Today, I lost one of the most influential people in my life. Margrit, my PhD advisor and academic mother. The
one who saved my PhD by transitioning me to her lab and turning around my experience. The one who shaped me as a
scholar, and more importantly, as a woman. The one who was the fiercest defender I had, even when she was
technically supposed to be questioning me as part of my committee. The one whose belief in me was unshakable.
We shared many memories… from her dancing until the very last second of my wedding, to accidentally finding out
we shared the same naturalization oath ceremony and became U.S. citizens together, to trying lobster for the
first time at her place.
She was more than a PhD advisor. She became family… and Gosh, it sucks to lose family.
When I visited her a few days ago, she was hardly speaking, but she told me she loved me and her other students
like the children she never had. She told me now it’s my turn to take other young women under my wings. She told
me my Italy trip photos made her happy because I looked so happy in them. She told me she loved me so much … and
I told her how much I owe who I am today to her.
Today is a hard one. But I know she will live on in the memory and hearts of me and so many others she nurtured
and touched.
Today, the sky gained its most beautiful star.I love you Margrit. Always 🌈💚