#phd candidate Curtis

[bigtreefest]

Do you ever feel like you connect with what I write? Or at least like the characters you see? Refreshers on who they are here on my Masterlist

I’m curious for any feedback you have to say on this and them at all. Lmk!!

[thezombieprostitute]

Hope you work day is going alright!💞

A drop-in visit from PhD!Candidate Curtis on his way back to his apartment from the university. He’s gotta run some data analysis for his thesis, but has no idea where to start. Someone said you could help him find a way?

Sincerest thanks for your patience, Essie! My muse did not want to work on this for the longest time!

A/N: Reader is gender neutral. No physical descriptors used.

Warnings: college/university stress. You don't know pain until you see university students begging the printer to work faster during finals week.

Today seemed to be regular day at the reference desk. You were answering emails from the mathematics faculty and students, assuring them about library holdings of their requested materials. Sometimes directing them to the LaTeX to TeX converter you'd had to make, silently cursing MathSciNet and zbMath for not converting yet. Thankfully, the library students you were monitoring at the reference desk were able to handle most of the questions that got directed at them.

At least until a tall, very handsome man with a buzzcut, wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket walks in. You keep an eye on him as he approaches the desk because he doesn't look happy and you're not about to let anyone yell at the students. Thankfully he seems polite enough, neither of the students look scared, but they do direct him to you.

Making eye contact, you motion him over and he's quick to obey.

"How can I help?"

"I'm, I'm Curtis and...my, my data is...I think it got corrupted," he removes his sunglasses and he looks completely devastated. "I can't lose this data. It's, it's my thesis."

You nod in what you hope is a reassuring manner, "do you have a copy of the data in the university servers?"

He holds out a flash drive and you grab the laptop that's never allowed to connect to the network and get it ready. When it is you hold your hand out and he gives you the drive. Plugging it in you take a few minutes to figure out what you're looking at. Some of the terminology is familiar, he's clearly not a mathematics PhD, based on the labels you're able to discern.

"Oh, I see the problem," you tell Curtis, who's looks keep distracting you from your work. "You were, understandably, trying to use data you'd picked up using our Statistica license on your home computer that has the public domain Dataplot software."

"And I'm guessing the two are not interchangeable," Curtis sighs in defeat.

"Unfortunately the metadata schemas they use for the data sets don't work well together," you nod. "The data isn't corrupted, it's just very, very messy and it would take you a lot of late nights to clean it all up again, even if you knew R."

He scratches the back of his neck, "so my data is useless?"

"You have backups, right? You didn't just keep all your data on this flash drive, right?"

"I have backups," he nods. "But it's still months of work down the drain." He raises his hands to his face, looking like he wants to cry. It's a look you're painfully familiar with given your line of work.

You unplug the drive and hand it to him, "hey, look at me." He lowers his hands a little and the pain in his beautiful blue eyes breaks your heart. "You're going to be okay. Yes, it's a lot of time you'll never get back, but it's not the end. You're going to be able to kick this data's ass and get it in line because you know what you're doing with it now. Your thesis hit a setback, it happens a lot more than people would like to admit. You're not alone and you will be able to get this done."

He seems to take your words to heart, taking a few breaths and standing up straight.

"And make sure to get yourself a treat," you add. "You're hurting and you need to take care of yourself."

He almost smiles as he nods and walks out.

🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣🔣

It's been a few months and you'd almost forgotten about the poor PhD student. You probably would have had his physique not stood out so much. The same physique you see walking towards the reference desk, but with a giant smile. You smile in return, he must've gotten his data sorted out.

He walks up to you, "I don't know if you remember me--"

"Statistical software mess, right?"

He lowers his head as his cheeks develop a pink tint, "yeah."

"I'm guessing it all worked out?"

"I'm officially Dr. Everett, now."

Your smile grows, "congratulations, Doctor!"

"Thanks, um," he rubs the back of his neck. "If, if it's not too forward, could I take you out to dinner? As a thank you?" Your eyes go wide. "It wasn't just the data, software stuff that you helped me with. I was genuinely considering just dropping out, giving up. But then you looked me in the eyes and told me I could do it and...and I want to thank you for that."

Smiling, you tell him, "I get off at 6."

Tagging: @alicedopey; @delicatebarness; @icefrozendeadlyqueen; @ronearoundblindly

[jcmarchi]

Featured video: Researchers discuss queer visibility in academia

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/featured-video-researchers-discuss-queer-visibility-in-academia/

Featured video: Researchers discuss queer visibility in academia

Play video

“My identity as a scientist and my identity as a gay man are not contradictory, but complimentary,” says Jack Forman, PhD candidate in media arts and sciences and co-lead of LGBTQ+ Grad, a student group run by and for LGBTQ+ grad students and postdocs at MIT.

He and co-leads Miranda Dawson and Tunahan Aytas ’23 recently interviewed queer MIT faculty about their experiences and the importance of visibility in “Scientific InQueery,” a video meant to inspire young LBGTQ+ academics to take pride in the intersections of their identities and their academic work.

“In professional settings, people need to create spaces for researchers to be able to discuss their scientific work and also be queer,” says Nergis Mavalvala, the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and dean of the MIT School of Science. “That [space] gives a sense of safety [to say] ‘I can be successful in my profession; I can be queer; and I can be out here flying my rainbow flag.’”

“As queer graduate students, we find community in our peers. However, as one progresses up the academic ladder, it can be harder to find examples of queer people in higher positions. Bringing visibility to the queer faculty helps younger queer academics find a greater sense of community,” says Dawson, a PhD student in MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering. In her years as co-lead of LGBTQ+ Grad, she has been a visible advocate for LGBTQ+ graduate students across MIT.

“We would love it if a young queer person with curiosity and a love for learning saw this video and realized that they belong here, at a place like MIT,” says Dawson.

In addition to Aytas, Dawson, Forman, and Mavalvala, the video features Sebastian Lourido, associate professor of biology; Lorna Gibson, professor of materials science and engineering; and Bryan Bryson, associate professor of biological engineering.

[brianchilton]

(SIS S2 E4) The Image of God and the Soul (w. Jerry Bogacz)

(SIS S2 E4) The Image of God and the Soul (w. Jerry Bogacz)

By: Brian Chilton and Curtis Evelo | September 8, 2022 The second season of the Summer Interview Series examines creationism. For the last two episodes of the series, Brian Chilton and Curtis Evelo interview Bellator Christi contributor Jerry Bogacz. Jerry is PhD Candidate in the Theology and Apologetics program at Liberty University, a two-time Biola graduate, and a retired biologist. On the…

[kathleenseiber]

COVID-19 news and trends

The numbers

Global COVID-19 deaths are set to pass the one million mark in coming days. The grim champion of most deaths per 100,000 population is tiny San Marino, a microstate in northern Italy. From a total population of about 34,000, it has recorded 723 cases and 42 deaths – that’s 124.32/100,000. At 98.06/100,000, Peru is the only other nation above 90.

Global

As at 16:47 CEST on Thursday 24 September, cases confirmed worldwide by national authorities stood at 31,425,029 (246,165 of them reported in the preceding 24 hours). 967,164 deaths have been recorded (4520). (Source: WHO Coronavirus Disease Dashboard)

Johns Hopkins University’s Centre of Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) reported (at 15:30 AEST on Thursday 24 September) 31,779,835 confirmed cases and 975,104 deaths.

Australia

The Department of Health reported on 23 September that national confirmed cases stood at 26,973, a rise of 22 in 24 hours. 859 deaths have been recorded. More than 7,393,500 tests have been conducted (0.4% positive).

State by state: ACT 113 total cases (first case reported 12 March); NSW 4212 (25 January); NT 33 (20 March); Qld 1153 (29 January); SA 467 (2 February); Tas 230 (2 March); Vic 20,100 (25 January); WA 665 (21 February).

Research

 First or second wave?

Mathematicians Max Menzies, from Tsinghua University, Beijing, and Nick James, a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, have developed a model to determine whether US states are in a first or second surge of COVID-19. They’ve published their work in the journal Chaos.

