Slice Of Mit: Stories From Mit Presented By The Mit Alumni Association

Rob Wesson '66, Scientist Emeritus with the USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center, discusses his book Darwin's First Theory, published in April 2017 by Pegasus Books. Read more: http://bit.ly/2wEHn9I. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2GxFCAv.

Lana Swartz '08 discusses Paid: Tales of Dongles, Checks, and Other Money Stuff, co-edited by Swartz and Bill Maurer and published in spring 2017 by MIT Press. "Money is not being dematerialized, Swartz, an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, suggests, "but rematerialized" in other forms. Read more about Swartz's book at: http://bit.ly/2uee9Ap. Episode: https://bit.ly/2IpJ00E.

Apple CEO Tim Cook addressed more than 1,800 new MIT graduates on Friday, June 9, and shared a message of humanity deeply connected to his Apple experience. Speaking at the 2017 MIT Commencement, Cook described his relationship with Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple; described a meeting with Pope Francis; and called on the new graduates to focus the exciting power of technology on improving the world. “Thanks to discoveries made right here, billions of people are leading healthier, more productive, more fulfilling lives," Cook said. "And if we are ever going to solve some of the hardest problems still facing the world today — everything from cancer, to climate change, to educational inequality — then technology will help us to do it.” Read more about Tim Cook's Commencement address: http://bit.ly/2sjDKFc Learn more about MIT's Commencement history: https://slice.mit.edu/2017/06/08/a-brief-history-of-mit-commencement-speakers/ Transcript: https://bit.ly/2H5CBse

Mark Zupan PhD '87, President of Alfred University, discusses his new book, Inside Job: How Government Insiders Subvert the Public Interest (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Read more about Zupan and his book: http://bit.ly/2sah2Pr Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2Gv4JHY.

Lynne B. Sagalyn PhD '80 discusses her book Power at Ground Zero: Politics, Money, and the Remaking of Lower Manhattan, published in September 2016 by Oxford University Press. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2JgpjtJ. Read more about Power at Ground Zero: http://bit.ly/2pw2RGn

Toby Ayer '96 discusses his book The Sphinx of the Charles: A Year at Harvard with Harry Parker, published in October 2016. Ayer, who rowed crew at MIT and served as assistant coach for Parker in the early 2000s, shares his thoughts on Parker's legacy in rowing and how Parker's half-century of coaching at Harvard came to a close. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2q6GJAf. Read more about Ayer: http://bit.ly/2oUGtBR

The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ow their electric blue skies, golden yellow brick road, ruby red slippers, and fiery landscapes to Technicolor...an innovation that came out of MIT. In this Slice of MIT podcast, we take a trip back in time to learn just how Technicolor came to life and discover the MIT alumni behind many classics of the golden age of Hollywood. The Color by Techniolor podcast includes interviews with William Uricchio, and additional research and audio from the Old Time Radio Researchers Group, the National Archives, and the MIT Archives. Additional narration was provided by Jay London and Russell Boulais. “Darxiland,” “Plucky Daisy,” and “Merry Go Slower” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Read more about Technicolor at MIT: http://bit.ly/2mpPjGH Transcript: https://bit.ly/2q4jtm7

Robert Coles MArch '55 discusses his book, Architecture and Advocacy, published in November 2016. The memoir traces Coles's journey to becoming one of Buffalo's most prominent architects and reflects on the continued dearth of African Americans in the field of architecture today. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2Ego5L2. Read more about Coles: http://bit.ly/2klvUqy

On a campus with a wealth of acronyms, one is on everyone’s lips this time of year—IAP. The Independent Activities Period (IAP) provides members of the MIT community “with a unique opportunity to organize, sponsor and participate in a wide variety of activities.” This means that each year more than 600 non-credit IAP activities give students, staff, alumni, and faculty a chance to learn and do just about anything. Read more: http://bit.ly/2jdmyvr Transcript: https://bit.ly/2JdtNRC Music: "The Builder" "Lewis and Dekald" "Sheep May Safely Graze" and "Fretless" All songs by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Dean Karlan PhD '02, Professor of Economics at Yale University, discusses his new book, Failing in the Field (Princeton, 2016), an exploration into the most common pitfalls of field research in which both researchers share some of their costly errors in conducting randomized controlled trials in the developing world. Read more about Failing in the Field: http://bit.ly/2iZUIpT

Eric Jay Dolin PhD '95 is the author of a dozen books, most recently Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse. In it, he chronicles tales of the 701 extant lighthouses in America, from Boston Light to the farthest reaches of Alaska. Listen to an audio interview with Dolin about the inspiration for this book and his development as a writer dating to MIT. Read more about Brilliant Beacons: http://bit.ly/2esLf5Z Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2q1jt7r

