Cherie Abbanat

Email
Office: 9-367

Atissa Banuazizi

Email
Office: 12-111

Karen Boiko

Email
Office: 14N-328

Selected Classes:

15.301 Managerial Psychology
2.671 Instrumentation and Measurement
2.672 Mechanical Engineering Lab
6.033 Computer Systems Engineering
1.018J Fundamentals of Ecology

Interests:

Nineteenth-century literature and culture; non-fiction, esp. biography; film and theatre; American culture

Education:

PhD in English and American LIterature, NYU 2001

Experience:

Taught writing at NYU--The Gallatin School and the College of Arts and Science; trade magazine editor and publisher

Selected Publications:

“Reading and (Re)Writing Class: Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters,” Victorian Literature and Culture (Winter-Spring 2005).

Other:

Currently teach in the first-year writing program at MIT: 21W.730 Writing about Contemporary Issues: "Food for Thought"; also teach 21W. 775 Writing about Nature and Environmental Issues, and 21W.777 The Science Essay

Harlan Breindel

Email
Office: 12-111

Mary Caulfield

Email
Office: 12-113

Selected Classes:

6.033 Computer Systems Engineering
6.111 Computer Systems Design
2.00b Toy Product Design
2.019 Design of Ocean Systems

Interests:

Storytelling, Community Growth and Development, Interdisciplinary Approaches to Learning

Education:

Master of Liberal Arts in Writing and Literature, Graduate Certificate in Business Administration

Experience:

Technical Writer in Consulting and Software Industries

Other:

Recent volunteer work includes post-Katrina reconstruction in Mississippi and
six months in Brazil as a visiting educator.

Jane Connor

Email
Office: 54-1026

Selected Classes:

My primary work is in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, where students study such phenomena as tectonic plates, fluid dynamics of hurricanes, and Martian meteorites.

I also support Jennifer Craig in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Interests:

I’m interested in expanding our students’ awareness of and skill with communication, thereby, in the long term, changing the perception of our students:  “You’re from MIT?  Ah, then I know I’ll enjoy your report!”

I’m particularly interested in listening—how it leads us to write, speak, hear, meet, lead, influence, and collaborate.

Education:

BA in English (Medieval Studies) from Swarthmore; MA in Languages, Literature and Communication from Columbia.

Professional development with Emotional Intelligence Consortium; Interaction Institute for Social Change; and Harvard Program on Negotiation, and others.

Experience:

I came to MIT in 2005 after many years working in industry,  helping scientists and engineers learn to listen and collaborate.  They frequently said, “Gee, I wish I’d learned that in college.” 

In a former life, I produced documentary film, and developed multimedia programs for interactive videodisc, vellum, and cuneiform tablets. 

Selected Publications:

“The Story of the Musselwhite Agreements.”  Journal of the International Council on Mining and the Environment. 

“’Follow That Guy’:  First Nations Partnership at the Musselwhite Project,” and “Buried and Waiting:  The Lure of Exploring for Gold.” The Prospector, Placer Dome, Inc. 

Man in the Holocene,  Screenplay written in collaboration with Max Frisch, licensed to ZDF German Television. 
No Brief Candle, documentary about living fully in the face of death.
The Promise of Permanence, interactive video installation for Constitution Hall Centennial celebration.
Mother Teresa. documentary.  Calcutta production manager.
The Leaves of the Sea, documentary about exploring in the canopy of the Central American rainforest.

Jennifer Craig

Email
Office: 33-406

Selected Classes:

I work primarily in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.  The courses I teach in are Experimental Projects, Flight Vehicle Engineering, Flight Vehicle Development, Space Systems Engineering, Space Systems Development and Robot Systems and Science.

Interests:

In my profession, I am interested in how students in the SMET areas learn to write and speak about complex engineering material.  I am also interested in the ways that advanced English language learners approach this task. Recently, I've taught engineering students in Singapore through a live video link, and in my non-MIT time, I've taught scientific researchers at MGH in an advanced ESL class. In addition, I am interested  in collaborative skills and how those skills affect the process of writing and speaking professionally.

Education:

My first degree was an M.S. in Social Work from Simmons College. In the early 90's, I returned to the University of Maine for a second M.A. but this time in English and Creative Writing.

Experience:

I've had several careers: a social worker and therapist, a fabric designer and weaver, a writer and editor, and lastly a teacher of professional and technical writing.

I have taught professional and technical writing and speaking for 16 years.  Before I left the University of Maine in 2002, I led an initiative to make the School of Engineering communication-intensive. I also administered the Department of English's Minor in Technical Writing.