The pair studied data from all 50 US states and the District of Columbia from 21 January to 31 July. They found that 31 states and DC were experiencing a second wave as of the end of July.

Their method smooths raw daily case count data to eliminate artificially low counts over weekends and even some negative numbers that occur when localities correct errors. After smoothing the data, a numerical technique finds peaks (P) and troughs (T), from which turning points can be identified.

A turning point occurs when a falling curve surges upward or a rising curve turns downward. Only those sequences where the P and T amplitudes differ by a certain minimum amount are counted. A second wave that’s less than one-fifth the size of the first doesn’t qualify as a “second wave” – it’s just too small.

Thirteen states – including California and Texas, the US’s most populous – had increasing case numbers throughout the entire seven-month period studied and are considered to be still in their first wave. Another 31 states showed sequences of the form TPTP – zero cases to a first peak, then another trough and peak. This is the signature of a second wave.

New York and New Jersey completely flattened their curves by the end of July. The analysis confirms these two states experienced just one wave.

“In some of the worst performing states, it seems that policymakers have looked for plateauing or slightly declining infection rates,” says James. “Instead, health officials should look for identifiable local maxima and minima, showing when surges reach their peak and when they are demonstrably over.”

“The real moral of this paper is that COVID-19 is highly infectious and very difficult to control,” says Menzies.

The authors have also applied their method to analyse infection rates in eight Australian states and territories. The Australian analysis hasn’t been peer-reviewed but it applies the peer-reviewed methodology. The analysis clearly identifies Victoria as an outlier, as expected.

“What the Victorian data shows is that cases are still coming down and the turning point – the local minimum – has not occurred yet,” says Menzies, and from a mathematical perspective at least, Victoria should “stay the course”.

Fine weather for COVID

With winter approaching in northern hemisphere coronavirus hotspots, an understanding of the effect of weather on the virus’s spread is timely.

A paper published in Physics of Fluids reveals results of a study into the effects of relative humidity, environmental temperature and wind speed on the respiratory cloud and virus viability.

Researchers found that a critical factor for the transmission of infectious particles in respiratory clouds of saliva droplets is evaporation.

“Suppose we have a better understanding of the evaporation and its relation to climate effects,” says author Dimitris Drikakis, of the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. “In that case, we can more accurately predict the virus concentration and better determine its viability or the potential for virus survival.”

Despite the importance of airborne droplet transmission, research regarding heat and mass transfer around and within respiratory droplets containing the virus has been scarce.

Weather impact on virus transmission. Effect of relative humidity (RH=10%, 50%, and 90%) on coronavirus respiratory droplet cloud at temperature 30 C and wind speed of 4 kph. Wind direction is from left to right. Credit: Talib Dbouk and Dimitris Drikakis

“We found high temperature and low relative humidity lead to high evaporation rates of saliva-contaminated droplets, thus significantly reducing the virus viability,” says co-author Talib Dbouk.

Additionally, the researchers observed the travel distance and concentration of the droplet cloud continued to be significant, even at high temperatures if the relative humidity is high. Wind speed is another crucial factor that might alter all the rules for the social distancing guidelines.

The findings help explain why the pandemic increased during July in crowded cities around the world, such as Delhi, which experienced both high temperatures and high relative humidity.

It also provides a crucial alert for the possibility of a second wave of the pandemic in the coming autumn and winter seasons, where low temperatures and high wind speeds will increase airborne virus survival and transmission.

The study adds to the growing body of research that reinforces the importance of social distancing and the use of face masks to prevent full virus spread.

The asymptomatic minority

There’s been plenty of talk about individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infections and no symptoms, and a new study published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine addresses the question of what proportion of total infections these cases represent.

Diana Buitrago-Garcia from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues suggest that true asymptomatic cases of COVID comprise a minority of infections.

The full spectrum and severity of COVID-19 symptoms are not well understood. Some people experience severe infections resulting in viral pneumonia, respiratory distress syndrome and death. Others remain completely asymptomatic or develop mild, nonspecific symptoms.

To better understand the proportion of people who become infected with SARS-CoV-2 and never develop any symptoms, as well as the proportion of people who are asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis but develop symptoms later, researchers systematically reviewed literature using a database of SARS-CoV-2 evidence between March and June.

While the study was limited by its inability to ascertain the impact of false negatives, the researchers were able to estimate that 20% of COVID-19 infections remained asymptomatic during follow-up.

“The findings of this systematic review of publications early in the pandemic suggests that most SARS-CoV-2 infections are not asymptomatic throughout the course of infection,” wrote the authors.

“The contribution of presymptomatic and asymptomatic infections to overall SARS-CoV-2 transmission means that combination prevention measures, with enhanced hand and respiratory hygiene, testing and tracing, and isolation strategies and social distancing, will continue to be needed.”

Research bites

Credit: iStock

According to a new study from The George Institute for Global Health published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, the COVID-19 pandemic has more than doubled the number of smokers wanting to quit but a different approach may be needed to help them succeed. Lead author Simone Pettigrew says it was good to see positive intentions, but the right support was needed to ensure successful follow-through. “Most smokers want to quit, and many have tried unsuccessfully in the past,” she says. “COVID represents an important opportunity to help them use proven support tools while their motivation to quit is high.”

Preliminary findings from the University of South Australia’s ongoing Annual Rhythms in Adults’ lifestyle and health (ARIA) study (which isn’t peer-reviewed) suggest that effect of lockdown on people’s lifestyle and wellbeing was not as bad as we might have expected. During the lockdown period of February to April, on average people slept longer, got up later, did less light physical activity, drank a bit more alcohol and ate a little less protein. The findings also noted no changes to weight, dietary energy intake, quality of life or symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress.

“Given the unprecedented nature of lockdown, we expected to see greater levels of anxiety and depression – and perhaps even increases in weight as people were at home and had greater access to their fridges – but no,” says researcher Rachel Curtis. “All in all, it’s reassuring to see just how resilient Australians were in terms of their health and wellbeing during lockdown.”

A new study on the health sciences preprint server medRxiv suggests that herd immunity played a role in the size of the COVID epidemic in the Brazilian city of Manaus. SARS-CoV-2 initially spread rapidly through the 1.8 million-population city, but since the peak in May new cases and deaths have rapidly fallen. The joint Brazil/UK research team says that’s because the virus is running out of hosts. “Although non-pharmaceutical interventions, plus a change in population behaviour, may have helped to limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Manaus, the unusually high infection rate suggests that herd immunity played a significant role in determining the size of the epidemic,” the authors write.

Researchers claim that COVID-shutdown-related reductions in human-made noise has seen birds in parts of California adapt their songs to be higher quality. The study, published in Science, provides strong evidence that previously reported regional changes in birdsong, which lowered song quality and affected male birds’ ability to defend their territories, resulted from increased anthropogenic noise. The study focused on birdsong in urban and rural populations of white-crowned sparrows in the San Francisco Bay area, the subject of many years’ observation by researcher Elizabeth Derryberry and colleagues. The authors say that results reveal how quickly birds can adapt to changing environments and suggest that lasting remediation might lead to other promising outcomes, including higher species diversity.

In a Correspondence in Nature, geneticist Paul Nurse, astronomer Martin Rees, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown and colleagues write that with the Brexit transition period ending in just three months, it’s now impossible to develop separate UK equivalents to European Union and European Commission science and knowledge-exchange programs. “Anything less than continued UK association with these programs will be catastrophic for both British and European research,” write the authors, who claim such programs have a total value approaching €100 billion (AU$165 billion) over their lifetimes. The authors conclude: “As we weather the worst public-health crisis in living memory, now is the time for the United Kingdom to be leading and enhancing scientific collaborations with our European partners, not leaving them.”

COVID-19 news and trends published first on https://triviaqaweb.weebly.com/

[mthrynn]

URBANA, Ill., July 6, 2017 — The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has awarded 3,697,000 node hours (NH) of time on the Blue Waters supercomputer to Illinois researchers from Spring 2017 proposal submissions.

