scarily small world
My mom has been volunteering with Botball recently, which is somewhat analogous to FIRST. Tonight she invited David Miller, the founder of Botball, and his wife, Cathryne Stein, president and CEO of KISS Institute for Practical Robotics, over for dinner. Early on in the conversation, Cathryne asked where I go to school, and I told her, thinking that there was a chance they would have heard of Olin, since they're involved with kids and engineering. David goes, "Oh, Olin, yeah! I'm teaching there in the Fall." So, yep. He seems like a great guy, and very committed to the idea of do-learn. He'll only be at Olin for a semester, because he's on sabbatical.
David had some thoughts on Olin that were interesting--he doesn't think accreditation is necessary, and thinks it will stifle creativity when it comes to experimenting with curricula. Also, he asked where Olin students will be going after they graduate, and I named off some of the destinations that I know of (graduate school, New York to be an actor, Peace Corps, startups...) and he said "Good, good. I'm glad to hear that Olin students aren't just taking 'give me a good salary and stick me in a cubicle' type jobs. Where Olin's graduates end up says a lot about what Olin has prepared them for." So that's good to hear. Although I am a little worried that if not enough Olin students actually go into engineering, it could hurt our credibility as an engineering school. On the other hand... well... Olin admitted us, knowing that many of us didn't intend to become engineers.
David also talked a little bit about the history of FIRST and of Botball (He said that FIRST came out of a design course that Woodie taught at MIT (270), and Botball came out of a student-taught course at MIT that was inspired by Woodie's class (6.270).). He had some interesting things to say about Dean Kamen and his inventions, especially the wheelchair. Olin has such close ties with Woodie, Dean Kamen, and FIRST, that it was good to get another perspective.
David had some thoughts on Olin that were interesting--he doesn't think accreditation is necessary, and thinks it will stifle creativity when it comes to experimenting with curricula. Also, he asked where Olin students will be going after they graduate, and I named off some of the destinations that I know of (graduate school, New York to be an actor, Peace Corps, startups...) and he said "Good, good. I'm glad to hear that Olin students aren't just taking 'give me a good salary and stick me in a cubicle' type jobs. Where Olin's graduates end up says a lot about what Olin has prepared them for." So that's good to hear. Although I am a little worried that if not enough Olin students actually go into engineering, it could hurt our credibility as an engineering school. On the other hand... well... Olin admitted us, knowing that many of us didn't intend to become engineers.
David also talked a little bit about the history of FIRST and of Botball (He said that FIRST came out of a design course that Woodie taught at MIT (270), and Botball came out of a student-taught course at MIT that was inspired by Woodie's class (6.270).). He had some interesting things to say about Dean Kamen and his inventions, especially the wheelchair. Olin has such close ties with Woodie, Dean Kamen, and FIRST, that it was good to get another perspective.
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