The Daughter They Abandoned Is The Doctor They Can’t Reach Chapter 06
In the second week of the summer program, it was time for the first group presentations.
Professor Warren glanced over the list and called on us directly.
“Nora, Eli, you’re up first.”
All forty students in the room looked up. Every one of them had been selected as the best from their state.
I walked to the front with my laptop, a thin layer of sweat on my palms.
Eli connected the projector and gave me a nod. “Just like we practiced.”
The screen lit up, and I felt myself settle.
This model was the result of several nights spent tearing it down and rebuilding it, checking every parameter line by line.
I started with the bias introduced by missing neural signals, explaining why we didn’t impute the missing data first but used the pattern of what was missing as an input variable. Eli followed with the validation results, and I finished by covering the innovation in the time-series layer.
When the final slide disappeared, the room was silent for two seconds.
Professor Warren nodded.
“A lot of people rush to solve a problem before they’ve even defined it.”
He turned to the class and pointed at our model.
“What Nora and Eli have done here is exactly the kind of thinking that can set the tone for this entire project.”
When the applause started, something shifted in my chest.
It wasn’t polite.
It wasn’t because I had done something for someone else.
They had looked at me carefully, and they had looked at my work, too.
As soon as we sat back down, Eli bumped my arm with his elbow and grinned.
“We did it.”
Then he leaned closer.
“I heard Professor Warren telling the TA he really liked our independent thinking.”
He paused, his excitement barely contained.
“The last time he said that about two people after the first presentation, they both ended up getting the top-tier scholarship.”