Scroll down to see some of your everyday faculty members’ previous, relatable struggles and what the world looks like through their rose-tinted glasses
Dean Vijay Kumar
Hard Times (gonna make you wonder why you even try):
After my first Physics midterm (18/100) and wondering why the two d’s in dy/dx did not cancel out in calculus, I suffered a severe case of impostor syndrome.
Took me 3 years and 7 months to get my first grant proposal funded and almost quit Penn and academia.
I still take paper rejection personally and feel terrible for my students.
Looking Through Rose Tinted Glasses:
Winning the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching and reading some of the quotes excerpted from the confidential student letters
Any one of the high school students that claimed to have been inspired by my TED talks to pursue engineering. Whether they were truly inspired or not, they definitely made me feel good.
My first real startup that did not fail.
Dean russell Composto
Hard Times (gonna make you wonder why you even try):
I had no idea how to select my undergraduate school while at a large public school in New Jersey. I eventually selected Gettysburg College because the only person that I knew to leave my neighborhood attended Gettysburg.
Falling off my bike on a nearly annual basis (but I'm still riding!)
Having my PhD thesis thrown in the trash by my PhD advisor during a dinner party.
Receiving the Course Evaluation Comment "Composto was the worst teacher I have ever had, and that includes kindergarten"
Looking Through Rose Tinted Glasses:
Growing up in a diverse lower-middle class neighborhood gave me the resilience to get through life's struggles.
Having my favorite Physics Professor tell me that I was good enough to apply to top graduate schools.
I pinch myself pretty often. Given where I started, I certainly wouldn't have been admitted to Penn as a student. I'm very fortunate to work with outstanding and caring staff, inspiring students and brilliant colleagues.
Dr. Anthony Cirri
Hard Times (gonna make you wonder why you even try):
>97% job rejection rate
Had a single academic paper rejected by seven different journals before being accepted.
Nearly caused my undergraduate university’s student council to ban the chemistry club by purchasing too much pizza too frequently.
Looking Through Rose Tinted Glasses:
Can bake an awesome chocolate-chip banana rum cake.
Performed live karaoke in Italian.
Have attended one concert from each of Lady Gaga’s tours (Monster Ball tour = Best).
Amassed a collection of 175 books on chemistry and physics.
Dr. Arvind Bhusnurmath
Hard Times (gonna make you wonder why you even try):
C- in my data structures course in undergrad. Got a 1/20 in my first midterm
Rejected by over 20 institutions when I first applied for a teaching track job.
Did not manage to publish any paper during the first 4 years of my PhD.
Looking Through Rose Tinted Glasses:
Was a tennis reporter for a few days during Australian Open 2010
Volunteered as part of the Lutheran Settlement House to teach adult learners math.
Took a Greyhound bus ride from Philadelphia to Kearney, NE because time loses meaning when you are doing a PhD :).
Dr. Sonya Gwak
Hard Times (gonna make you wonder why you even try):
I took a gap year between my master’s and PhD. I had 4 jobs, no health insurance, and had to pay all my expenses on my own for the first time. I lived just above the poverty line but I learned a lot about empathy and hard work.
I am a terrible note-taker. I have spent many lectures writing gibberish.
My first attempt at baking was banana bread. Even my dog wouldn’t eat it.
Looking Through Rose Tinted Glasses:
The best life decision I made as a first-year student was getting a minimum wage job.
I don’t know if this is success or failure but I can’t drive, ride a bike, or swim.
When I was a junior, I was a basketball coach to middle schoolers at the Mantua Recreation Center (now the John L. Wright Recreation Center).
prof. Harry smith
Hard Times (gonna make you wonder why you even try):
Not accepted into PhD programs after the first round of applications
Took an interview at a tech start-up and somehow gave the impression that I was a front-end web designer and showed up to the next stage of the interview with an embarrassingly incomplete deliverable and sat through an hour of interrogation about all of the choices I made.
I did not get that job.
Looking Through Rose Tinted Glasses:
Joined the teaching staff of a data journalism program
Assembled my own computer from individual components.
Finally taught myself how to ride a bike over the past year after never learning when I was a kid.