Diversity in Action, Portraits, Number Theory, and Cats
Letter? I Hardly Know Her! - September 2022
Welcome, WELCOME to Letter? I Hardly Know Her! I’m Apoorva (the her in question), a 17 y/o researcher, artist, writer, keynote speaker, and advocate for youth and gender minorities in STEAM. This newsletter is a means for me to keep track of my personal & professional growth, and to share all the good stuff I’m working on! First-timers: it’s great to meet you, I’m so glad you’re here! For my regular hardly-knowers, here’s your promised, extra special greeting: welcome again you beautiful cloud, seeing you again is like a bubbling fountain—something I want to see forever.
If you too want an extra greeting, you better subscribe:
As a heads up, I publish newsletters on each MONTH/MONTH, i.e. 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, … , 12/12. Is it the most efficient system? Frankly, no. But is it the most funky fresh? Absolutely it is.
Happy happy September, Hardly-Knowers! Earlier this month, Substack kindly informed me that there are now over 100 of you! That’s wild.
Hm, might need to step up my game now…starting with being more punctual. <3
So, without further delay, let’s get into it!
Diversity in Action Magazine Feature
I’m so excited to have done an interview with the Diversity in Action magazine earlier this year for their September/October issue. Their mission is to raise awareness and help to promote diversity, inclusion and equity, particularly in STEAM fields.
The digital/print publication, mobile-friendly website, and social media following reach more than 250,000 diverse students and professionals.
Thank you to to the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) for sharing the feature! (And also for their press release about the Rickoid of the Year honor. <3)
Number Theory Research at SJSU
Exciting news! A paper that I worked on with my professors at San Jose State, Dr. Daniel Goldston and Dr. Jordan Schettler, just went up on arXiv. While it’s a little too technical to get into here, I’ll just say a sentence about it. In the paper, we derive explicit formulas/computations to obtain the current best-known gaps between multiple E2-numbers, i.e., integers that are the products of two distinct primes. You can check out the paper below!
Explicit Calculations for Sono's Multidimensional Sieve of E2-Numbers
If you’re curious, you can see all my previous research on my website.
GLAM Virtual Event with Arm
For some context, I am the Chief STEAM Advisor and global ambassador of the Girls Leadership Academy Meetup (GLAM), an organization that brings women leaders together to inspire girls to find their voice and take on leadership positions. I’ve been a part of GLAM for 4 years now, and so far I’ve mentored 500+ girls aged 8-12 from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
Last month, I hosted the GLAM Virtual Event with Arm! Over the course of 4 days, we had powerful women leaders share their expertise, DIY coding events, vision boarding, business pitch coaching, and more for 40+ young girls. I learned so much from the GLAM girls’ perspective on the world and how they want to change it for the better.
Here’s some of the wonderful Team GLAM—so so grateful to be a part of it!
!! ARTWORK ALERT !!
Here’s a recent portrait I’ve been working on! It’s not completely done yet (still need to do some touchups and smooth over some areas), but I’m really happy to be painting again. This is right up my alley of expressive oil-painted portraits, so it’s been a ton of fun.
After a bit of radio silence, I’ve finally committed to posting art updates weekly, so if you’d like to join me, feel free to follow my art account on Instagram! It’s a fun time. <3
Black Lives Matter Art Commission Delivered
Speaking of art, I got to deliver an art commission to the Golden State Academy (GSA) of Speech and Debate last week. The commission features significant activist orators: Malcolm X, Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, Winona LaDuke, Martin Luther King Jr., and Marsha P. Johnson.
All the proceeds ($600) went towards community bail funds, mutual aid funds, and racial justice organizers, and was part of my art gallery’s efforts for Black Lives Matter funds and organizations. Massive thank you to Victor and GSA for commissioning me and helping contribute to important causes!
Gems in STEM: The Pain in the Sparse
Ever get annoyed that your beautiful face gets blurry when you try to share or post your high-quality selfies? Let me tell you what’s to blame: crummy compression! In the latest Gems in STEM article, join me to investigate why compressing signals is such a pain in the sparse as we explore the process behind it.
Here’s a lil sneak peek:
The Fun, the Fresh, & the Funky
And, of course, we always make time for fun, fresh, and funky things!
I visited Mini Cat Town with my sister, where you basically pay to play with baby cats and the money goes towards helping them get adopted. They’re the cutest cats in the whole wide world. (And were very sleepy when we popped by.)
Last week, my mom and I visited my sister up in Berkeley! We checked out the Berkeley Rose Garden and stopped by some very artsy shops.
I also (legally) vandalized a sidewalk with an orca. <3
As part of my Rickoid of the Year duties, I hosted our first RSI' ‘22 Reunion earlier this month! The theme was 3 P’s: Paranoia, Pictionary/gartic Phone, and Pmafia. It was so nice to see everyone’s faces again, can’t believe how much I’ve missed y’all.
Finally got to see two of my favorite dogs, man did I miss their cute faces. <3
I think I’m running out of space for pictures, so we’ll stop there! I’ve also been binging a bunch of documentaries, and ohmygod did The Alpinist keep me on the edge of my seat. What a fantastic documentary, though the ending really did me in. Another great one is Secrets of the Whales (shocker, my favorite episode is “Orca Dynasty.”) If you get the chance, I definitely recommend checking them out!
Coming up next on Keeping Up With (K)Apoorva..
GLAM Virtual Event with Ebay!
I’m hosting another GLAM Virtual Event this weekend, this time with Ebay! It’s going to be a blast—I’ll make sure to update you on it in the next newsletter.
More artwork ft. palette knives >:)
College apps, college apps, college apps
Gems in STEM (Topic TBD)
As always, there will be more articles published for my column on Medium, so make sure to follow me there to stay updated
A pretty chill month ahead. Also, if you have any, please send some documentary recs my way!
A Quarter for Your Quote?
I’m bringing this bit back. Here’s this month’s quote!
The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.
Neil Gaiman
Love this dude. The Sandman was a masterpiece.
And that’s a wrap—thanks for sticking around, Hardly-Knowers. I’ll see you next month for spooky season!
Sincerely,
Her (Apoorva)
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Feel free to contact me about speaker events, comments, and anything else at apoorvapanidapu@gmail.com! You can also connect with me on LinkedIn, follow me on Medium, and check out my art gallery, personal website, or Instagram.
Now that you are ready to delete “hardly” from Letter? I Hardly Know Her!, I would greatly appreciate you sharing this so that my publication name doesn’t become irrelevant & obsolete! <3
The more Apoorva art I see the happier I am