Exploring the Universe: From Montessori to MIT

“You've heard of the Big Bang? Cosmology is studying inflation or how the universe expanded. What you study when looking at inflation are relics from that time. So we look. We look into the sky, into the universe, and we see if we can see signs of early inflation.”

Evanston native Kaliroe Pappas (线上买球平台 class of 2011) is a PhD candidate in Particle Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA. Kaliroe started at 线上买球平台 in the Early Childhood program, continuing through 8th grade. After 线上买球平台, she attended high school at Evanston Township High School (ETHS) and the University of Illinois (UIUC). At ETHS, Kaliroe was in the Chem-Phys program, a multi-year class that covers the content of AP Chemistry and AP Physics exams in Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism in an integrated way. At UIUC, she majored in engineering physics with a math minor and graduated from the College of Engineering in December 2018. While there, she did research in cosmology or the beginning of the universe.

“I enjoy astrophysics a lot. While in undergrad, some summers I did research at Northwestern in astrophysics. I graduated from UIUC a semester early. I had already applied to grad school and spent the six months before my program started working as a researcher at Northwestern.”

Kaliroe explained that while at Northwestern, she studied black holes. “We know black holes eat matter, but there's actually a limit to how fast something can eat something. I was looking at if you have a black hole and a star, and they're circling each other. The black hole is slowly eating that star. How is that affecting their orbit? How is it affecting the black hole? One thing we looked at also is if you have two objects that are circulating, and one of them explodes. What does that do? You can't make a star explode in the sky. What you can do is you can simulate it. So, I did a lot of simulation work. To do that, you use computer models that calculate hundreds of equations for each point, and it tells you what should be happening. I wasn’t building the code, but I was using it. I prefer to be able to touch things to conduct an experiment.”

MIT has been a very kind environment. I thought it might be competitive. While Kaliroe loves learning about astronomy and astrophysics, she doesn’t love practicing it. And that’s how she landed in particle physics. “I was accepted to some good schools and ended up coming to MIT.”

“MIT has been a very kind environment. I thought it might be competitive. Mostly, everyone here as a grad student wants to do good work. It’s like: If you’re at the top, you don’t have to prove anything. You just need to keep going. I was a bit scared about asking for help with things. I was entering a new field. I didn’t know anything, but everyone was open to helping each other. Everyone had a bad case of imposter syndrome, at least in the first year. We all were amazed — there’s no way I got in here!”

At the end of her second year, she gave a “chalk talk” to demonstrate she had the appropriate depth of knowledge to continue. “I did mine over Zoom because of the pandemic. But you have no notes, and you're giving a presentation on a chalkboard or an iPad, and they're asking you questions the whole time. It was the most stressful test I've ever done, but it went very well. I've never studied harder for anything.”

I think the creative element that you need to bring to science is the ability to pull something from math, science, and chemistry together.

“My Montessori background has definitely helped me in terms of physics with thinking about things very physically. When we were learning math, we were moving things around. In physics, you often need a physical intuition to do it.” Thinking about things physically is stressed in Montessori learning and how things are connected. “Nothing's really separate. I think the creative element that you need to bring to science is the ability to pull something from math, science, and chemistry together.” Kaliroe emphasized that this is also true in a practical sense as they are experimentalists. 

“Everyone pictures a very clean, white lab. That is not what our lab looks like. We had one of our instruments rattling, making a terrible noise. So we duct-taped it. We work on a dilution refrigerator and tie things together with dental floss. It’s very cheap, and it’s pretty strong. And since we’re working in super low-pressure environments, it doesn’t off-gas. Our solution wasn’t “Let’s order some NASA string,” — it was, yeah, dental floss will work.”

“When I picture 线上买球平台, I picture Susan (Greenwood)’s Upper Elementary classroom. I am extremely grateful that I went through the Montessori program at 线上买球平台. I couldn’t read in first grade, but although I struggled in one area, I excelled in math and received special attention to catch up in reading. In Middle School, I started reading a lot, nearly a book a day. Graduating high school, I was two or three years ahead in math and took AP English.”

It has really stuck with me and impacted me — this unapologetic self-expression while still being cognizant of other people’s feelings. I’m going to be myself. You should be yourself.“Growing up, I saw my teachers express themselves, able to have personalities they weren’t afraid to express and that they could be themselves. One of the things you can see from us [线上买球平台 graduates] is we don’t conform. It has really stuck with me and impacted me — this unapologetic self-expression while still being cognizant of other people’s feelings. I’m going to be myself. You should be yourself.”

Kaliroe’s journey inspires us, reminding us that with determination, support, and self-confidence, we can explore our passions and make a difference in the world around us.