Posts by Jax Sanders

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Posts by Jax Sanders

Ph.D. Student, Physics

The Best and Only Choice

February 15, 2012, Posted in Student to Student

The decision for me to come to the University of Michigan for graduate school wasn’t difficult. Michigan’s was the only offer that came with funding, and in the hard sciences, you don’t pay for your Ph.D. However, I was thrilled to get the offer because Michigan was my first choice. My undergraduate research experience motivated me to apply to U-M. I worked at the LIGO Hanford Observatory for two summers and loved the experience. I wanted to continue working on gravitational waves, so I applied to schools with strong gravitational wave groups. Although my advisor is the only professor working…

Jax Sanders

Ph.D. Student, Physics

Wintry Mix: A Long-time Michigander’s Guide to Surviving a Michigan Winter

January 25, 2012, Posted in Student to Student

“If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” It’s a common saying here in Michigan, and in winter, it needs a small edit: “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. It’ll probably be worse.” We might not have the icy wind of Chicago or the full lake-effect snow of Kalamazoo, but in Ann Arbor, winter weather has a uniquely annoying quality: capriciousness. Damp? Dry? Icy? Windy? Unseasonably warm? All are equally plausible, you’ll have to go to class in all of them, and by the way - we got snow in April last year. The variations on…

Jax Sanders

Ph.D. Student, Physics

Grad School and ADHD

December 8, 2011, Posted in Student to Student

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 4.1% of the U.S. adult population has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I’m one of that 4.1%; in August, I was diagnosed with ADHD, primarily inattentive. Like most adults diagnosed with ADHD, I had ADHD as a child, but my symptoms did not become problematic until I was under so much stress that my coping mechanisms were no longer sufficient. In my case, that stress was graduate school, and I spent much of my first two years severely impaired. The worst part of it was that to an outside observer, my difficulties looked…

Jax Sanders

Ph.D. Student, Physics

Faculty Connections: The Girl Scientist

November 17, 2011, Posted in Student to Student

I hardly ever check my department mailbox. All of the information I need comes through e-mail, and although I pass through the mail enclave almost every day, I’m rarely motivated enough to find the stepstool and peer into my box, high up on the right side. Recently, I left my overshirt in my advisor’s office and wasn’t able to retrieve it the same day, so he put it in my mailbox. When I retrieved it, I found a small piece of card, a child’s valentine with a cheerful green dinosaur on it. The back of it read, “Sorry I missed…

Jax Sanders

Ph.D. Student, Physics

Balance: The Lagrange Point

October 26, 2011, Posted in Student to Student

In a rotating two-body gravitational system, such as the Earth and Sun, there are five Lagrange points. If a particle is placed at one of these points, the gravitational forces from the Earth and Sun will cancel out, and it will not move unless disturbed. The second Lagrange point is always “behind” the Earth relative to the sun, and is ideal for the placement of satellites measuring small signals. However, this point is not entirely stable, and rather than sitting stationary at the equilibrium point, a satellite will go around the Lagrange point in a non-repeating orbit, following the Earth…

Jax Sanders

Ph.D. Student, Physics

Meet the Bloggers: Jax Sanders

September 26, 2011, Posted in Student to Student

Ah, September. Time for a new round of classes, a new set of staggeringly ambitious research goals, and a new flurry of Frisbees to dodge on the Diag. This year, there’s something else new: the Rackham Graduate Student Blog. My name is Jaclyn Sanders, and since I’ll be sharing a lot with you over this school year, you can call me Jax. Unusually for a grad student, I’m a local girl. I grew up in Farmington Hills, Michigan, about 40 minutes northeast of Ann Arbor. I’m descended from Polish carpenters, which explains both the particular Anglicization of my last name…

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