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

Robert Gordon PhD '67 calls his new book a revised version of his thesis for Professor Robert Solow, "47 years late." The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War upends the typical narrative about the wonders of twenty-first century American innovations. In this interview, Gordon shares his thoughts on American growth and shares some memories of his MIT years. Read more: http://bit.ly/21bLmTd Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Je9zY4

On this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, we bring you stories from alumni who found love at the Institute. Read more: bit.ly/20Q0TNF. In this episode bonus clip, Tim Chambers '84 tells the story of how he met his wife, Robin. The interview in this clip is part of the Reunions Access Memories Project. Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2GuCDIR

On this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, we bring you stories from alumni who found love at the Institute. Read more: bit.ly/20Q0TNF. In this episode bonus clip, Megan Pasquina '08 tells the story of how she met her husband, Lincoln. The interview in this clip is part of the Reunions Access Memories Project. Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2q1DuL3

On this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, we bring you stories from alumni who found love at the Institute. Read more: http://bit.ly/20Q0TNF. Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2EdCuYv The interviews in this episode are part of the Reunions Access Memories Project. Music: Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Costa Rica is home to ten percent of the world's known species of butterflies, more than 800 species of birds, and 200 volcanoes. Listen in on the journey of the MIT Alumni Travel Program as they witnessed sloths, howled with howler monkeys, and met with an American Quaker who left prison to start a Costa Rican town. Read more: http://bit.ly/1ZT98mf. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2H6LLEV Music Credits: "Cuban Sandwich," "Carnivale Intrigue," "Cumbia No Frills," and "Pennsylvania Rose," Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

If you're a newly-manufactured or rebooted android, you'll want to pick up a copy of the latest book from Nic Kelman '94, How to Pass as Human: A Guide to Assimilation for Future Androids. The book, however, proves just as entertaining and informative for human readers. In his fourth novel, Kelman gives a delightful glimpse of the human world through an android's eyes. Kelman discusses the novel with a fellow human being in this latest MIT Alumni Books Podcast. Read more: http://bit.ly/1NRgN0N Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2uHHogK

The MIT community is more diverse than any time in Institute history. And diverse communities require mindful leadership. So, how can leaders be more effective in creating a more inclusive environment? Assistant Professor Renée Richardson Gosline says start by being mindful: recognize the biases that affect us all, and question our own heuristics. Read more: http://bit.ly/goslinepodcast Professor Gosline is the MIT Sloan Zenon Zannetos 1955 Career Development Assistant Professor of Marketing. Her research studies how we process information about products, information, and each other. And she believes cognitive association and heuristics—decision-making shortcuts provided by the subconscious—are often at the root of bias. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2H7FMj4 Music: "Babylon," Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

MIT has a long history with food, from nutrition science to environmental costs, and today food innovation projects at MIT run the gamut. MIT’s newest food initiative, Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (JWAFS) is bringing together research across disciplines. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2q1Fi6G. Learn more about JWAFS and food projects at MIT in the Slice of MIT podcast, Food for Thought. This episode focuses on four things: an Institute-wide food and water security lab; a Media Lab Agriculture Initiative; a chemistry sensor project that can detect spoiling meat; and an alumnus chef that uses science to perfect his recipes. Read more: http://bit.ly/1R3UfMU This podcast is being released a few days before Thanksgiving 2015, so of course, we needed to address the Thanksgiving meal. Kenji Lopez-Alt ’02, culinary director of Serious Eats—a renowned food blog, offers insight into cooking with science and weighs in on the persistent Thanksgiving turkey question, to brine or not to brin

As a young boy growing up in Prague, Michael Gruenbaum '53 witnessed firsthand the Nazi occupation of Prague before his family was sent to Terezin, a concentration camp. Seventy years after liberation, Gruenbaum penned a memoir of his life at Terezin. Published in 2015, Somewhere There Is Still a Sun recounts Gruenbaum's ordeals in Terezin, along with some of his life after the war. "I suddenly feel some sort of strange obligation to live some sort of perfect life," Gruenbaum writes of his emergence from Terezin, "one packed with heroic acts, so incredible I can't even begin to imagine what they might be." Read more: http://bit.ly/1M530PS Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Gvv5Kb

Some scientists say that human beings are more bacteria than human, with bacteria cells found in and on our body outnumbering human cells 10 to 1. Others claim that the bacteria found on each one of us could fill up a half-gallon jug. Others still are unsure how much bacteria we’re covered in, but it’s a lot, and probably more than the average person is comfortable thinking about. Thankfully, Mark Smith PhD ’14 isn’t the average person. A microbiologist, Smith came to MIT to study this huge community of bacteria known as the microbiome, focusing specifically on the bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Smith worked in the Alm Lab developing computational and experimental methods to engineer to microbiome. He explains some of his research, “We would find healthy patients and a disease cohort, take stools samples to sequence their microbiome and find signatures that distinguish between them. We find there are a lot of diseases that have distinct microbial compositions. The question is does disease cause the