The combined value of these awards is over $2.6 million dollars, and through the life of the Blue Waters program, NCSA has awarded over 43 million node hours to UI researchers—a value of nearly $27 million. Some of the time allocated for Blue Waters will go to projects that focus on HIV research, Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) simulations, genomics and global warming research.

NCSA researchers Eliu Huerta and Roland Haas will use their 495,000 NH allocation to generate catalogs of numerical relativity (NR) simulations with the open source, NR software called the Einstein Toolkit. NCSA is a an official member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), and Huerta and Haas share these simulations with the LSC to contribute to the validation of new gravitational wave transients.

Why Blue Waters? When LIGO detects a new gravitational wave transient, the NR waveforms are used to validate the astrophysical origin of the signal, and to constrain its astrophysical parameters. This time-critical analysis requires dozens of NR simulations, each requiring thousands of Blue Waters node hours of computer time that must be run in parallel to sample a higher dimensional parameter space. No other resource but Blue Waters can provide the required computational power on short notice.

Tandy Warnow, a professor in computer science and bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been awarded 125,000 NH for her work on improving methods for phylogenomics, proteomics and metagenomics.

“The Blue Waters allocation is allowing us to develop new methods with much greater accuracy by testing and refining our algorithmic designs, so that we end up with new computational methods that are much more accurate than any current method, and that can scale to ultra-large datasets. None of this would be possible without Blue Waters!”

Juan Perilla and Jodi Hadden, researchers in the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group at the Beckman Institute, were allocated 582,000 NH for research focusing on virus capsids, the interactions of virus capsids with human factors and with antiviral drugs. Perilla says he and Hadden will use the allocation to study the effects of assembly inhibitor on the Hepatitis-B virus capsid and the HIV-1 capsid. “Blue Waters enables us to perform accurate, all-atom simulations of drug-compounds bound to the viral capsid and allows us to perform large-scale analysis of the results from the simulations,” said Pedilla.

Atmospheric sciences associate professor, Ryan Sriver and PhD candidate, Hui Li are using Blue Waters to explore the interactions between tropical cyclones (e.g. hurricanes) and Earth’s climate.

Sriver and Li are conducting a series of high-resolution global climate simulations using the Community Earth System Model (CESM), which features a 25 km atmosphere component capable of capturing realistic tropical cyclone activity—number, location, intensity—on a global scale. Results will enable key insights into the importance of tropical cyclones within Earth’s coupled climate system, as well as how storm activity may change in the future.

Narayana R. Aluru, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, could not perform the molecular dynamic simulations without the petascale power of Blue Waters. Aluru’s work focuses on systematic, thermodynamically consistent, structure-based coarse graining of room temperature ionic liquids. “Since the size of these ions is several nanometers and their interactions are highly dominated by electrostatics, the all-atom simulation of these systems is computationally expensive but critical. We perform molecular dynamics simulations which involve up to 400,000 atoms. These computationally expensive computations would not be possible to perform without a petascale supercomputer (Blue Waters),” said Aluru.

“The goal of our project is to uncover principles that drive the evolution of function in proteins,” said Gustavo Caetano-Anollés of the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “During previous Blue Waters allocations, we have performed 87 and 116 molecular dynamics simulations of protein loops on the timescales of approximately 10-12 and 50-70 nanoseconds, respectively,” said Caetano-Anollés. “In order to accomplish our goals in a timely fashion, we take advantage of efficient scalability on the NAMD simulation system in Blue Waters. Scalability coupled with GPU-computing provides acceleration gain vital to completing a project of this magnitude.”

“Using Blue Waters will allow us to self-consistently address the entire sequence of events leading to the development of a geomagnetic storm, and for the first time, to assess the implications of the induced electric fields to the enhancements of the near-Earth currents. This will provide the connection between the macro-scale dynamics and micro-scale processes leading to the development of a geomagnetic storm. As a result, this will significantly improve our space weather prediction capabilities,” said Raluca Ilie, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, about the impact of Blue Waters on her work, “Quantifying the Effects of Inductive Electric Fields in the Terrestrial Magnetosphere.”

Other researchers awarded Blue Waters allocations for Spring 2017 include:

Stuart Shapiro (Department of Physics), Milton Ruiz, Antonios Tsokaros and Vasileios Paschalidis: 500,000 NH for “Gravitational and Electromagnetic Signatures of Compact Binary Mergers: General Relativistic Simulations at the Petascale”

Matthew West (Department of Atmospheric Sciences), Nicole Riemer and Jeffrey H. Curtis: 240,000 NH for “Verification of a Global Aerosol Model using a 3D Particle-Resolved Model”

Hsi-Yu Schive (NCSA), Matthew Turk, John Zuhone, Nathan Goldbaum and Jeremiah Ostriker: 230,000 NH for “Ultra-High Resolution Astrophysical Simulations with GAMER”

Aleksei Aksimentiev (Department of Physics): 225,000 NH for “Epigenetic Regulation of Chromatin Structure and Dynamics”

Mark Neubauer (Department of Physics), Philip Chang, Rob Gardner and Dewen Zhong: 140,000 NH for “Enabling Discoveries at the Large Hadron Collider through Advanced Computation and Deep Learning”

Benjamin Hooberman (Department of Physics), Amir Farbin, Matt Zhang and Ryan Reece: 125,000 NH for “Employing Deep Learning Techniques for Particle Identification at the Large Hadron Collider”

Nancy Makri (Department of Chemistry), Peter Walters and Amartya Bose: 100,000 NH for “Quantum-Classical Path Integral Simulation of Charge Transfer Reactions”

Brad Sutton (Department of Bioengineering), Curtis Johnson, Alex Cerjanic and Aaron Anderson: 100,000 NH for “HPC-Based Approaches for High-Resolution, Quantitative MRI Applications”

Brian Thomas (Department of Mechanical Science & Engineering): 75,000 NH for “Multiphysics Modeling of Steel Continuous Casting”

Source: NCSA

The post NCSA Grants $2.6M in Blue Waters Awards to Illinois Researchers appeared first on HPCwire.

via Government – HPCwire

[bigtreefest]

Morning Mewl

Pairing: PhD Candidate! Curtis Everett x PhD Student! Reader

Summary: Curtis is nervous before his PhD defense

Word count: 866

Content/warnings: fluffy fluff fluff fluff (bc Curtis deserves it), kissing, sharing a bed, roommate and good friend Jake, best friend/mentee turned girlfriend reader, pet name usage (cookie, smart cookie, cooks), established relationship

A/N: Inspired partially by @biteofcherry in this post and what was written for @jamneuromain in this post. Shoutout for all my moots for Curtis encouragement and @thezombieprostitute for the constant praise at all hours. I hope you guys melt reading this along with me.

Takes place a couple years down the line once reader and Curtis are dating and in the same program, so there’s not a weird power imbalance.

Comments, likes, reblogs, and asks are so appreciated. Thank you for reading!!

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Main Masterlist

You were used to the groans that came out of Curtis when waking up. Every morning, his broad form that was wrapped around your body creaked in the joints as he stretched, fighting the stiffness that would settle over him in the night.

This morning, you were woken up by a slightly different sound than the usual early morning deep breath and whine that signaled him waking. This was was more high-pitched…more of a…mewl?

You snickered lightly at the sound, ready to turn around in his hold and crack a joke to his face.

“That was an interesting one.” You softly giggled it out, mixed with the small rasp of your morning voice. When you finally opened your eyes, though, you were surprised to not see Curtis’s face at all.. it was hidden by a ball of fluff, a black and gray tabby cat curled up and now purring peacefully.

The same cat you had met years ago when Curtis had brought her in so the landlord didn’t find out. You struggled to hold in a fit of laughter, but weren’t sure what to do. From under the restful mound of fluff came the groan you had expected that morning.

“Jensen, come get the cat.” It was louder that your early morning ears expected, but somewhat muffled and still not enough for her to stir on his face.

