A candid conversation with Lynn Stein about developing the semantic web, being one of Olin’s founding faculty members, and what it means to work with college students.
Olin’s professor of computer and cognitive science, Lynn Stein teaches Human Factors in Interface Design (HFID), Fundamentals of Computer Science (FOCS), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), among other classes. She has acclaim as a researcher, teacher, leader, and women’s advocate, and was one of Olin’s founding faculty members.
tricoteuse: one of a number of women who sat and knitted while attending public executions during the French Revolution
osculation: the act of kissing; a kiss
soucouyant: a witch believed to shed her skin by night and suck victims’ blood
ratiocination: the process of logical reasoning
trichotillomania: a compulsion to pull out one’s hair and often to ingest it
weltanschauung: world view; a framework through which to interpret the world
imbricate: having overlapping edges; to arrange so that the edges overlap
Editor’s note: This is the full-length version of the interview; the printed version was shortened to fit the space. Scroll down if you wish to read the condensed version.
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Pito Salas had only been at Olin for two and a half weeks when I gave this interview, so his office was blank and bare. The only adornments were a “Lean Startup” concept board on top of a shelf and the “E=mc¬2” he scrawled on the board for the sake of the interview pictures.
Pito is new to Olin, but he is almost as new to teaching; his experience is primarily hands-on knowledge gained by working in (and founding) computer science-based start-ups. However, through a long-term determined effort, he has also branched out into the world of undergraduate education- first at his alma mater Brandeis University, and now here. He is currently teaching The Entrepreneurial Initiative (FBE) and the Entrepreneurship (E!) Capstone.
A candid conversation with Sally Phelps about her mission on campus, how she spends her free time, and the challenges of working with Olin students.
I met with Sally Phelps in her office in the lower floor of the library. As always, her schedule was tight, but as always, she was happy to meet with me and speak for a full hour– a clearly prioritized hour of uninterrupted conversation, despite the ringing of phones and the dinging of incoming emails.
Charlie Nolan was the fifth employee of Olin College and its founding Dean of Admission. Though he took three years off to help manage Admissions at Santa Clara University in California (2003-2006), he’s been an Oliner since 1999. He has been working in admissions for more than forty years, and holds a doctorate degree in higher education administration. Although he has worked at Boston College, Washington University, Babson, and other locations, he says his biggest challenge was coming to Olin and starting a school from scratch.
The published version, cut to save space, is on top. Scroll down past the break to read the full interview.
One wall of Manno’s spacious (by Olin standards) office is covered by a sprawling bookshelf, his own mechanical engineering library. Artfully arranged on the shelves are memorabilia: models of elephants, for Jumbo, the Tufts mascot, are gifts from former students. And right next to his computer, for easy viewing, a digital picture frame scrolls through photos of his family.
Congratulations to the cast, crew, and pit of Dr. Horrible for a stellar show. Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, directed by Ilana Walder-Biesanz, was so compelling that some members of the audience came to watch twice!
The stage paid good tribute to the geek-popularity of the original online production. Audience members’ favorite lines include “Did you notice that he threw you in the garbage?” and “Sometimes there’s a third, deeper level, just like the one on the surface. Like pie.” However, this production also brought extra depth to characters, as only live theater can. Brian Liebeson, in his endearingly awkward role as sidekick Moist, tap-danced and flipped around the stage during his plot-incidental but entertaining solo “Nobody Wants to be Moist”, borrowed from “Commentary: The Musical”, and his specific performance changed a bit every night.
A candid conversation with Jon Adler about working in psychotherapy, sharing a passion for theater, and helping college students to make sense of who they are.
Every aspect of Jon’s office is intentional. It’s a welcoming space, carefully arranged not only to be a conversation space, but to help guide the themes of conversation. The Magritte on the wall, of an artist viewing an egg and painting a bird, he chose especially for this job. Other pieces are just for him; the sleeping stone swan was sculpted by his grandfather, and the painting by his grandmother makes him happy.
Matt Colyer has been in startups for his entire working career. That’s five years now; he graduated Olin class of ’07, and immediately started his own business. That particular startup didn’t pan out, but he’s remained a staunch startup developer ever since. He has recently launched a new company, Easel, cofounded with Ben Ogle.
Matt and Ben rolled into Yerba Buena gardens, downtown San Francisco, on bicycles. Over a chess table in the shade, Matt and Ben told me about Easel and what it’s like to live and breathe startups. Matt explained his love for working through ever-changing problems and learning on the fly.
None of these are light reading, as such. They’re not fluffy; they’re not “beach reads”. But they are bite-sized; each piece of writing is short, so you can dip in and out of the books between your summer adventures. You’ve probably read at least one of these, but you should stick around to read the other ones. They’re mind-blowing.
