Thanks to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor one graduate student was supported while pursuing her work and raising her 9-month-old daughter at the same time.
Professor Troy Littleton decided he would go out of his way to make it a little easier on graduate student Karen Cunningham.
So, he put a crib in his office so that she can bring her baby Katie to work with her when she needs to.
One positive thing from eliminating a daily 2.5 hr commute to MIT and back is having more time to exercise and eat healthy — I've lost 80 lbs! pic.twitter.com/cE2T0zNbpf
— Troy Littleton (@JTroyLittleton) March 23, 2021
“Usually in non-pandemic times we always have baby showers for expectant mothers and fathers where we give them gifts and we weren’t able to do that with Karen because of the pandemic, so this was sort of the lab gift for Karen, 10 months later,” Littleton told “Good Morning America.” “It’s always a challenge [being a parent while in graduate school] so anything you can do in a lab to facilitate and help out, we try.”
My favorite new equipment purchase for the lab – a travel crib to go in my office so my graduate student can bring her 9-month old little girl to work when necessary and I get to play with her while her mom gets some work done. Win-win!! pic.twitter.com/1R7QKprOLr
— Troy Littleton (@JTroyLittleton) May 7, 2021
And the situation works out for him too because it means there is now office baby playtime.
“My favorite new equipment purchase for the lab – a travel crib to go in my office so my graduate student can bring her 9-month old little girl to work when necessary and I get to play with her while her mom gets some work done. Win-win!!” he wrote on Twitter.
Finally got to play with my graduate student Karen's little daughter Katie. What a delight! pic.twitter.com/8dOYuIWipL
— Troy Littleton (@JTroyLittleton) April 29, 2021
That Tweet ended up going viral with more than 117,700,000 likes and started a conversation about how more should be done to support moms in the workplace.
“The tweet came from just being delighted to be able to see Katie for the first time and to have the opportunity on occasion, when Karen wants to bring her in, to be able to play with her a little bit,” Littleton told Good Morning America.
“That was the genesis of the tweet, not from any idea it was going to create this large discussion about the challenges mothers face in the workplace. But I’m glad it had that effect because we need to be solving these issues, both in academia and on a broader level as well. It’s highlighted that this is a really important issue for our community.”
But Littleton said he’s not the one people should be praising.
“Well, that little tweet blew up?!? However, I wish people were able to spot the real hero here. It’s the graduate student mom, not me. She’s amazing to do all she has to with her daughter and still keep up her thesis project research,” he Tweeted.
Many working moms reported that they didn’t have the same kind of encouragement in their work setting when they were raising their children.
“So much better than when I was told to bring my baby in a backpack and put the backpack on the floor while I did experiments with carcinogenic agents. Thank you for being you!!” one mom Tweeted.
Cunningham says that Littleton’s gesture has really helped her to be successful, especially during the pandemic.
She said she chose MIT because of the positive response she got from the biology department when she expressed the fact that she wanted to have a baby during graduate school.
“There’s the solid, focused six to eight hours of work that you wouldn’t want to bring a baby in for, but then there’s the lab errands that you do here and there and that’s when it’s really useful,” said Cunningham, who researches synapses.
“I can put Katie down and just go do something quick and I can see her and talk to her and she can nap in there. It’s great.”
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