Curtis’s roommate Jake came walking into the room, glasses thrown on haphazardly and hair messy from the early hour. Jake wasn’t in your program, he was actually studying CS, which was for the best and very helpful for how often your computer got overloaded. Curtis was glad to have a roommate who was in a different program from him, too. It was a nice break from the nonstop work, plus an opportunity to hear about another department’s drama. Sure, he and Jake didn’t have very similar sleeping schedules, but they got along well and were respectful of noise for the other.

Jake rubbed his eyes under his glasses, adjusting to the light that poured through the curtains of Curtis’s window. He laughed at the predicament Curtis found himself in “I swear she likes you more than she likes me. It’s not fair you get all the ladies around here.”

You laughed as Jake walked into the room towards Curtis’s side of the bed. “C’mere, Mav. Don’t scratch uncle Curtis. He didn’t like that last time.”

Jake gently scooped the cat off his face and she instantly clung to the fabric on the shoulder of his own graphic tee, snuggling against Jake’s shoulder. “Okay, I’ll keep her out of her out of your hair, or at least as much of it as you have, while you get ready. If I don’t see you before you leave, good luck today. I’ll be in the back of the lecture hall for your defense.”

He walked towards the door before turning around. “Oh! And by the way, I stopped by that breakfast place you like yesterday. Picked up some sandwiches for this morning’s brain food. All you and Cookie have to do is heat them up.”

You and Curtis had both shifted to sit up by now, and you watched a small, appreciative smile creep onto his face. “Thanks, Jensen, I’ll see you later, man.”

You twisted towards your boyfriend, finally seeing his full face for the first time that morning. “You hear that? He got us the good stuff. Free breakfast, Cooks.”

You shook your head and brushed your hand over the stubble on his cheek, freshly trimmed the past weekend so it was neat for Curtis’s PhD defense later this morning. “I’m not the smart cookie today. You are, future Dr. Everett. It has a good ring to it already.”

Your thumb traced over the freckles on his nose as he leaned into your touch, turning his head to place a kiss on your palm. His eyes sparkled back toward you with a hint of concern you’d rarely seen from the usually confident and secure man. “Not yet, though. Don’t wanna count my chickens before they hatch.”

Your other hand came up to frame his face and pull his forehead to yours. “Look at me. Today’s going to be great. You’re going to show everyone how smart you are and how hard you’ve worked and how there’s no one else who’s as deserving of this degree as you. And I’m going to be right there, cheering you on with your parents, without an ounce of doubt in your abilities.”

He relaxed in your hold, wrapping his one arm around your waist, the other settling on your thigh as his eyes fluttered shut. He sighed, absorbing the comfort of the moment before looking up at you through his eyelashes. “Promise?”

You leaned in to kiss him, slow and deep. An exhibit of love and faith and the deepest support that bloomed from friendship. You both pulled away with smiles on your faces before you saw his demeanor shift and lighten, his usual, determined game face taking over. He was ready for the day.

“I promise. Now let’s go eat that breakfast before Jensen changes his mind and steals it from us.”

Bonus A/N: Pls feel free to screech with me about soft! Curtis. He deserves all the credit and all the love.

[bigtreefest]

9. Which idea came to you first in Morning Mewl?

-Zombie

Oh @thezombieprostitute thank you for this ask! Thinking back to it now, Morning Mewl changed a lot from start to finish!!

That whole week, I was in a really fluffy Curtis mood, and on a post I made about it, @biteofcherry had suggested giving Curtis a little kitten. And probably just a few hours before that, I had answered an ask from @jamneuromain about Phd Candidate!Curtis, where his roommate had a cat. The two just meshed together so well for me, so it sparked the idea.

So overall, the first idea was the cat, and I thought it would be so funny and adorable laying on his face because like, of course he loves it even if he acts like he doesn’t. 🥹🥰 The fic in general was supposed to be a little fluffier and softer, with less nervousness on his part, simply early morning cuddles in the rising sun, but I just loved putting that extra layer of vulnerability that isn’t often seen for him. And ofc the ever encouraging roommate Jake was a fav addition😇

Again, thank you so much for asking!!😘🥰

Questions every fic writer wants to answer (ask game)

[bigtreefest]

Masterlist

Fluff 💞| Smut 🔥| Angst 🧊| Allusions to/smut-adjacent ❤️‍🔥 | Semi-dark ♟️| Light Angst ❄️

Series

Bucky Barnes

You Catch More Bees With Honey (Mob! Bucky x Farmer! Reader) part of the Outta Nowhere AU

Steve Rogers

The Rainmaker (Mob! Steve x Forensic Scientist! Reader) part of the Outta Nowhere AU

Kill for Me (Lloyd Hansen x Dark! Reader, Steve Rogers x Dark! Reader)

Good Things (lost love, bbf! Steve x reader) (coming soon)

Bodyguard Steve???

Stucky

Guardian Angel (Mafia! Stucky x Bodyguard! Reader) part of the Galvanized AU

Ari Levinson

Bigger Houses (Mountain Ranger! Ari x Reader) a series based off Dan and Shay’s latest Album

Curtis Everett

Handiwork (Mechanic! Farmhand! Curtis x Bartender! Reader) part of the Outta Nowhere AU

Jimmy Dobyne

The Banes of the Ball (Jimmy Dobyne x Heiress! Reader)

Lloyd Hansen

Kill for Me (Lloyd Hansen x Dark! Reader, Steve Rogers x Dark! Reader)

Jake Jensen

Pressed Code (Mafia! Jake Jensen x Bodyguard! Reader) part of the Galvanized AU

One-Shots

Bucky Barnes

…just a quickie 🔥 Bucky can’t keep his hands off you an an event. It’ll be quick, he promises.

Steve Rogers

Sick of It ❄️💞 Steve looks good in everything and you’re sick of it

A Celebration Just For Us 💞 You want to celebrate Steve’s actual birthday

Jake Jensen

Touch My Butt💞❤️‍🔥 Dating Jake is great, he’s such a gentleman

Wait Until We Get Home 🔥 (CT 2024) You promised Jake anything he wanted if he could keep his hands to himself until you got home

Marshmallow Dream 💞🔥 A rainy day can still be a good one if the right person knows how to turn it around. Jake’s Rough Days That Should Be Me

Can’t Fight the Moonlight 🔥💞 Your werewolf boyfriend can’t fight how badly he wants you when he sees you in your Halloween costume

In Your Arms ❤️‍🔥💞 Jake tries to treat you to a spa day on your honeymoon part of the Say I Do AU

Curtis Everett

From Both Ends 💞❄️ When work and responsibilities spill over, Curtis helps you clean it up

Morning Mewl 💞(PhD Candidate! Curtis) Curtis is nervous for his PhD defense

I’m So, So Proud of You 💞🔥 Curtis is proud of you for getting that job

Drip…and Lick 💞❤️‍🔥Curtis treats you to a truck bed date…and forgets to cut the watermelon

Pour Clueless Babes 💞❄️❤️‍🔥 (SB 2024) you and the broody bartender can’t help your want to be around each other

Why Not Both? 💞🔥 Curtis wants to treat you in your special day

A Well-deserved Treat 🔥 After a long day, you know exactly what Curtis needs

Comfort Cuddles in Bed💞

Ransom Drysdale

Meet the Parents 💞❤️‍🔥 You prep Ransom to meet your family

A What in Church? 💞🔥 (CT 2024) (can be read as a continuation of Meet the Parents or stand-alone) Ransom agrees to come to church with you and your family

Details 💞❤️‍🔥Ransom can’t help the way he pays such close attention to every detail regarding you

Rainy days and cozy sweaters 💞

Lloyd Hansen

Saint or Sinner? 🔥♟️ Lloyd wants to know how much it takes for a Saint to break

Ari Levinson

Whatever You Need 💞❄️ You want nothing more than couch cuddles with Ari after a long day

Sweet Coworker Ari and the car troubles

Bartender!Ari Thots

Andy Barber

Feral-ish Homecoming💞🔥

Paul Diskant

Moving Drabble ❄️💞Paul’s job stresses you out. Late nights and LA danger are too much

Random and Extras

Summer Lovin’ 300 Follower Celebration

The Great British Baking Show With the Babes

Movie Reviews

Sebastian Stan

Chris Evans

Fic Rec Masterlist 2

[bigtreefest]

i love ur writing! Can u cast ur friends as readers in any of ur series? And what series from another writer do u want to be in?

