@dr.starkid: Today I feel proud, which is unusual for me It’s been two months since I defended my dissertation and earned the title “Dr.” A Nobel Laureate was on my committee and signed off on my PhD research. Last month, I officially graduated and was invited to speak at my department commencement In grad school, I led a project that made international headlines. I presented it at a breaking discovery press conference at the biggest astronomy conference in the country. To this day, it’s one of the most widely covered exoplanet discoveries in recent years Since then, I’ve written for major science outlets like Scientific American and The Conversation. I started a podcast called Curiosity Theory (@curiositytheorypod) built around my deepest interests. My agent and I are currently shopping the book I began writing in grad school I don’t usually feel proud. Not sure why. I think I probably expect too much out of myself. But looking at this body of work… I do feel a wave of pride and I’m grateful for that feeling 10 years ago I didn’t even want to be in Earth. I felt worthless and lost. But I started laying bricks anyway. One at a time. It wasn’t pretty. Bricklaying is dirty work. Bricks are heavy. Nobody claps when you mix cement. Nobody says “good job, you’re on the right path” when you lay another brick inches from the one you just laid But over a long enough period of time, even the slowest bricklayer will one day stand before a castle That’s how I feel now. A slow but unstoppable bricklayer 👷🏽‍♂️🧱 Every day I hear from kids who love science. From adults going back to school. From people who say something I made helped them feel seen, or hopeful. That means more to me than I can say At first, I didn’t think much of myself. Then I believed the sky was the limit. But now I know better What we call the “sky” is really just a thin layer of gas surrounding the Earth and beyond it is infinite universe in every direction There is no limit I feel proud today. But I’m not satisfied. Not even close You can build something beautiful, even if you have to start in the mud —Dr. Dakotah Tyler #phd #doctorate #astrophysics #scientist #science

Dr. Dakotah Tyler

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Saturday 26 July 2025 15:43:19 GMT