Charlie Winston in concert in Colmar, France (© Owen Franken).
The crowd at a Charlie Winston concert in Colmar, France (© Owen Franken).
The band takes a bow (© Owen Franken).
Curious about Owen Franken? View more of his work via the Franken Photo of the Week category, learn more in this profile, read a What Matters opinion column he wrote called “Life in Brownian Motion,” or visit his website.
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Professor Patrick Henry Winston ’65, SM ’67, PhD ’70
I’ve been doing my “How to Speak” IAP talk in 6-120 for three decades. With 154 seats, it has been a little too small, but I was reluctant to take on one of the bigger halls, because I teach that talks given in sparsely populated venues have an unimportant feel.
This year, the Physics Department did me a favor and mysteriously booted me out of 6-120. I landed in 10-250, the Center of the Universe, MIT’s second largest hall, with 425 seats. I was relieved when 11 am rolled around and it was much closer to full than half full.
Anyway, I always try to add something new, so this year I buttressed my argument against concluding a talk with thank you using some video from the Republican and Democratic Conventions.
Governor Christie knows something about speaking, so it was worth noting that he had no thank you at the end of his keynote speech:
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Together we will stand up once again for American greatness for our children and grandchildren. God bless you and God bless America. |
No thank you. Instead, Governor Christie used the classic call to arms ending, followed by a benediction.
What about President Clinton, who also knows something about speaking. How did he end his keynote speech?
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My fellow Americans, if that is what you want, if that is what you believe, you must vote and you must re-elect President Barack Obama.God bless you and God bless America. |
Again, the classic call to arms ending, followed by the same benediction.
The common thank you ending isn’t a disaster, but it is a weak move. It signals to some, perhaps many, perhaps subliminally, that the speaker lacks self confidence and feels that the audience has stuck around just to be polite.
If a talk has been good, the speaker has done the audience a favor, not the other way around.
So how do you conclude a technical talk, especially a technical talk that is part of a job application? The call to arms and benediction endings generally won’t work, but you can simply say, “With this summary of my contributions, I have concluded my talk.” Everyone will know you are finished because you will walk over and shake hands with your host, just as the conductor shakes hands with the concert master to signal that the time has come to clap.
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This is the final post in a series from two MIT students—Shawn Wen ’13 and Taylor Yates MBA ’14—involved in the 2013 Student/Alumni Externship Program, which connects current students with alumni in workplaces worldwide during MIT’s Independent Activities Period. These bloggers reported on what they learned and how the experience informed their career journeys. Alumni, learn how to get involved as a sponsor. Read the other posts in this series.
Guest Blogger: Shawn Wen ’13
Extern sponsor: Jon Glaudemans ’80
Company: Ascension Health, Washington, DC
Externship: health policy analysis
Clockwise, from front left: Shawn Wen ’13, Meaghan Karch (daughter of Shawn’s host, Becky Donnellan), Becky Donnellan ’72, Nate Karch (Becky’s husband), and Jason Wen (Shawn’s brother).
As I wrap up my final week at Ascension Health (AH), I am amazed at what I have had the opportunity to do this month. In this past week alone, I have attended congressional hearings; participated in an Alliance for Health Reform briefing on strategies for bending the health-cost curve; researched and prepared data charts on Medicaid Expansion for the CEO of AH; and learned about new, effective practices for reducing shoulder dystocia, a high-trauma birth event, from AH’s director of clinical excellence. I also have been invited to the David Winston Health Policy Gala to cap off my final night in Washington, DC!
What I have come to appreciate is the strength of the MIT connection. It’s something that has been well articulated by others before, but it hadn’t resonated with me so strongly until this externship experience. Becky Donnellan ’72 generously opened up her home and family to me, and my sponsor, Jon, despite traveling extensively, spent the few days he was in our DC office giving me insights on how to lead effectively, make others believe in your vision, and connect with others in professional and personal domains.
Amazingly, everyone I have met has taken a personal interest in helping me, an undergrad, despite their high-profile careers and busy lives. When prompted about my passions, I shared my ongoing work on a low-cost typhoid diagnostic system targeting resources-limited healthcare settings in developing countries, and immediately Jon and Becky both started lining up connections for me. The support was certainly unexpected, and it amazes me how they are personally and genuinely invested in me simply because we share a common alma mater. I doubt this exists at any other institution. Their desire to see me succeed and my desire to make them proud are powerfully motivating. I know I will stay in touch with them in the future.
