation. New Jersey Transit can get you from the airport to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan in about 30 minutes. Traffic patterns are usually about the same for Newark as they are for JFK, so again it’s usually best to take public transportation unless you’re getting in very early or late at night. As with the other airports, there can often be a bit of a wait for a taxi, though I’ve never seen lines at Newark anywhere near as long as at JFK or LGA. Note that unlike JFK, there is no flat-rate taxi fare for rides into the city from Newark, so keep this in mind when deciding whether to take a cab.

Subways and Busses

New York wouldn’t be the city it is without its fantastic public transportation infrastructure. Anywhere you want to go, it will get you there, and you’ll be in good company as it’s the primary form of transportation for most New Yorkers. Here’s what you need to know.

• Subways and busses are $2.75 per trip for adults, with free transfers between lines. The fare is the same if you’re going one stop or to the other side of the city.
• Fares are paid via MetroCard, which can be purchased in any subway station via vending machine. If you think there’s a chance you’ll make at least 13 trips during your visit (which you almost certainly will), get a 7-day unlimited MetroCard ($31), which will be cheaper and more convenient than Pay-Per-Ride.
• Trains and busses run 24 hours a day, but the late night service changes between Midnight and 6am can mean some trips will take longer than they would during the day.
• Nights and weekends are when the MTA does subway track maintenance and construction, which can mean additional service changes. The Weekender website provides information about all planned service changes, but notices are also posted in trains and stations.

Taxis

While I have a special place in my heart for the subway system, taxis also play an important role in moving people around the city, especially if it’s late (or you’re running late). Depending on your route, a taxi will usually get you to your destination faster than the subway, unless it’s rush hour, in which case take the train if your route permits. The Taxi and Limousine Commission has a Passenger FAQ, but here are some additional tips.

• It is customary to tip your driver (~15-20% of the metered fare). If you’re paying cash, simply add the extra amount to what you give them. If you’re paying by card, the screen will prompt you to add a tip.
• If possible, give your destination as cross streets (e.g “28th and Lex” or “55th between 5th and 6th”) instead of an address.
• The pattern of lights in the sign on the top of the taxi indicates availability, as illustrated in Lego blocks by Christoph Niemann for his wonderful Abstract Sunday column in the New York Times.
• To hail a cab, stand on the sidewalk so that oncoming drivers can see you. Look for an available cab and simply hold out your hand to indicate you need a ride.
• The green cabs are Boro Taxis, a program started a few years ago to remedy the dearth of yellow cab pickups outside of Manhattan. These cabs can only pick up passengers in the outer boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island), or above 110th street in Manhattan.
• In addition to the yellow and green cabs, many other car services operate in the city. As a general rule, only yellow cabs are allowed to pick up street hails, though this doesn’t stop the other cabs from trying, especially if you look like a tourist. If an unauthorized driver stops to offer you a ride, simply shake your head and say “No thanks.”
• If you go to hail a cab and notice someone else is already there trying to do the same, avoid the temptation to walk half a block in front of them to try to catch an oncoming taxi before they do. This is a pretty serious transgression of NYC etiquette, and you’re likely to get hassled by the person whose cab you just stole.
• Careful when getting out of the car! Not just for your own safety, but for the safety of the many intrepid bicyclists who your door might kill if you open it too suddenly.
• Some drivers will try to avoid making trips to Brooklyn, Queens, Upper Manhattan or The Bronx. This is illegal. Drivers are required to accept trips anywhere in the 5 boroughs. If you’re headed to one of these places, it’s good practice to only give your destination once you’re in the cab and the meter has started. This is less an issue than it used to be, but good still good to keep in mind.

That’s all for Part 1! Check back this weekend for Part 2, where I will list some of the best food in the city and try to help you make the most of your limited free time in the city.

(Thanks to Chris Gorgolewski for suggesting I add more information about tipping and how to hail a cab).

Dear President Napolitano and Chancellor Dirks,

On most days, being a member of the UC Berkeley community is one of the things I am most proud of. 

Not today. 

I am writing to express in the strongest possible terms my shock and disgust at how the University has failed to properly address repeated claims of sexual harassment and assault by Astronomy professor Geoffrey Marcy. As I am sure you are well aware, despite acknowledging the veracity of these claims, the University took no meaningful disciplinary action. Not only is Marcy not being held responsible for his actions, but the pathetic response by the University sends a message to others who would act in a similar way that they can do so and expect to get away with it. 

Beyond the failure of the University to take appropriate action, the behavior of Astronomy Department interim Chair Gibor Basry has been completely unacceptable. In an email to faculty that has been widely shared online, Basry suggested that things are “hardest for [Marcy] in this moment” and asked that they offer him “understanding and support.” When the Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion feels that a man found guilty of repeated and inexcusable sexual harassment and assault is more deserving of sympathy and support than the countless women whose lives and careers he has irreparablly damaged, it is no wonder that there is little faith from the community that proper action will be taken to address these serious and wide-spread issues. 

The failure of the University to respond appropriately to this incident has already done serious damage to Cal’s reputation. This is particularly apparent on social media, where many scientists and academics at other institutions have have said that they are no longer comfortable encouraging their students to apply to Berkeley, with some going so far as to say that they will actively discourage it. The sentiment of these posts is echoed by an increasing number of prospective graduate students who say they have decided not to apply to Berkeley after seeing the recent news, and others who report that they had already been steered away from Berkeley by concerned mentors. 

I hope it does not come as news to you that Marcy’s behavior is not at all uncommon in science and academia, and that the only way it can be stopped is by strong, meaningful action from institutions. Where there is a strong imbalance of power, such as between a professor and students, speaking up about inappropriate or even illegal behavior can often in a very real way mean having to choose between your safety and your career. Far too many women have already left science because of people like Marcy. 

The University of California Diversity Statement reads:

Because the core mission of the University of California is to serve the interests of the State of California, it must seek to achieve diversity among its student bodies and among its employees. The State of California has a compelling interest in making sure that people from all backgrounds perceive that access to the University is possible for talented students, staff, and faculty from all groups. The knowledge that the University of California is open to qualified students from all groups, and thus serves all parts of the community equitably, helps sustain the social fabric of the State.

Right now, these words ring hollow. 

I hope you’ll take the time to consider the power of your position, and recognize that you have the opportunity now to help enact meaningful change to dismantle a toxic legacy that continues to be exclusionary to fully half of the population the University is supposed to serve.

Respectfully,
Daniel Lurie
Graduate Student
Department of Psychology
University of California, Berkeley

The MTA made an adorable 8-bit video to explain how they deal with subway delays.

Who Needs a GPS? A New York Geography Quiz – NYTimes.com

I managed 85th percentile, which I think is pretty good for someone who didn’t grow up in the city.