Chris Martin '98, SM '99 & Tara Martin '00, MNG '01
Research Scientists Tackle Ironman Challenges
Chris Martin '98, SM '99 regularly compete in triathlons.
When Chris Martin '98, SM '99 started training to be a triathlete, he didn't have a coach or a trainer. He had finished his bachelor's and master's degrees at MIT in chemical engineering and was working on his PhD at Princeton. He used his flexible schedule to train on the bicycle, in the pool, and on the track and take data on his progress. "I was the experiment, I was my own guinea pig," he says. "It takes a lot of the same traits that make you successful in MIT—finding your limits, pushing yourself to your limits, pushing yourself way beyond what you thought your limits were." So it's no surprise that now, four years later, Martin has come in twelfth in his division of the Hawaii Ironman Competition after winning the Best of U.S. Triathletes competition in August 2005.
When he was a senior at MIT, Martin met Tara Brown '00, MNG '01 then a sophomore, at a fraternity dinner. They hit it off and soon after Tara graduated, got married. The pair now lives in New Jersey and devotes themselves to both research science and triathlons. Since he finished his PhD, Chris has been working as a research scientist for Headwaters NanoKinetx. Tara, who focused on electrical engineering for both an SB and a master's of engineering degree, is a research engineer at Sensors Unlimited.
Tara's career as a triathlete started with a dare. After she left MIT, she had energy to burn and was trying out a number of different activities, including a cappella singing, golf, and basket weaving. Chris said if she ever managed to finish a triathlon, he'd join her in a basket weaving class. Two years later, he hasn't kept his side of the bargain, although Tara has competed in Ironman Hawaii as well as in many shorter triathlons. She agrees that the sport is particularly well-suited to the MIT graduate's mind. "There are a lot of engineers in the sport, a lot of organization, calculating calories, a lot of problem solving and analyzing when something didn't go quite right."
The Martins have been back to MIT to check out the new athletic facilities. Tara says she's impressed, but glad she didn't get into serious competition until after she left MIT. "Once we left MIT, we appreciated it so much more. MIT makes everything else seem easier," she says, "I'm naturally attracted to things I find difficult, and the two biggest challenges for me were my four years at MIT and finishing the Ironman."
By Catherine Nichols
(First published in Technology Review, March/April 2006)
