one hour of musings by Kanokwan T. '26

Hey, it’s been awhile since I’ve written here.

Activation energy is a funny little thing. As the days go on, it becomes harder to return. Subsequently, in effort to break that spell, I’ve set a one hour timer to write this blog. Limits define creativity, or whatever.

I’ve been away for awhile, cocooning. Life has thrown me some strange, tough obstacles. I thought it best to process those in private, in the pages of my paper journal. Being in the public is a vulnerable act. My situations made me fragile and raw, and I had to protect that. But, the chaos of life has subsided, at least for a wee bit, and I’m excited to be back.

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Is this refined to my typical liking?

No.

Is this my best work?

Also no.

But is it something?

Yes!

And is there value in writing, again and again, putting my thoughts out to share?

Of course.

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So, what has happened?

To start off the summer, I conducted energy poverty field work in Patagonia with D-Lab. Self-built homes there require retrofitting for adequate energy access, temperature stabilization, and resident safety. My team and I worked throughout the spring semester on a demo for homeowners and policymakers to help advance housing work in response to climate change effects.

For most of the summer, I interned at the Berkeley National Lab on novel materials for energy storage. Specifically, I helped characterize clay-nanobubble water molecular gating, so basically seeing how scientists can fine tune fluids in clay. We used TEM, a microscopic technique that can see at atomic scale (like, it can see individual atoms) by precisely shooting beams of electrons and seeing what bounces back. It’s one of the most powerful microscopes in the world… so cool.

I broke my leg at a roller skating disco event. Whoops! At least, it was at a fun place. That was the worst physical pain I had ever been in. My tibia was snapped into different pieces, and my surgeon screwed it all back together with some metal plates and bolts. I was in a wheelchair-bound for 3 months. It was a humbling experience, learning to use accessible restrooms, being carted around by friends, and being unable to go most places on my own. That requires its own blog to unpack.

My family has gone through… stuff. Heavy stuff. Stuff that I don’t think yet has a place on the blogs. But, I thought to mention it to contextualize the other things I’ve shared. Though I may be on some adventures abroad and working on cool research, there’s also been a heavyweight with it all. You never quite know what someone is going through, so extend kindness whenever possible. At least, that’s what I try my best to do.

Classes are so fun this semester. Here’s what I’m taking:

• 2.132: Instrumentation and Measurement
• 2.155: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Engineering Design
• 2.625: Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage: Fundamentals, Materials and Applications
• 12.385: Science, Politics, and Environmental Policy

I celebrated my birthday! In three and a half parts. I had my friends fill out a silly google form full of silly questions (that’s the half). Then, the three events commenced.

1. We ate cake on my dorm floor. The baking chair made my favorite cake, red velvet.
2. A few of us jammed to Latin jazz at Wally’s Jazz Club, out in Boston. Excellent vibes, literally. I could feel the music waves pulsing through me.
3. I hosted a virtual game night. I’ve found friendships through all phases of life, and I wanted a way to see them all together. We played skribbl.io, jackbox.tv, and among us.

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There you have it. That’s my ramble. You got one hour of me. Perhaps, this has cracked the ice.