Arkved's Tower

Intro

I'm almost halfway through my batch at the Recurse Center, and I figured that it would be a good idea to blog/journal about what I've been doing, things that are interesting to me, etc.

To be honest, I'm a horrible writer, but journaling and checking in about what you're doing is something that is so ingrained in the RC culture and experience. There's a whole channel in the RC Zulip called #checkins that was made for Recursers to share progress updates during their batch. People post about what they're working on, what they're stuck on, what they're excited about, and what they want to do next. Checking in is important because it keeps you accountable for working and making progress.

A lot of Recursers, both old and new, have their own personal blogs where they talk about the things they've been building, so I decided that it would be a good idea to follow suit and do the same.

Some questions you might have:

Who are you?

I'm Ani, a recent graduate from UPenn (Dec 2025). I studied computer science through Penn's MCIT/MAS-CS program, and before that I studied biochemistry and chemical biology at Vanderbilt.

I have a variety of scattered interests, and this blog will probably reflect that.

If your name's Ani, why is your blog called Arkved's Tower?

It's a reference to one of my favorite dungeons in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

In the game, Arkved is a wizard who steals the Orb of Vaermina, a Daedric artifact associated with dreams and nightmares. Because of this, Vaermina punishes Arkved by trapping him in his own nightmares. As a result, his tower becomes this surreal, dreamlike nightmare-space, filled with hallucinations and impossible architecture. It feels completely unlike most of Oblivion.

I liked the dungeon and the related quest so much that I started using the name “arkvedd” as my Steam username. I also liked the idea of the tower as a symbol for one's imagination. It's strange, self-contained, a little chaotic, and filled with odd rooms that probably shouldn’t exist but somehow do. I think that's a pretty good metaphor for the kind of projects I like building, and I thought it would be a perfect name for this blog.

What are you up to right now, and what have you done before?

I'm currently in the Spring 2, 2026 batch at the Recurse Center in Brooklyn, NY. My batch runs from March 30th to June 26th.

I also serve as a Head Teaching Assistant for CIT 5940 at UPenn, and I do some freelance Mercor contract work on the side.

Previously, I've worked and interned across a mix of scientific computing, research, and AI roles, including radiology and nuclear medicine physics at Bristol Myers Squibb, computational biophysics research at Roivant Sciences, academic research during undergrad and grad school, and AI model evaluation/development work at Scale AI.

At RC, I have been working on a mix of projects, including:

Not all of these are equally polished. Some are real projects, some are prototypes, and some are just excuses to learn something.

What's the Recurse Center?

The Recurse Center is a selective programming retreat for people who want to become better programmers.

It is not a bootcamp. There are no classes, assignments, grades, or certificates. You spend 6 to 12 weeks working on self-directed projects, pairing with other people, presenting what you are building, giving and receiving feedback, and trying to become a better programmer. Even calling it a retreat doesn't feel right. It feels more like a research residency at an AI company or even like temporarily being a PhD student. You work on hard problems independently, with the opportunity to work with others to make something cool or unique.

RC brings together people at a lot of different stages. People at RC range from new grads, to experienced engineers, researchers, academics, career changers, and people taking time away from work to focus on programming.

Learn more about Recurse Center!

Are you going to forget about this blog in a week?

No. Or at least, I hope not.