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Jorge Cham Highlight
As a Ph.D. student, you are given a very open problem that no one in the history of humanity as far as we know has figured out or even thought about...now it’s up to you to do it!
About Jorge
- Was born and raised in Panama.
- Both of his parents were engineers—he grew up seeing first-hand the joy of solving problems and being “on the cutting edge...devoting your life to something new no one has ever done before.”
- Attended Georgia Institute of Technology for his undergraduate studies and went on to receive his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
- He has worked as an instructor and researcher developing neural prosthetics at Caltech, and has also worked on a project developing robotic “cockroaches” that can explore areas humans can’t.
- In response to the common anxieties students face going through grad school, he created his popular newspaper and web comic strip, Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD Comics).
- PHD Comics has been adapted into two feature-length films: "The PHD Movie" and "The PHD Movie 2: Still in Grad School"; screened at over 500 locations across all seven continents.
- He also co-wrote and illustrated—along with physicist Daniel Whiteson—the book "We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe".
- Says he sees similarities between his scientific/academic work and his creative art—both embody the search for truth and an expansion of knowledge.