In short, the Alumni Association’s Student/Alumni Externship Program is one of the most valuable and rewarding opportunities I’ve had at MIT—everyone should take advantage of it. Working at AH helped me build a critical understanding of barriers to the delivery and consumption of healthcare, which I know I will draw upon as a future physician. More importantly, interacting with Becky and Jon opened me up to a whole network of amazing people and helped me appreciate and recognize the type of mentor and person I aspire to become. I couldn’t have planned a more rewarding fourth and final IAP and am so wonderfully grateful to have had this opportunity.
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Jacob Hurwitz ’14 is a certified pirate.
2012 was a banner year for Slice of MIT. We celebrated one million page views in June and posted the highest readership in the blog’s four-year history.
In case you missed it, our 10 most popular 2012 posts are below. Slice readers enjoy seeing MIT recognized as a top institution but also love the Institute’s eccentricities, be it a classic hack or the unique requiarrrrr!ments to becoming a certified pirate.
Do you have a favorite Slice story or photo from 2012? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook.
Photo: Erik Nygren ’96, ’97 MEng
And don’t forget to check out the Photo of the Week archive by Owen Franken ’68. Happy New Year!
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Professor Patrick Henry Winston ’65, SM ’67, PhD ’70
It was quite a semester. More than 300 students showed up in my subject, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, and through various accidents of nature, I was the only faculty member involved. I wondered, “How can I supply the enrichment normally provided by recitation instructors?”
I decided to sprinkle in what I called right-now lectures. These would be given by people talking about their current research on topics I was introducing in my lectures. So, my students would get organized instruction from me plus inspiration from eight right-now speakers, each of whom is the best in the world at what s/he does. With EDx coming on fast, it occurred to me that inspiration is a big part of the value added when you take a subject taught in person.
Marvin Minsky was the final speaker in the series. I could have introduced him by enumerating all his awards, but I decided to tell a story instead:
| When I was a student, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I majored in electrical engineering, which is what people majored in back then when they didn’t know what they wanted to do. We figured we had flexibility, because everything had electrical stuff in it. Not much has changed, except that everything has computer stuff in it, so students major now in EE&CS.
I did know I wanted to understand what went on in my head, so I cast about, learning about psychology from Hans-Lucas Teuber, about neuroanatomy from Wally Nauta, about frogs’ brains from Jerry Lettvin, and about communications from Irwin Jacobs. All were terrific, but what they did was not exactly what I wanted to do. Then, one day, another student told me about a class in which the professor talked about a program that performed symbolic integration. So, I went to one of those classes. It wasn’t much like what I was used to—more a genius thinking out loud than a standard lecture. But, at the end, I had it figured out. `I want to do what he does,’ I said to myself. |
That was the introduction. Then, Marvin said, “We’ve come full circle. I want to do what you do.” That was the ultimate in positive feedback.
And Marvin was Marvin, a little rambling but a lot of inspiration. Once again, I expect there were students out there in 10-250 thinking, as I had, “I want to do what he does.”
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On June 7, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston ’05 will address Commencement—you can watch online.
Every month, Tech Connection zips out to about 90,000 MIT alumni and friends to share highlights of MIT research, alumni and campus human-interest stories, and news. If you are an MIT alumnus or alumna, Tech Connection should be plopping into your email inbox about the third Wednesday of the month. That’s today!
So, here’s a quick overview of the contents—a lead story plus news briefs that link to 15-20 full articles. We hope that you’ll take a little time today to check out the enewsletter via email—or read it online.
How an MIT Professor Became “Mr. Mandate”
The path Jonathan Gruber ’87 followed to the center of health-care policymaking in Washington began when his research as a young MIT professor…..
Research & Discovery
Amy Smith’s D-Lab and the urban studies department will lead a $25M USAID effort to use technology to help the world’s poor.
You can also read about two new books—one on the economic impact of improving logistics and the art of revealing science visually. Learn about campus stories such as the senior who co-founded a rowing mentorship program for low-income teens in Boston, what’s unique about MIT’s EECS department, and a ball-shaped camera invented by Sloan students for use in emergency situations. Find out how you can travel to Mongolia in the company of other alumni. Slice of MIT blog posts cover two MIT Gangnam-style videos (featuring professors Noam Chomsky and Eric Lander), Professor Winston’s reflection on a dreadful sophomore quiz, and Professor Don Sadoway’s visit to The Colbert Report.