Robert Shiller SM '68, PhD '72 discusses his new book, Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception, co-authored with George Akerlof PhD '66. Recorded live at an MIT Alumni Association event at Fidelity Investments in Boston, Shiller talks with Nanette Byrnes, senior editor of business reports at MIT Technology Review. Read more: http://bit.ly/1lriadn Phishing for Phools, says Shiller, helps readers unpack the psychology of “phishing”--identifying what is at work when markets provide consumers what they don’t necessarily want--and what is at work when they willingly take the bait. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2GzT1ru

Hal Linder '58 paid $4,000 for his bachelor's degree in geology at MIT. In six decades following graduation, Linder got his money's worth, surveying and prospecting on all seven continents, eventually discovering a gold mine in California which produced over 1.2 million ounces. Linder chronicles his adventures above and below the earth's crust in a new book, Wild Places: The Adventures of an Exploration Geologist. Read more: http://bit.ly/1MuJS2H Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2JdwmmT

Good ideas never exist in a vacuum—they come from life experiences, world views, curiosity, hard work, and collective brain power. And when put to practice, the best ideas address real issues and solve real problems. Learn how a hacking ethos is leading to breakthroughs in medicine; how embracing new technologies will shape the camera of the future; how rethinking microbes could change the way we treat disease; and how crowd-sourcing is helping protect Earth from asteroids. Read more: http://bit.ly/1RkCWW4 Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Edv1Ze Featuring: Hans Peter Brøndmo ’87 Advisor, TrueNorth Venture Partners Lina Colucci, doctoral candidate Co-Director, MIT Hacking Medicine Priya Garj ’15 Co-Director, MIT Hacking Medicine Bernat Olle SM ’05, PhD ’07, MBA ’07 Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Biosciences Jenn Gustetic SM ’07 Assistant Director for Open Innovation, Executive Office of the President, Office of Science and Technology Policy Music: “On the Ground,” “Off to Osaka,” and “How it Begi

The MIT Alumni Leadership Conference (ALC), Sept. 25‒26, is a time for alumni to reconnect and learn new skills while also recognizing the work of alumni volunteers. A spotlight event for ALC is the Leadership Awards Celebration honoring MIT’s most dedicated volunteers. In this Slice of MIT podcast, you’ll hear personal stories from this year’s four alumni winners of the Bronze Beaver award, the Association’s highest honor. Read more: http://bit.ly/1KxEiHj Transcript: https://bit.ly/2H7BiZU Music: Carefree and Go Cart

Well over 1,000 patent applications are filed each day by tinkerers and corporations, and patent suits among science and tech researchers and firms are reaching unprecedented settlement amounts in the courts. In a new book, M. Henry Heines '67 explores the radical changes patent law in the U.S. underwent in 2013 and what today's scientist and engineer, whether tinkering in a garage or leading a startup, needs to know to protect one's intellectual property. Read more: http://bit.ly/1Ow9cWG Transcript: https://bit.ly/2q1U5O8

AnnMarie Thomas '01 talks about Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Innovation (Maker Media, 2014). Read more: http://bit.ly/1N4dZz5 The book features interviews and reflections from MIT alumni and current and former faculty about their formative years becoming makers. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2H6XV0j

Eran Egozy, one of the faces behind acclaimed video games Rock Band and Guitar Hero, shares why Rock Band rocks and his secrets to career success. Read more: http://bit.ly/1U9fzjS Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Isk7ld

Jo Ivester '77 discusses her new book, The Outskirts of Hope, a memoir written in collaboration with her mother, about life in Mound Bayou, Mississippi in the 1960s. Read more: http://bit.ly/1MfFDaN Transcript: https://bit.ly/2JdmLfT

Data is everywhere—nearly anything can be represented by a number. In its simple form, data tells a story backed by numerical truth. But data is rarely simple or pure—and we have access to more data than any time in history. In this podcast, recorded at the 2015 South by Southwest Interactive festival, five MIT alumni discuss how their work and research are making sense of this never-ending wave, and how we can better understand data and use it to solve real-world problems (and develop amazing food recipes). Read more: http://bit.ly/1Nz9yJh Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2ImonSZ Featuring: Professor Sinan Aral PhD ’07 Professor of Management, MIT Sloan; Chief Scientist, Humin Denise Cheng SM ’14 Peer Economy Expert Tiffany Chu ’10 Cofounder, Remix Jacquelyn Martino PhD ’06 Designer, IBM Matt Stempeck SM ’13 Director of Civic Technology, Microsoft Chef Watson Computer, IBM Music: “Carefree,” “Go Cart,” and “Pamgaea” All songs by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By A

What was it like to be a women at MIT then and now? In this Slice of MIT podcast, MIT alumnae share their memories of the Institute. Read more: http://bit.ly/1clWEBn Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2GuQXp6 Music: Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)