Hi! Thank you so much!!🥰 I love all this love I’ve been getting lately! I don’t know if I have enough series to cast all my friends on here, but I’m gonna try!! I love you for this challenging question, and to all my friends, I love you, pls don’t hate me for my decisions or if I accidentally leave someone out!🥺💗😅

- first and foremost, I think @krirebr would be Decks from The Rainmaker. Two tough ladies!

- @thezombieprostitute as the reader from Comfort Cuddles. I can just see her loving the comfort Curtis provides and wanting to return the favor, paying attention to exactly what he needs. They’d be so in sync

- controversial, but @biteofcherry is the reader in Saint or Sinner? And I can imagine it would’ve been double the feral if that were Steve.

-brandy. What’s the most feral thing I can think of?? @brandycranby would for sure be with Curtis in Drip…And Lick. Have her tongue all up in that business, I know it.

- @buckymorelikefuckme would probs be reader in Wait Until We Get Home. Two feral overstimulating babes who can’t get enough of each other😳

- @ronearoundblindly I think is Duchess from Bigger Houses. To me, she’s got it all together and deserves a love like a sweet, soft Ari who just wants the best and is constantly bettering himself to be deserving. In awe of the woman he pulled

- @sweater-daddiesdumbdork as Cherry in Handiwork. Homegirl is out doing her own thing and exploring, living life to the fullest, I hope. Curtis is there in support.

- @stargazingfangirl18 ohhhhh, Siri. Hmmmm, you like soft ran? Yeah, I thot so. Probs Ran’s sweetheart in Meet the Parents (and its smutty sequel👀)

- @jamneuromain would def be with phd candidate! Curtis. Need I say more? Two smart cookies in a supportive love

- I think @darsynia is Honeybee in YCMBWH. Incredibly witty and welcoming, ready to share

- @steviebbboi is probably Angel in the yet unreleased Guardian Angel. Very well-rounded and observant and encouraging

- @yenzys-lucky-charm is probs from Marshmallow Dream because he needs someone to appreciate him for all he is and keep him in line a little. It’s the unbridled Jake love that’s contagious

——-

Now, what series would I wanna be in? Um, try everything the aforementioned lovelies have written and more? I can’t choose! It’s not fair!! *starts buzzing and beeping* *explodes* *dies*

[jcmarchi]

Spoken-word collaboration shows off the MIT community’s musical talents

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/spoken-word-collaboration-shows-off-the-mit-communitys-musical-talents/

Spoken-word collaboration shows off the MIT community’s musical talents

What do you get when you cross MIT student and alumni raps with other community members’ electronic dance music, rhythmic riddles, and heartfelt love songs? You get MITverses, a new spoken-word musical collaboration sponsored by the MIT Music Production Collaborative.

Community members from across the Institute were invited to record their singing, vocal loops, and other spoken word music to the project, which was recently published as a compilation on SoundCloud and Spotify.

“Usually projects are just for the students or just for the faculty, so it feels nice to cut across some of those invisible boundaries,” says organizer Angela Chang ’97, SM ’02, PhD ’11, an affiliate researcher with MIT Trope Tank.

The project builds on a similar effort over Independent Activities Period (IAP) last year, in which students were encouraged to contribute to a musical collaboration. Chang wanted to expand on that, partially inspired by her experience sitting in on a course taught by Grammy Award-winning rapper and MLK Visiting Scholar Wasalu “Lupe Fiasco” Jaco.

“MIT is a place of collaboration on all fronts — individual moments of creative force and potential combine to produce mass effect,” Jaco says in a textual intro to the album. “The MITverses projects calls together those independent forces operating in and around MIT into combination. Multidimensional and analytical with heart and soul looking into the past and future through the lenses of imagination attenuated by infinite corridors of possibility.”

Chang received help from a number of community members to organize the submissions. The project also included several workshops over the summer in which drafts were shared and artists were given feedback.

“I was excited about it because I see the potential within MIT,” senior Andoni Chiu says. “I see a lot of people excited about trying these sorts of things, some really funny and talented people with a lot to bring to the table.”

The final result is an eclectic, wide-ranging compilation of music, including an electronic dance track from Moises Trejo ’22, a pair of love songs from Paul Schindler ’74, a Pi-themed drill song from Thomas Hafer ’70, and raps from PhD candidate Alex Brinson, Chiu, and Curtis Northcutt SM ’17, PhD ’21, who has previously called for more college students to rap about their schools and was another inspiration for the MITverses project.

Other participants included Indi Williams from MIT Open Learning, who helped with infrastructure, and friends of MIT students who also consider themselves members of the MIT community, including music producer Gabriel Luansing, aka Mr. Master.

Each member of the project contributed for their own reasons.

“I would love to have a proper hip hop scene at MIT,” says Brinson, whose nuclear physics raps have gone viral. “I’d like more people to bounce really esoteric, niche bars around with. I know people who know STEM but don’t make music, and I know people who make music but the physics concepts are lost on them. It would be nice to have more people who appreciate both.”

Others talked about strengthening connections across campus and making STEM topics more fun and accessible.

“It’s surprising this hasn’t already happened,” Chiu said before the final product was released. “It gives people an outlet and a way of expressing themselves through music. It’s a place to say things and be heard. I hope something ridiculous and totally unforeseen comes from this.”

Chang was thrilled with the response from the community and would like to do something similar again soon.

“As I learned more about the people who wanted to collaborate, what I found is they want to give back to the community,” Chang says. “People are giving back in the way that makes the most sense to them. It’s interesting and heartwarming.”

[bigtreefest]

Ahhhh, thank you so much!! If you like things like this specifically, I made a second piece with PhD Candidate!Curtis!!

Hi Essie!

I was just reading your post on your application and this is just a thought -- you don't have to respond at all if you don't like this idea!! this idea is purely my CPH4 brain talking I swear I have nothing to do with this lol

So, a young man (okay maybe not so young he was born four years ahead of you according to his page in the uni website ) with some very serious frowning becomes your thesis supervisor at the end of the term. He taught one lesson that you attended and you didn't know him very well besides his name. He rarely speaks, always listening to your presentation/answer, and very occasionally asking "do you have any questions for me?"

Nevertheless, you have impressive GPA and at the end of that term, you decided to apply for a PhD. You already have two letters of recommendation, one from a professor that you have known for two years during your Master's, one from a professor that supervised your Bachelor thesis and teaching a few courses that you attended.

But this damn Graduate School that you want to get in requires THREE. THREE FUCKING RECOMMENDATION LETTERS. And it specifically requires the letter from your dissertation supervisors.

You ask, not with much hope, your current supervisor, the lecturer with a very serious frowning look on his face, whether he could provide you a letter of recommendation.

To which he responded, texting back in a matter of seconds.

-Ofc. When do you need it? Send your transcripts btw.

NOW, the question is: Is he

or

or

----I just thought it'd be hilarious if he's very serious during class and meetings while he's basically any 20-somethings when texting you and discussing things that he shouldn't be sharing with you (like the content of your recommendation letter, or the fact that three recommendation letters is absolutely worthless even though he's providing one for you, or that because another professor is cranky and possibly stealing work from their students, you def shouldn't be choosing him as your doctor supervisor)

Oh I absolutely adore this ask! Thank you so much for sending this in, I unfortunately know the hierarchy of academia too well which is why I honestly think I would be rolling my eyes at these standards, too. I took the prompt and ran with it. 😂

I wanna talk about the other two options before I get to my choice. All below the cut bc it’s long.

Let’s discuss Ari:

Throughout Ari’s undergrad degree, he played football and was greatly interested in world policies, so everyone thought once his sports career and degree was over, he’d be ready to get out there. Nope. He really wasn’t sure where to start, so instead, he decided to keep going with schooling.

