2025 ASA

Gaby

Gaby—as in “The Great Gatsby”—that’s how I remember her name.

I met Gaby at the acoustics conference. Today, she was the one rallying everyone to go out to a bar. I’m always up for some fun, so I joined in.

We started chatting, and Gaby said, “This is actually my first time traveling alone.”

“Did you usually travel with your family before?” I asked, a little surprised.

“No, my family never travels,” she replied.

“Really? How come?” I was even more confused. I always thought Americans traveled with their families a lot.

She smiled and said, “Because we’re poor.”

That caught me off guard. It was the first time I’d ever heard an American say they were poor. I honestly didn’t know what to say next.

Worried she might feel awkward, I quickly tried to lighten the mood. “Hey, we’re all students, we’re all broke. Things will get better once we start working.”

Over the next few days, I got to know Gaby better. She grew up on a farm in New York and is the first in her family to go to college. Her family couldn’t afford the $75,000 a year tuition at Rensselaer Polytechnic, so she relied on scholarships to get through undergrad. She actually double-majored in math and acoustics.

Because she did so well, she got a full scholarship for grad school from the National Science Foundation. But then, when Trump became president, one of the first things he cut was that very scholarship. So Gaby lost her funding and had to take out loans to keep studying.

Gaby really loves acoustics. To come to this conference, she even sold her car. She’s staying at the cheapest hostel—just $300 for the whole week. Meanwhile, the guys from our lab are staying somewhere that costs $300 a night. It made me feel a little weird, honestly.

At the bar, Gaby asked, “Would you mind splitting a drink with me?”

“Sure, I’ll buy one and we can share. My advisor can reimburse me anyway,” I said, trying to sound cool. Later, Meng(my wife) teased me for not just buying her a whole drink. Looking back, I realized she was right. Instead of just buying her a drink, why not help her find a job so she can pay off her loans faster?

I thought about it all night. For Gaby, working at a big tech company as an acoustics engineer might be too intense and competitive. Since she’s American, maybe a national lab would be a better fit for her.

The next day, I helped her print out her resume and introduced her to the head of our university’s national lab in Texas. Watching her chat with them so confidently made me really happy. With her background in acoustics, she’d be a great addition to our team. Compared to the coldness of New York, Texas just feels warmer and friendlier.

In just a few days at the conference, Gaby had already met almost all the students from Texas. The best part is, she really liked everyone’s research, and everyone was excited to welcome her.

There’s always going to be hardship and indifference in the world, but people who keep moving forward always find a way to stay positive. And luckily, there are always people willing to help out and bring some color into life. Gaby is like a sunflower growing out of muddy ground—her future’s definitely going to be bright.

By the time I finished telling this story, Meng was almost in tears. I just want to share this with everyone: do good things, and don’t worry too much about what happens next.