Hard to believe, but I’ve been working in science for fifteen years! Many things have happened since I started my PhD in Antonio Bodini’s lab in Parma, but I still have fun doing my job, and I am extremely grateful for the fantastic students, postdocs and colleagues who have been working with me through the years. The anniversary calls for a song!

studying large matrices and their eigenvalues
teaching to code and to despise p-values
watching your students give excellent talks
these are a few of my favorite things

reviewing good papers that are bright and novel
writing nice code to implement a new model
having a coffee with my lab and friends
these are a few of my favorite things

finding a method to do something crazy
I will keep searching until I turn lazy
sending proposals before they are due
these are a few of my favorite things

when the grant bites
when reviews sting
when I’m feeling mad
I simply remember my favorite things
and then I can start over

Last week, I was at the National Gallery in DC, and I’ve stumbled upon the painting that is featured as the first slide of most of my talks. I think it’s a perfect metaphor of science: the reality is out there, we have a small window to observe it, and we want to compose a simplified picture to understand what is going on. May I’ll still be happy to peer through the window in 2032!

[caption id=”attachment_479” align=”aligncenter” width=”358”] Me and one of my favorite paintings![/caption]