His grades were just good enough for him to get into the program you were applying to now. Varsity athletics looked great on the application and his charm was the extra boost. Now that he’s in it though, it’s been almost seven years instead of the usual four to five. Part of it is him going in without much of a plan, wanting to try every avenue, while the other is him just not caring enough to push further and just finish the degree. He’s getting paid just enough to get by and no one has threatened to kick him out, so he enjoys the coasting and the free time it gives for him to look into his actual passions.

Part of the PhD program is all of the grad students sitting in a room grading exams of undergrads every few weeks, and during this, Ari really shows his personality. They have to sit there for hours on end, and it can get boring, so Ari will tell stories to the kid next to him to pass the time, except the room is so quiet that everyone hears. These will range from the various dates with odd girls, to that time he saw a video of someone cooking salmon in the dishwasher, so he tried it out. “It was pretty decent. I swear it’s Kosher! I would do it again if it didn’t take so long.”

Any time he gets trusted to teach, which is rare since his advisor doesn’t really want it in order to guarantee the kids are being taught correct content, questions are not answered very well. It’s either with a “hell if I know. Use google. That’s how they do it in the real world.” Or “wait for the professor to get back. This isn’t my expertise.” Both technically valid, but not what a younger student wants to hear from someone in a position of authority.

Star Student Steve:

Steve was born for upper-level studies. He’s been ready to graduate essentially since getting into the program, knowing exactly what he wanted to research right off the bat. He knows all the content well and is well-liked by students and professors alike. The undergrads have a habit of ogling him and crowding his office hours, so you never even bothered to go. Pending his early graduation, he’s already been offered a job at the university with a full federal research grant, which he could use to travel or gain equipment for his projects. He’s probably considering this, unless one of the prime companies/agencies gives him a better offer. He can’t wait for the opportunity to make new rules and discoveries in the field, just needs to find the best route to get him there. (Talk about a CPH4 brain, haha)

With all of this going on, though, he doesn’t have time for much else. Sure, he’s very kind, but he’s always on the move. Students are not his first priority right now if he wants everything in place to be successful and make history. When it comes to picking an advisor, everyone wants Steve, but after hearing all that, and the standard he might hold you to without giving you the time of day to reach that level, do you really want him?

My wonderful choice Curtis:

(Even before I saw my options, this description was screaming ‘Curtis’ to me.)

He’s definitely the kind of silent student who puts his head down and does his work because it’s difficult stuff. Some may say it’s even more difficult than Steve’s if they knew what Curtis actually did, but he’s so silent and keeps it to himself unless he’s asked. It’s not because he doesn’t want to share, it’s more because when he’s interacting with students, he understands his job is to help them first and foremost. Although Curtis may have been busy, he never rushed and made sure his full attention was on the task or person at hand.

All the Professors know Curtis and really like him for his work ethic and ability to maintain balance and remain a grounded person, except he’s just not a poster boy like Steve. For this reason, his advisor trusts him enough to teach certain classes since Curtis parses out his time well and not only knows the content, but cares about it deeply. At the end of his lectures, though, when he asks for questions, it’s radio silence. Perhaps it’s because he taught the material so well, but even Steve and Ari get the odd question about their research or last Sunday’s football game. Curtis gets disinterested stares until he dismisses everyone. Office hours are pretty quiet, too, until right around exam time when a few students come to him for help since everywhere else was so full. After seeing how helpful he is, yourself included, they keep going back to him, keeping it to themselves, though, keeping him their hidden secret gem.

The lack of recognition Curtis gets is a shame, though, because he’s so nice. Actually, not just nice, but genuinely kind. When you were assigned with him as your advisor, you weren’t really sure what to do. Not many talked about him and the stoic demeanor was a little intimidating, until you actually spoke with each other. He was so sweet and engaged, asking you questions and providing guidance not only on what he thought might work the best, but how to go about it and how to properly convey ideas to the committee panel members at the end. He gave you his phone number, too, in case you needed any help at all, saying he’d pick up anytime.

When you asked him for your letter of recommendation, he was elated. “No one has ever come to me for that before, but ofc. When do you need it? Send your transcripts btw. And your resume.”

Curtis was right, though, he had never had to be the voice of authority vouching on someone’s behalf since up until this point, he was in your exact shoes. “Don’t be nervous to ask questions, but I also don’t want you to think that I’ve got all the answers and you’re not good enough. The only difference between you and me academically is like four classes content-wise. I just have more hands-on experience.” He said it with a soft, reassuring smile that really put you at ease.

He’s aware of the system, and of course he hates it, because he knows what it’s like to be at the bottom. Throughout his time putting together your recommendation, he’s messaging you with updates. “I’m going to add this because they really like to see it specifically highlighted,” or “I’m not even sure what they’re asking here, but it’s fucking stupid if you ask me. Conventions like this are ridiculous. I hate that these decisions are made by people who aren’t even on the ground. If they actually took part in this program, they’d see you’re more than qualified to get into it. But no, for some reason, all important decisions are made by old people so far removed from actual work.”

That second one was in person, though. It wouldn’t look good to have him saying those things in writing. He rolls his eyes before switching back to his reassuring, charming self.

“Anyway, don’t worry. I’ll make sure it’s good.”

And then as he sits down to write, he constantly sends you lines from it. “Does this sound too braggy? Am I hyping up your work too much? I feel like it wouldn’t be fair if I was casual about it, but we’re rocking with a lot of enthusiasm right now and idk where the line is where it’ll seem insincere.😅”

You tend to hang around Curtis a lot while you’re working on finishing up. On small work breaks, he tells you about the weird little things the other PhD students have sent to his email. “I’m what, four years older than you? And so are these other guys, but I swear they act like they’re twelve.” It helps you to laugh at his small little complaints in a time of building stress. He lets you into his life and you see he’s a normal person, just a few years older than you. He’s the whole reason you know about Ari and the dishwasher salmon, and he helps to break down the barriers you feel against everyone in his program that seems to know so much. Half of your conversation is weird everyday things about his life you’re sure no one else has given him the space to talk about. “You texted me while I was watching the hockey game, they were losing anyway so I was grateful to do something else.” He was in the city…at the actual hockey game…drinking a beer and scrolling emails…. Or “my apartment has a no pet policy, but my roommate got a cat, so I hope you don’t mind the little guy joining us today. Just while the landlord does some maintenance so we don’t get kicked out.” He’s half shuffling through the papers on his desk, half giving you an amused smile thinking of the whole situation. Of course, it can’t all be personal, though, so he continues to sprinkle advice in here and there.

“Also, if you wanna keep your sanity around here, keep away from Levinson’s advisor. Not only is he just straight-up a ridiculous man, but he won’t push you if he likes you. And if he hates you, you’ll know it a mile away. That’s why I never chose him for my committee meeting.”

As you prepare to defend your thesis, Curtis is sitting with you in the hallway. He’s been prepping you for this presentation for weeks, but for peace of mind, he asks you potential questions as you wait to be called in. He holds a paper copy of your thesis, saying once again “you’ve got this. Just like the rehearsals. No one knows this stuff better than you. Show them that.” As you stand in front of the small crowd, he gives you a thumbs-up and watches with approving nods as your blow it out of the water.

