I was born in Switzerland, raised in Japan, and am now in the last stretch in the Ph.D. program here at MIT. Officially, my name is Patrick Schmid, but I also respond to “hey you,” “what’s up,” and a plethora of other sayings (I do tend to conveniently ignore the not so nice ones, though). I completed my undergraduate studies at Tufts University where I received a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in International Relations. Amusingly, I started out as the International Relations major and only took my first CS class to avoid having to take a math class… clearly, that plan failed… miserably.

When I’m not working on some computational biology research project for my two advisors Bonnie Berger and Isaac Kohane, I can be found baking treats for the undergraduate students in the dorm that I am a Graduate Resident Tutor in, sliding on a chair down one of the corridors in Stata Center while competing in the “Office Chair Long Jump” for the annual CSAIL Olympics, trying hard to learn Chinese, or watching some fun action flick on the tube (yes, I am part of that dwindling generation who still prefers to watch TV on a TV and not a computer). And, of course, I also enjoy long walks on the beach (but not Revere Beach).

After MIT lets me wear the grey robe with the funny hat and gives me that piece of paper that says Dr. Schmid on it, I will be heading on over to Children’s Hospital in Boston to continue the research I am doing now in their informatics program. If all goes according to plan X, that will be in less than one year! (If you are wondering, plans A through W didn’t pan out, but the bright side is that I still have two more letters until I run out.) I could use some luck to see this plan through, so if you have some luck to spare, send it on over!