We’ve hit the halfway mark of the program! It’s a bit of anomaly. We’re
finishing our third of four semesters, but we are completing the sixth
month of our year. In theory, then, the second six months should be
easier. We’ll see…
November was a months of ups and downs.
On the exciting side:
• On one fabulous evening, I went to a happy hour with the women MBA’s; a cultural function put on by the MBA’s from India (though I stood in line between a Korean student in an intensive English program and a Mexican friend who’s a London School of Economics student visiting MIT and cross-registering at Harvard); and a tour of the glassblowing lab from an Australian classmate (where I met Macarthur “genius” grant recipient who’s a full professor at 23 and his father who is now artist-in-residence at the Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence Lab).
• One of the people who couldn’t make this year’s class came for a visit. She’s a dynamic IT executive and I think we convinced her this is a program she can’t live without!
• We learned that our class’ international trip will be to China and India! We’re going to Shanghai, Beijing, Kangmai, Delhi, and Bangalore.
• Through a small seminar, I met Jim Champy, (http://www.jimchampy.com/bio.htm) the Chairman of the MIT Corporation (it’s Board of Trustees). He’s an extremely accomplished, but for me he offered a special delight. I discovered that he had been responsible for Technology Review, the alumni magazine, during the late 1970’s when I used to read my father’s copy. It had been very readable for a teenager and provided some of my first insights into applied science and technology policy. It also offered a wonderful page of puzzles, a tradition that’s been abandoned to my chagrin. I’m sure its vibrancy and unlocking of life’s mysteries is part of the reason I’m at MIT today. It’s not often that we have the opportunity to thank someone for influencing our earlier life.
• I gave a presentation at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC. The talk was entitled “Granular Access: Information Sharing in a World of Complex Laws & Policies” (there’s a link to my PowerPoint under the “Professional” tab on this site, but all the fun was in the anecdotes!). The best part of the day was hearing the other presentations (http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?AdvancingInformationSharing_DiverseDigitalCollections_HeterogeneousSensitivities_11_08_05) and meeting many fascinating new people: Doug Oard (http://www.glue.umd.edu/~oard/), Sonia Siglar (http://www.cataphora.com/about_us/management.php), etc.
On the up and down side:
• This was the month in which I had to finalize my thesis proposal. I am grateful to the professor who told me that the fourth idea is likely to be close to right. Those who know me, know I don’t lack for ideas. For me it’s a challenge to come up with a narrow enough topic to be appropriate for a thesis. Serendipity took its course and Professor Oard gave me a lead on a marvelous idea. Stay tuned!
On the very down side:
• We lost Glenn Mitchell, my brother-in-law on the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving. He was a talented radio reporter known to the Dallas community for thirty years. I hope you’ll take the time to read about his life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Mitchell; http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisemac/archives/2005/11/power_mac_g5_qu_1.html) and listen to his work: (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5023735).
November was a months of ups and downs.
On the exciting side:
• On one fabulous evening, I went to a happy hour with the women MBA’s; a cultural function put on by the MBA’s from India (though I stood in line between a Korean student in an intensive English program and a Mexican friend who’s a London School of Economics student visiting MIT and cross-registering at Harvard); and a tour of the glassblowing lab from an Australian classmate (where I met Macarthur “genius” grant recipient who’s a full professor at 23 and his father who is now artist-in-residence at the Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence Lab).
• One of the people who couldn’t make this year’s class came for a visit. She’s a dynamic IT executive and I think we convinced her this is a program she can’t live without!
• We learned that our class’ international trip will be to China and India! We’re going to Shanghai, Beijing, Kangmai, Delhi, and Bangalore.
• Through a small seminar, I met Jim Champy, (http://www.jimchampy.com/bio.htm) the Chairman of the MIT Corporation (it’s Board of Trustees). He’s an extremely accomplished, but for me he offered a special delight. I discovered that he had been responsible for Technology Review, the alumni magazine, during the late 1970’s when I used to read my father’s copy. It had been very readable for a teenager and provided some of my first insights into applied science and technology policy. It also offered a wonderful page of puzzles, a tradition that’s been abandoned to my chagrin. I’m sure its vibrancy and unlocking of life’s mysteries is part of the reason I’m at MIT today. It’s not often that we have the opportunity to thank someone for influencing our earlier life.
• I gave a presentation at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC. The talk was entitled “Granular Access: Information Sharing in a World of Complex Laws & Policies” (there’s a link to my PowerPoint under the “Professional” tab on this site, but all the fun was in the anecdotes!). The best part of the day was hearing the other presentations (http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?AdvancingInformationSharing_DiverseDigitalCollections_HeterogeneousSensitivities_11_08_05) and meeting many fascinating new people: Doug Oard (http://www.glue.umd.edu/~oard/), Sonia Siglar (http://www.cataphora.com/about_us/management.php), etc.
On the up and down side:
• This was the month in which I had to finalize my thesis proposal. I am grateful to the professor who told me that the fourth idea is likely to be close to right. Those who know me, know I don’t lack for ideas. For me it’s a challenge to come up with a narrow enough topic to be appropriate for a thesis. Serendipity took its course and Professor Oard gave me a lead on a marvelous idea. Stay tuned!
On the very down side:
• We lost Glenn Mitchell, my brother-in-law on the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving. He was a talented radio reporter known to the Dallas community for thirty years. I hope you’ll take the time to read about his life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Mitchell; http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisemac/archives/2005/11/power_mac_g5_qu_1.html) and listen to his work: (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5023735).