He gives you a big hug when you pass and an even bigger hug when you stop by the small TA office and visit his desk to tell him about your official spot in the PhD program. “I can’t wait to work together more with you. You’re going to do great things, I know it, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

[brianchilton]

(SIS S2 E3) The Biological Design of Creation (w. Jerry Bogacz)

(SIS S2 E3) The Biological Design of Creation (w. Jerry Bogacz)

By: Brian Chilton and Curtis Evelo | September 2, 2022 The second season of the Summer Interview Series examines creationism. For the last two episodes of the series, Brian Chilton and Curtis Evelo interview Bellator Christi contributor Jerry Bogacz. Jerry is PhD Candidate in the Theology and Apologetics program at Liberty University, a two-time Biola graduate, and a retired biologist. On this…

[bigtreefest]

Curtis would be such a heat box and have the most soul-warming hug. I’m sure of it😌

I agree on the friendship. Curtis and Jake live well together and reader feels that same comfortability. I mean, Jake just kinda walked into their room, with no doubt he was allowed to, and they lowkey slept with the door partially open. Plus, I think them being in different fields lets them keep academia and competition out of the home, which allows for them to just be a group of pals hanging out🤗 the friendship really is a nice change of pace. And Jake was more than happy to be a good friend because Curtis would do the same

Morning Mewl

Pairing: PhD Candidate! Curtis Everett x PhD Student! Reader

Summary: Curtis is nervous before his PhD defense

Word count: 866

Content/warnings: fluffy fluff fluff fluff (bc Curtis deserves it), kissing, sharing a bed, roommate and good friend Jake, best friend/mentee turned girlfriend reader, pet name usage (cookie, smart cookie, cooks), established relationship

A/N: Inspired partially by @biteofcherry in this post and what was written for @jamneuromain in this post. Shoutout for all my moots for Curtis encouragement and @thezombieprostitute for the constant praise at all hours. I hope you guys melt reading this along with me.

Takes place a couple years down the line once reader and Curtis are dating and in the same program, so there’s not a weird power imbalance.

Comments, likes, reblogs, and asks are so appreciated. Thank you for reading!!

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Main Masterlist

You were used to the groans that came out of Curtis when waking up. Every morning, his broad form that was wrapped around your body creaked in the joints as he stretched, fighting the stiffness that would settle over him in the night.

This morning, you were woken up by a slightly different sound than the usual early morning deep breath and whine that signaled him waking. This was was more high-pitched…more of a…mewl?

You snickered lightly at the sound, ready to turn around in his hold and crack a joke to his face.

“That was an interesting one.” You softly giggled it out, mixed with the small rasp of your morning voice. When you finally opened your eyes, though, you were surprised to not see Curtis’s face at all.. it was hidden by a ball of fluff, a black and gray tabby cat curled up and now purring peacefully.

The same cat you had met years ago when Curtis had brought her in so the landlord didn’t find out. You struggled to hold in a fit of laughter, but weren’t sure what to do. From under the restful mound of fluff came the groan you had expected that morning.

“Jensen, come get the cat.” It was louder that your early morning ears expected, but somewhat muffled and still not enough for her to stir on his face.

Curtis’s roommate Jake came walking into the room, glasses thrown on haphazardly and hair messy from the early hour. Jake wasn’t in your program, he was actually studying CS, which was for the best and very helpful for how often your computer got overloaded. Curtis was glad to have a roommate who was in a different program from him, too. It was a nice break from the nonstop work, plus an opportunity to hear about another department’s drama. Sure, he and Jake didn’t have very similar sleeping schedules, but they got along well and were respectful of noise for the other.

Jake rubbed his eyes under his glasses, adjusting to the light that poured through the curtains of Curtis’s window. He laughed at the predicament Curtis found himself in “I swear she likes you more than she likes me. It’s not fair you get all the ladies around here.”

You laughed as Jake walked into the room towards Curtis’s side of the bed. “C’mere, Mav. Don’t scratch uncle Curtis. He didn’t like that last time.”

Jake gently scooped the cat off his face and she instantly clung to the fabric on the shoulder of his own graphic tee, snuggling against Jake’s shoulder. “Okay, I’ll keep her out of her out of your hair, or at least as much of it as you have, while you get ready. If I don’t see you before you leave, good luck today. I’ll be in the back of the lecture hall for your defense.”

He walked towards the door before turning around. “Oh! And by the way, I stopped by that breakfast place you like yesterday. Picked up some sandwiches for this morning’s brain food. All you and Cookie have to do is heat them up.”

You and Curtis had both shifted to sit up by now, and you watched a small, appreciative smile creep onto his face. “Thanks, Jensen, I’ll see you later, man.”

You twisted towards your boyfriend, finally seeing his full face for the first time that morning. “You hear that? He got us the good stuff. Free breakfast, Cooks.”

You shook your head and brushed your hand over the stubble on his cheek, freshly trimmed the past weekend so it was neat for Curtis’s PhD defense later this morning. “I’m not the smart cookie today. You are, future Dr. Everett. It has a good ring to it already.”

Your thumb traced over the freckles on his nose as he leaned into your touch, turning his head to place a kiss on your palm. His eyes sparkled back toward you with a hint of concern you’d rarely seen from the usually confident and secure man. “Not yet, though. Don’t wanna count my chickens before they hatch.”

Your other hand came up to frame his face and pull his forehead to yours. “Look at me. Today’s going to be great. You’re going to show everyone how smart you are and how hard you’ve worked and how there’s no one else who’s as deserving of this degree as you. And I’m going to be right there, cheering you on with your parents, without an ounce of doubt in your abilities.”

He relaxed in your hold, wrapping his one arm around your waist, the other settling on your thigh as his eyes fluttered shut. He sighed, absorbing the comfort of the moment before looking up at you through his eyelashes. “Promise?”

You leaned in to kiss him, slow and deep. An exhibit of love and faith and the deepest support that bloomed from friendship. You both pulled away with smiles on your faces before you saw his demeanor shift and lighten, his usual, determined game face taking over. He was ready for the day.

“I promise. Now let’s go eat that breakfast before Jensen changes his mind and steals it from us.”

Bonus A/N: Pls feel free to screech with me about soft! Curtis. He deserves all the credit and all the love.

[bigtreefest]

It’s so true, he just deserves peace after only knowing how to survive.

I’m so glad you liked it🥰🥰

And Jake is absolutely the best. Detail-oriented and supportive of sweet, kind Curtis to a fault😌

Morning Mewl

Pairing: PhD Candidate! Curtis Everett x PhD Student! Reader

Summary: Curtis is nervous before his PhD defense

Word count: 866

Content/warnings: fluffy fluff fluff fluff (bc Curtis deserves it), kissing, sharing a bed, roommate and good friend Jake, best friend/mentee turned girlfriend reader, pet name usage (cookie, smart cookie, cooks), established relationship

A/N: Inspired partially by @biteofcherry in this post and what was written for @jamneuromain in this post. Shoutout for all my moots for Curtis encouragement and @thezombieprostitute for the constant praise at all hours. I hope you guys melt reading this along with me.

Takes place a couple years down the line once reader and Curtis are dating and in the same program, so there’s not a weird power imbalance.

Comments, likes, reblogs, and asks are so appreciated. Thank you for reading!!

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Main Masterlist

You were used to the groans that came out of Curtis when waking up. Every morning, his broad form that was wrapped around your body creaked in the joints as he stretched, fighting the stiffness that would settle over him in the night.

This morning, you were woken up by a slightly different sound than the usual early morning deep breath and whine that signaled him waking. This was was more high-pitched…more of a…mewl?

You snickered lightly at the sound, ready to turn around in his hold and crack a joke to his face.

“That was an interesting one.” You softly giggled it out, mixed with the small rasp of your morning voice. When you finally opened your eyes, though, you were surprised to not see Curtis’s face at all.. it was hidden by a ball of fluff, a black and gray tabby cat curled up and now purring peacefully.

The same cat you had met years ago when Curtis had brought her in so the landlord didn’t find out. You struggled to hold in a fit of laughter, but weren’t sure what to do. From under the restful mound of fluff came the groan you had expected that morning.

“Jensen, come get the cat.” It was louder that your early morning ears expected, but somewhat muffled and still not enough for her to stir on his face.

Curtis’s roommate Jake came walking into the room, glasses thrown on haphazardly and hair messy from the early hour. Jake wasn’t in your program, he was actually studying CS, which was for the best and very helpful for how often your computer got overloaded. Curtis was glad to have a roommate who was in a different program from him, too. It was a nice break from the nonstop work, plus an opportunity to hear about another department’s drama. Sure, he and Jake didn’t have very similar sleeping schedules, but they got along well and were respectful of noise for the other.

