Buy Caleb Waddell a coffee

I am a graduate researcher at Purdue and a future professor, but more accurately, I am a captive of systems. Whether I’m navigating the pathogenic mechanics of a BSL2 lab or tracing the clinical relevance of food-borne outbreaks, I’m obsessed with the architecture of how things work—and how they fail.

That drive doesn't stay in the lab. I’m the person who can’t help but connect the dots where others see static. It’s why I’ll spend my downtime homebrewing game theory for a D&D session to ensure the system is balanced as intended, or why I can't stop myself from explaining to anyone who’ll listen that the word 'nostalgia' isn't just a feeling—it’s a clinical compound of the Greek nostos (homecoming) and algia (pain). It’s literally the medicalization of a broken heart.

To me, subjects aren't separate silos; they’re just different data sets for the same underlying structures. If you appreciate the rigor (and the occasional 'pain-in-the-ass' persistence) of someone who insists on integrated thinking, thanks for fueling the synthesis. The coffee is less of a treat and more of a metabolic requirement for the next deep dive.