A physicist and her neutrinos
Quarks, bosons, muons, electrons, neutrinos: This is the stuff the universe is made of, and these particles fascinate MIT senior Christie Chiu.A physics and math major from Bedford, Mass., Chiu excelled in math and science from an early age and dreamed of attending MIT, her father’s alma mater. She and her best friend throughout grade school “would tell all our teachers — any adults, literally anyone who would listen — that when we grew up, we were going to become engineers, go to MIT, and be roommates,” Chiu recounts.In middle school and high school, Chiu’s interest in MIT grew when she attended Splash, an annual, weekend-long program at the Institute packed with classes taught by MIT students. “I really liked the atmosphere, the energy that was here,” Chiu says.As a freshman at the Institute, she found herself drawn to the physics department. “The professors were just so engaged in what...