Jake rubbed his eyes under his glasses, adjusting to the light that poured through the curtains of Curtis’s window. He laughed at the predicament Curtis found himself in “I swear she likes you more than she likes me. It’s not fair you get all the ladies around here.”

You laughed as Jake walked into the room towards Curtis’s side of the bed. “C’mere, Mav. Don’t scratch uncle Curtis. He didn’t like that last time.”

Jake gently scooped the cat off his face and she instantly clung to the fabric on the shoulder of his own graphic tee, snuggling against Jake’s shoulder. “Okay, I’ll keep her out of her out of your hair, or at least as much of it as you have, while you get ready. If I don’t see you before you leave, good luck today. I’ll be in the back of the lecture hall for your defense.”

He walked towards the door before turning around. “Oh! And by the way, I stopped by that breakfast place you like yesterday. Picked up some sandwiches for this morning’s brain food. All you and Cookie have to do is heat them up.”

You and Curtis had both shifted to sit up by now, and you watched a small, appreciative smile creep onto his face. “Thanks, Jensen, I’ll see you later, man.”

You twisted towards your boyfriend, finally seeing his full face for the first time that morning. “You hear that? He got us the good stuff. Free breakfast, Cooks.”

You shook your head and brushed your hand over the stubble on his cheek, freshly trimmed the past weekend so it was neat for Curtis’s PhD defense later this morning. “I’m not the smart cookie today. You are, future Dr. Everett. It has a good ring to it already.”

Your thumb traced over the freckles on his nose as he leaned into your touch, turning his head to place a kiss on your palm. His eyes sparkled back toward you with a hint of concern you’d rarely seen from the usually confident and secure man. “Not yet, though. Don’t wanna count my chickens before they hatch.”

Your other hand came up to frame his face and pull his forehead to yours. “Look at me. Today’s going to be great. You’re going to show everyone how smart you are and how hard you’ve worked and how there’s no one else who’s as deserving of this degree as you. And I’m going to be right there, cheering you on with your parents, without an ounce of doubt in your abilities.”

He relaxed in your hold, wrapping his one arm around your waist, the other settling on your thigh as his eyes fluttered shut. He sighed, absorbing the comfort of the moment before looking up at you through his eyelashes. “Promise?”

You leaned in to kiss him, slow and deep. An exhibit of love and faith and the deepest support that bloomed from friendship. You both pulled away with smiles on your faces before you saw his demeanor shift and lighten, his usual, determined game face taking over. He was ready for the day.

“I promise. Now let’s go eat that breakfast before Jensen changes his mind and steals it from us.”

Bonus A/N: Pls feel free to screech with me about soft! Curtis. He deserves all the credit and all the love.

[bigtreefest]

Thank you!!! They’re absolute besties and Curtis loves that cat😂🥰

I purposely kept Curtis’s studies vague from this post, but if I had to pick a field I thought he would be thriving in, it would likely be something backed by service, especially if Ari and Steve were doing it, too. Now, this could be anything depending on how you spin it, but I think it would be something impactful that people don’t often put thought into. Perhaps material science and sustainability? For better food and product practices? Or maybe civil engineering? Where his intention is to make systems more efficient and more able to provide for the population.

Morning Mewl

Pairing: PhD Candidate! Curtis Everett x PhD Student! Reader

Summary: Curtis is nervous before his PhD defense

Word count: 866

Content/warnings: fluffy fluff fluff fluff (bc Curtis deserves it), kissing, sharing a bed, roommate and good friend Jake, best friend/mentee turned girlfriend reader, pet name usage (cookie, smart cookie, cooks), established relationship

A/N: Inspired partially by @biteofcherry in this post and what was written for @jamneuromain in this post. Shoutout for all my moots for Curtis encouragement and @thezombieprostitute for the constant praise at all hours. I hope you guys melt reading this along with me.

Takes place a couple years down the line once reader and Curtis are dating and in the same program, so there’s not a weird power imbalance.

Comments, likes, reblogs, and asks are so appreciated. Thank you for reading!!

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Main Masterlist

You were used to the groans that came out of Curtis when waking up. Every morning, his broad form that was wrapped around your body creaked in the joints as he stretched, fighting the stiffness that would settle over him in the night.

This morning, you were woken up by a slightly different sound than the usual early morning deep breath and whine that signaled him waking. This was was more high-pitched…more of a…mewl?

You snickered lightly at the sound, ready to turn around in his hold and crack a joke to his face.

“That was an interesting one.” You softly giggled it out, mixed with the small rasp of your morning voice. When you finally opened your eyes, though, you were surprised to not see Curtis’s face at all.. it was hidden by a ball of fluff, a black and gray tabby cat curled up and now purring peacefully.

The same cat you had met years ago when Curtis had brought her in so the landlord didn’t find out. You struggled to hold in a fit of laughter, but weren’t sure what to do. From under the restful mound of fluff came the groan you had expected that morning.

“Jensen, come get the cat.” It was louder that your early morning ears expected, but somewhat muffled and still not enough for her to stir on his face.

Curtis’s roommate Jake came walking into the room, glasses thrown on haphazardly and hair messy from the early hour. Jake wasn’t in your program, he was actually studying CS, which was for the best and very helpful for how often your computer got overloaded. Curtis was glad to have a roommate who was in a different program from him, too. It was a nice break from the nonstop work, plus an opportunity to hear about another department’s drama. Sure, he and Jake didn’t have very similar sleeping schedules, but they got along well and were respectful of noise for the other.

Jake rubbed his eyes under his glasses, adjusting to the light that poured through the curtains of Curtis’s window. He laughed at the predicament Curtis found himself in “I swear she likes you more than she likes me. It’s not fair you get all the ladies around here.”

You laughed as Jake walked into the room towards Curtis’s side of the bed. “C’mere, Mav. Don’t scratch uncle Curtis. He didn’t like that last time.”

Jake gently scooped the cat off his face and she instantly clung to the fabric on the shoulder of his own graphic tee, snuggling against Jake’s shoulder. “Okay, I’ll keep her out of her out of your hair, or at least as much of it as you have, while you get ready. If I don’t see you before you leave, good luck today. I’ll be in the back of the lecture hall for your defense.”

He walked towards the door before turning around. “Oh! And by the way, I stopped by that breakfast place you like yesterday. Picked up some sandwiches for this morning’s brain food. All you and Cookie have to do is heat them up.”

You and Curtis had both shifted to sit up by now, and you watched a small, appreciative smile creep onto his face. “Thanks, Jensen, I’ll see you later, man.”

You twisted towards your boyfriend, finally seeing his full face for the first time that morning. “You hear that? He got us the good stuff. Free breakfast, Cooks.”

You shook your head and brushed your hand over the stubble on his cheek, freshly trimmed the past weekend so it was neat for Curtis’s PhD defense later this morning. “I’m not the smart cookie today. You are, future Dr. Everett. It has a good ring to it already.”

Your thumb traced over the freckles on his nose as he leaned into your touch, turning his head to place a kiss on your palm. His eyes sparkled back toward you with a hint of concern you’d rarely seen from the usually confident and secure man. “Not yet, though. Don’t wanna count my chickens before they hatch.”

Your other hand came up to frame his face and pull his forehead to yours. “Look at me. Today’s going to be great. You’re going to show everyone how smart you are and how hard you’ve worked and how there’s no one else who’s as deserving of this degree as you. And I’m going to be right there, cheering you on with your parents, without an ounce of doubt in your abilities.”

He relaxed in your hold, wrapping his one arm around your waist, the other settling on your thigh as his eyes fluttered shut. He sighed, absorbing the comfort of the moment before looking up at you through his eyelashes. “Promise?”

You leaned in to kiss him, slow and deep. An exhibit of love and faith and the deepest support that bloomed from friendship. You both pulled away with smiles on your faces before you saw his demeanor shift and lighten, his usual, determined game face taking over. He was ready for the day.

“I promise. Now let’s go eat that breakfast before Jensen changes his mind and steals it from us.”

Bonus A/N: Pls feel free to screech with me about soft! Curtis. He deserves all the credit and all the love.