Off the Pitch
I play soccer. Badly, enthusiastically, and most weeks — which turns out to be the same way I do science. The research, publications, software and the lab gallery are on the main site.
I grew up on Ghanaian football, which means I grew up on hope with a very specific shape to it. The Black Stars teach you early that talent is not the same as a result, that the run someone makes off the ball is usually what created the goal, and that you can play beautifully and still lose on penalties. Reasonable preparation for a PhD.
These days it's pickup games in College Station — a squad that speaks about six languages and agrees on nothing except that the last goal was offside. It is the only part of my week with no reviewers.
The habits transfer more than I expected. You play the pass that's on, not the one you rehearsed. You spend most of the match without the ball, which is exactly like waiting on an overnight culture. And the players worth having around are the ones who track back when the experiment fails, not the ones who only turn up for the result.
The gold, green and red on this site is the Ghanaian flag, not a coincidence.