Selected Publications:

Along with Mya Poe and Neal Lerner, I am currently at work on a portion of a book under contract with MIT Press, Writing and Speaking as a Scientist and Engineer: Case Studies from MIT. A forthcoming article in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication is "Innovation Across the Curriculum: Three Case Studies in Teaching Science and Engineering Communication", also co-authored with Mya Poe and Neal Lerner.

Recent professional presentations have included conference presentations at ASEE in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006; at Quinipiac University in 2006; at Worcester Polytech in 2007.

When I was actively working as a poet and essayist, I published many poems and essays and reviews in literary journals.

Other:

David Custer

Email
Office: 24-611
Webpage

Selected Classes:

2.009- Product Engineering Processes
2.ThA- 2-A Undergraduate Thesis
21W.730- Writing on Contemporary Issues
21W.732- Introduction to Scientific and Technical Communication
21W.735- Writing and Reading the Essay
21W.783- Scientific and Engineering Writing for Phase II
21W.794- Graduate Technical Writing Workshop
8.01- Mechanics
8.02- Electricity and Magnetism
SP.231- ESG teaching seminar
SP.255- Physics of Rock Climbing

Interests:

Testing & evaluation of equipment for use in climbing and mountaineering

Education:

writing, writing education, material science, electrical engineering

Experience:

digital design engineer

Selected Publications:

-K. Blair, D. Custer, S. Alziati, W. Bennett, The effect of load rate, placement angle, and ice type on ice screw failure, The Engineering of Sport 5, vol II, Ed. M. hubbard, R.D. Mehta & J.M. Pallis, ISEA, 2004, 283-289

-K.B. Blair, D.R. Custer, J.M. Graham & M.H. Okal, Analysis of fatigue failure in D-shaped karabiners, Journal of Sports Engineering, 2005, 8(2):107-113

-D. Custer, An estimation of the load rate imparted to a climbing anchor during fall arrest, The Engineering of Sport 6, vol I, Ed. E.F. Moritz & S. Haake, ISEA, 2006, 45-50

-A series of science journalism articles and translations for the American Alpine Club Newsletter, 2005-present

Other:

Thomas Delaney

Email
Office: 12-113

Selected Classes:

Disease and Society in America, Making Public Policy, Chinese History, Bioethics, Managerial Psychology, Measurement and Instrumentation (Course 16), The Once and Future City (Course 4), Principles of Engineering Practice (Course 3)

Interests:

global politics, public diplomacy, ethics, literature, fiction writing, writing in the sciences, translation

Education:

B.A. English; M.A. International Relations and Communication

Experience:

career member United States Foreign Service (diplomatic corps)

Lisa Dush

Email
Office: 12-113

William Haas

Email
Office: 14N-233

Sonal Jhaveri

Email
Office: 46-6023A

Jane Kokernak

Email
Office: 12-111
Webpage

Selected Classes:

7.02 Intro to Experimental Bio/SciComm
10.26 Chem and Biol Engineering Project Lab

Interests:

I am working on a collection of nonfiction essays that separately concern privacy, listening, love, stewardship, and other experiences. The mind as body and the body's abilities and limitations interest me deeply. I love tutoring and teaching, and I enjoy working with college students on their writing.

Education:

Wellesley College, BA 1987 (English)
Simmons College, MA 2003 (English)

Experience:

I have a background in both writing center and WAC practice. Until May 2008, I oversaw the Writing Center at Mount Ida College in Newton. From 2004 to 2006, I was a developer and coordinator of a WAC initiative at Simmons College in Boston, where I also worked in the Writing Center and taught the first year writing & cultural studies course. Before graduate school and employment at Simmons, I enjoyed more than a decade of service to Boston-area nonprofits as a development writer, researcher, and consultant.

Other:

I publish a blog called Leaf Stitch Word at <http://leafstitchword.wordpress.com>.