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Professor Patrick Henry Winston ’65, SM ’67, PhD ’70
One of my students invited me to the AXO Faculty Hour, which featured good conversation and lots of chocolate.
For me, the focal point was the periodic table of chocolate-dipped strawberries, doubtlessly inspired by 3.091 or some other subject where all students are required to memorize Mendeleev’s creation. It was protected by a sign that urged us all to keep our hands off until pictures were taken and everyone had a chance to decide on a preferred element.
A colleague in Course XVI zeroed in on aluminum. “Commonly used in the aero-astro industry,” he said. “You’re Course VI, Computer Science side. Take a semiconductor.”
“Good idea,” I thought, and seized the silicon strawberry.
Where, other than at MIT, would students create a periodic table of chocolate-dipped strawberries? Where, other than MIT, would faculty covet particular chocolate-dipped strawberries?
I can’t think why I would want to be anywhere else.
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Professor Patrick Henry Winston ’65, SM ’67, PhD ’70
The sky was nicely blue when I drove into Cambridge the other day. “Rayleigh scattering,” I said to myself, and remembered that this is the golden anniversary of the 8.03 quiz from hell in 1962.
I had showed up a year before, soon to be scared to death. Because I came from a high school located in a small town in Illinois, I was easily intimidated. Some of my fellow students seemed to have gone to name-brand prep schools; others went to big city schools with science tracks. For the first several weeks, they all seemed to understand everything, and I felt like I understood nothing.1
As it turned out, fear was good, because I developed good study habits and they didn’t. They hit a wall in six weeks, but I kept going.
Then, when we were sophomores, came the 8.03 quiz from hell. We all had to take four physics subjects in those days, not just the two required today.
The subject was Rayleigh scattering. I had studied hard, but still felt the quiz was difficult.
The details have faded a little, but as I remember it, when my recitation instructor handed me my graded quiz, I saw that I got 27 out of 100.
I cracked. “It has taken more than a year, but I finally have been found out.” I said to myself. “I will fail 8.03. My father will make me go back to East Peoria. I will try to get into one of the community colleges, majoring in who knows what,” I thought. “I will be a disgrace. I will never be able to marry, or have a family.” Finally, worst of all, “He will make me go to law school.”
Then, my instructor announced that the class average was 18, so I was one or two standard deviations above.2 It was just a 30 second roller coaster ride. Life was good again.
1 East Peoria Community High School was a great public school, actually, with inspiring teachers, but it took a while before I realized that.
2 The physics instructors were so mad about our performance, they gave us essentially the same quiz again, two weeks later. Some remember the class average going down. Decades later, I learned that the quiz was made up by physics professors who were not teaching the subject, so our bad performance had a good explanation.
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Professor Patrick Henry Winston ’65, SM ’67, PhD ’70
It was scary, that Cuban Missile Crisis, 50 years ago. I was a sophomore at the time, and we all talked about getting vaporized, believing Boston would be a prime target. A fellow sophomore suggested we get out of town, and after thinking about the odds a while, I agreed. Several of us packed into his Volkswagen and headed north.
Hours later, we felt we were safe from the potential nuclear holocaust. We had made it all the way to New Hampshire, after all. Then, a big sign appeared in front of us:
Pease Air Force Base
Strategic Air Command
Feeling pretty stupid, we decided to go home, but on reflection, Pease Air Force Base might have been as safe as any place in the country. The Soviets would have expected that all the B52s were in the air by then.
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In case you missed it, here’s Professor Donald Sadoway’s Monday-night appearance on The Colbert Report, where he discussed his liquid metal battery, an invention he thinks could help bring about world peace.
Sadoway holds his own against Colbert, who manages to reference unappetizing grilled-cheese sandwiches, an Exxon Mobil hitman, and Goo Gone in the short segment.
Check below for more Slice coverage of Professor Sadoway.
The Colbert Report
April 20, 2012: MIT Nets Five of Time’s Influential People
April 10, 2012: Liquid Metal Battery: Sadoway TED Talk Offers the Missing Energy Link
Dec. 10, 2010: Standing Room Only for Sadoway’s Last Toast by Professor Winston
Dec. 8, 2010: [Video]—Sadoway’s last 3.091 lecture
Oct. 11, 2009: Sadoway the Magnificent
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