Since the COVID-19 was in full force in Massachusetts for the past year, the members of the Tandon Lab were forced to stay at home (as per the local policies) and work remotely. But the rapid vaccination campaigns across the state lead to the university allowing the research to be conducted in person. This lead to a very unique setting of a hybrid meeting on June 10, 2021 where the local members of the group attended the meeting in-person at the SMAST East conference room while the international members attended this meeting remotely (via zoom). This is because Prof Tandon co-advises a lot of students from international collaborations (including the dual degree PhD students from the University of Sao Paolo) who could not join us to meet in person due to the current travel restrictions.

Sitting: Patrick, Standing (from left): Prof Tandon, Alan, Iury, Ersen’S and Sid at SMAST-East conference room

Local participants included Prof Amit Tandon, Iury (PhD candidate), Sid (PhD student), Patrick (Masters student), Alan (Former REU and incoming Masters student) and Ersen’S (Summer REU student) while international members included Shikha (Scientist at IITM Pune), Filipe (PhD dual degree candidate) and Caique (Masters student at USP co-advised with Prof Ilson). The unique settings were a challenge initially but the members of the group were resilient during the meeting. Tandon Lab is now functioning in person.

Local Members of Tandon Lab with the glorious SMAST-E building in the background. From left: Sid, Iury, Prof Tandon, Patrick, Alan, Ersen’S and CJ