Scott Hughes
Pronouns:
he/him
Title: Professor of Physics
Briefly describe your journey to MIT? I grew up in a working-class family in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Dad was a heating contractor (installing, maintaining, and repairing home heating systems); mom was stay at home for a few years, then got a job as an educational aide in local elementary schools, helping develop reading skills for kids with learning challenges. I always loved to read, and was interested in science from an early age, so it wasn’t long before I knew I wanted my education to go beyond high school. The financial challenges were scary for my family, but when the time came the schools that accepted me offered good financial aid. I ended up attending Cornell (I really wanted to go to MIT, but they rejected me). Cornell was great for me, and helped me to nail down my interest in physics. A very helpful graduate student told me all about PhD studies and how graduate school support works, so I felt pretty prepared when the time came to apply for a PhD program. I went to Caltech, where I ultimately earned a PhD working with Kip Thorne with a thesis examining gravitational waves from binary black hole systems, and other issues related to the science of gravitational waves. After a few years working as a postdoctoral researcher in Illinois and California, MIT hired me, and I’ve been here since January 2003.
How did being a FLI student impact your experience navigating higher education? When it came time to apply for college, it was very stressful and tense for my family. My mother in particular did not believe we would get any financial aid; the line that resonates in my brain down the years was her very firmly arguing with me that “People like that don’t help people like us.” Once I got to college, it was my first experience really getting to know people from beyond my little corner of Pennsylvania. It was useful having had to figure a lot of things out by myself when working through the higher education process, since I was well prepared to navigate on my own once I entered the higher education system.
What advise would you give yourself if you were able to go back and speak with the undergraduate version of yourself? I wish I had taken a little more time to relax while I was an undergrad. Although we had good financial aid, I was still highly aware of my family’s challenges supporting everything, so I tended to feel guilty if I did anything outside of academics. In retrospect, there were many times when I probably could have gone out with friends instead of making sure I had problem sets done 3 days in advance.
What advice would you give a current MIT student on navigating all the opportunities available to them at MIT? Don’t be afraid to talk to faculty to ask for support or to inquire about opportunities! The number one thing I hear when I ask students why they didn’t reach out sooner (disproportionately from FLI students) is “I didn’t want to bother you because I figured you were busy.” Yes, I am busy; but one reason I’m busy is that talking and working with students is my job. If I can’t talk with you now, I’ll get back to you when I can.
What is your favorite thing about MIT? MIT is packed with people who are uniquely talented and interesting in many different ways. I’ll never forget a shy student in one of my recitations who came alive when I asked if he had any weekend plans and he started to tell me about his love of blacksmith work! (He later showed me the axe that he made that term.) Everyone I’ve met in the MIT community has something uniquely interesting about them.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work/research? I have special time I spend each morning communing with my dog in a local park. I never had a dog growing up, but my wife converted me to a dog person. I feel like my dog makes me a better person.