When MIT was founded in 1861, the Institute originally filled Boston’s newly developed Back Bay neighborhood. In the decades that followed, the departments and students increased, and in 1916, MIT crossed the Charles River for a new campus in Cambridge. Since its move to Cambridge, the Institute continued to establish itself as one of the world’s top universities and its alumni and faculty have tackled society’s most pressing challenges. Earlier this year, as part of MIT’s campus centennial celebration, the Institute hosted the symposium, “Beyond 2016: MIT’s Frontiers of the Future.” (http://mit2016.mit.edu/) In this Slice of MIT podcast, you’ll hear a selection of the faculty presentations that took place at the symposium. Learn how solar power is creating more drinkable water in rural India; how texting is helping transform Kenya’s financial system; how cities can help solve climate change; and how mucus is solving global health problems. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2q38auq Featuring (in chronological or

"How did this gaudy jewel come to be?" asks John Shelton Reed '64 of barbecue, the closest rival, in his mind, that America has to Europe's wines and cheeses in terms of cuisine. In his second book on the subject, Reed offers 51 recipes that, for him, exemplify American Southern barbecue. In this interview, Reed offers his take on "chefs" who cook barbecue, why North Carolina sauce is the most authentic, and how a poli-sci major from MIT turned sociologist at UNC came to the topic of barbecue in the first place. Read more about Barbecue: http://bit.ly/2fzm4TH Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2uNhRmG

Myra Strober PhD '69, Emerita Professor of Education and Emerita Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Business(by courtesy)at Stanford University, shares recollections, advice, and thoughts on women in work in this interview. Strober's new book, Sharing the Work: What My Family and Career Taught Me about Breaking Through (and Holding the Door Open for Others), was published in spring 2016. Read more: http://bit.ly/2bc3q0u Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2q6HmK7

MIT Projects That are Making a Better World: Highlights from Tech Day 2016 talks on Education and Health of the Planet Initiatives. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2GyxT5j. Can our brains show us when we’re ready to learn? That’s the question that professor John Gabrieli ’87 posed to the audience at the Tech Day program in June as he joined members of the MIT faculty to talk about problems in education and the environment that are being addressed here in Cambridge and around the globe. In this Slice of MIT podcast, hear audio from several talks given by alumni faculty at Tech Day, which focused on two of the themes from the MIT Campaign for a Better World, a $5 billion comprehensive fundraising initiative that launched in May. The first is teaching learning and living, and the second, the health of the planet. AeroAstro Professor Karen Willcox ’96, PhD ’00, an innovator in education, discusses her fly-by-wire project, an app which uses digital technology to help students and teachers similar to the

What creates a community? At MIT it can be courses, clubs, and classes, but also where students live. Nearly 6,000 students live in some form of MIT housing, with each different living group building its own unique community. From roller coasters at East Campus to aged milk at Random Hall, living groups at MIT are full of stories and shared memories. We recently invited students and alumni to share some favorite memories from their community at MIT. Hear what they had to say. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2uK5Fmn Music: "Life of Riley" "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" "Chillin Hard" and "Hep Cats" All songs by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

In his new book, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War, Fred Kaplan SM '78, PhD '83, recounts some of the U.S. government’s first simulated tests on hacking its own infrastructure with off-the-shelf hardware, its first successful incursions into foreign cyber terrain, and the “new tension in American life between individual liberty and national security.” Learn more about Dark Territory: http://bit.ly/23dSErU Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2uIP3vw

In her new book Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos, Priyamvada Natarajan ’91, SM ’11 tells the stories of Einstein’s troubles with gravity, an expanding universe, and dark matter. For Natarajan, a professor of physics at Yale University, Einstein is just one of a cast of characters in 20th century astronomy and cosmology whose struggles are at times amusing and at other times most inspiring. Read more: http://bit.ly/23YS3ct Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2GsVlod

On March 28, 2006, a group of young men, disguised as movers and armed with phony work orders, arrived on the Caltech’s Pasadena campus. Within a few hours, the crew departed with the college’s two-ton Fleming Canon in tow. Eight days later, the canon reappeared 3,000 miles away, on MIT campus, with a massive MIT class ring on its barrel. The movers, it turns out, were MIT students who had just carried out perhaps the longest-distance MIT hack of all time. So, How does one borrow a cannon, drive it cross-country, and place it in the middle of a crowded campus, completely undetected? In this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, we’ll hear from the MIT hackers involved in heist, as we celebrate the prank’s 10-year anniversary. Read more: http://bit.ly/1WuVkQj. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Gws64c Music: "Marty's Got a Plan" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Since the publication of Clay Christensen's The Innovators' Dilemma nearly two decades ago, Michael Tushman PhD '76 and his colleague Charles O'Reilly III have studied successful firms, large and small, that didn't exactly fit the new norm of disrutpive innovation. The result of this study is Lead and Disrupt: How to Solve the Innovator's Dilemma. In this interview, Tushman discusses his new book, a well-researched corrective for Christensen's formula for success in business. Read more: http://bit.ly/1pNnWHV Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2uNh5WO