Facilitating Financial Independence through Employment

University student Matthew (Matt) Kafker has volunteered at the Pine Street Inn Homeless Shelter in Boston, Massachusetts.

Since launching in 1969, the Pine Street Inn Homeless Shelter has expanded to include new activities. Initially, the program provided a safe alternative to living on the streets for men with alcohol addiction. Today, the shelter includes comprehensive programs such as emergency services and workforce development that accommodate up to 2,000 men and women each day.

The workforce development program offers opportunities for training in the culinary or hospitality industries. In the culinary program, trainees prepare more than 2,700 meals a day for guests and people staying at the shelter.

For those working in the high-volume kitchen, advice and cooking instructions from the seasoned chef and learning about food safety are part of the curriculum. Participants also learn supplemental skills, such as financial planning. Additionally, students have the opportunity to participate in the Visiting Chef’s series in which local chefs share their expertise through tastings and interactive food demonstrations.

Hossenfelder’s Arguments on the Golden Age of Physics

University Student Matthew (Matt) Kafker's interests include the study of math and physics. While attending the University of Oregon, Matt Kafker had the opportunity to read Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, a book by Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder.

A theoretical physicist, Dr. Hossenfelder has a background that includes research in quantum gravity. Currently, she is a research fellow with the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies.

Lost in Math discusses the contention that today’s fundamental physics has become stagnant. Mired in aesthetics, fundamental physics has made very few discoveries in the past decade.

The author goes back to the beginnings of modern high-energy physics to illustrate how the discipline has changed. In the 1950s and ‘60s, researchers, scientists, and other scholars made significant discoveries. They were willing to wade through voluminous data to unearth the quark model, electroweak unification, the Standard Model, and quantum chromodynamics, among other discoveries.

Some reviewers note that part of the popularity of Dr. Hossenfelder’s book is due to its accessibility to most readers. One reviewer said that Dr. Hossenfelder does not use one equation in the text but relies on conversational, engaging language, and self-deprecating humor to explain her arguments to readers.