Janis Melvold

Email
Office: 14N-338

Selected Classes:

21W.730 Writing About Contemporary Issues; 21W.732 Intro to Scientific and Technical Communication; 7.02 Experimental Biology and Communication; 7.13 Experimental Microbial Genetics Project Lab; 7.18 Topics in Experimental Biology Project Lab; 9.00 Intro to Psychology; 9.01 Intro to Neuroscience; 9.02 Systems Neuroscience Laboratory; 24.900 Intro to Linguistics

Interests:

linguistic theory, especially phonology and morphology; cognitive neuroscience; neurolinguistics; how linguistic theory informs our understanding of language breakdown and vice versa; linguistic theory and reading development

classical music, baseball

Education:

B.A., Russian Language and Literature, Indiana University; Ph.D., Linguistics, MIT

Experience:

Instructor, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Research Associate, Dept. of Neurology, Mass. General Hospital/Harvard Medical School; Visiting Lecturer, Dept. of Linguistics, MIT

Selected Publications:

-Melvold, J. (1991) "Factivity and Definiteness." MIT Working Papers in Lingusitics. Cambridge, MA
-Melvold, J., R. Au, L. Obler, & M.L. Albert (1994).  "Language in Aging and Dementia." in Knoefel, J. and M.L. Albert (eds), Clinical Neurology of Aging, second edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
-Kohn, S.E., J. Melvold, & K.L. Smith (1995). "Consonant Harmony as a Compensatory Mechanism in Fluent Aphasic Speech." Cortex: 31, 747-756.
-Melvold, J. & D. Pesetsky (1995). The Pros and Cons of Whole Language: Reading is not like Speaking. Boston Globe, Sunday Learning Section. October 29, 1995.
-Melvold, J., S.E. Kohn, & D. Locatelli (1997). "So Alike and Yet So Different: Evidence for Two Distinct Lexical-Phonological Deficits in Fluent Aphasia." Brain and Language: 60, 137-140.
-Kohn, S.E., J. Melvold, & V. Shipper (1998). "The Preservation of Sonority in the Context of Impaired Lexical-Phonological Output." Aphasiology: 12, 375-398.
-Kohn, S.E.& J. Melvold (2000). "Effects of Morphological Complexity on Phonological Output Deficits in Fluent and Nonfluent Aphasia." Brain and Language: 73, 323-346.

Other:

I'm a native mid-westerner, born and raised in Maquoketa, Iowa.

Ben Miller

Email
Office: 12-112

Marilee Ogren

Email
Office: 68-120

Karen Pepper

Email
Office: 12-111

Leslie Roldan

Email
Office: 12-113

Selected Classes:

7.02 Introduction to Experimental Biology and Scientific Communication
7.18 Topics in Experimental Biology
21W.797 Cambridge-MIT Undergraduate Exchange
5.36 Biochemistry & Organic Lab

Bio:

Leslie Ann Roldan, Ph.D., has been a lecturer with Writing Across the Curriculum since 2005. She holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Biology from M.I.T., where she trained in biochemistry with Tania Baker. From 2001-2005, she was a scientific editor for a web-based publishing company (www.ergito.com), where she developed college-level textbooks and articles in introductory biology, neurobiology, and structural biology.

Thalia Rubio

Email
Office: 12-111

Susan Ruff

Email
Office: 38-583

Pamela Siska

Email
Office: 12-132

Selected Classes:

21W.794 Graduate Technical Writing Workshop
6.033 Computer Systems Engineering
2.009 Product Engineering Processes

Interests:

My interests include Romantic literature, forensic medicine, crime, horror fiction, and polar exploration.

Education:

I have an MA and PhD ABD in English literature from Boston University and am working toward a DLitt from the University of South Africa. Area of specialization: Romanticism.

Experience:

I have been a consultant at MIT's Writing and Communication Center for 14 years, and I taught writing and literature courses at Boston University for many years. I am also a free lance editor.

Selected Publications:

“’The Things I So Indispensably Needed’: Material Culture as a Reflection of Mary Shelley’s Life.” In Material Women: Consuming Desires and Collecting Objects, 1750-1950, eds Beth Tobin and Maureen Goggin.  Forthcoming from Ashgate Publishing.

Conroy, Thomas; Lerner, Neal; Siska, Pamela.  “Graduate Students as Writing Tutors: Role Conflict and the Nature of Professionalization.”  In Weaving Knowledge Together: Writing Centers and Collaboration, eds  Carol Peterson Haviland et al.  NWCA Press, 1998.

Contributor to The Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing.  Mayfield Publishing Company, 1998.

Other:

"And if I laugh at any mortal thing, 'tis that I may not weep." --Byron

Linda Sutliff

Email
Office: 12-112

Don Unger

Email
Office: 12-112

Lydia Volaitis

Email
Office: 12-112
http://www.voxinforma.net/

Selected Classes:

- Toy Product Design
- Measurement and Instrumentation
- Product Engineering Processes
- Mechanical Engineering Projects Laboratory
- Computer Systems Engineering

Interests:

Professional: Language processing, linguistics, speech recognition systems; human factors

Personal: My daughter, dance, Tai Chi, Chinese culture, Greek culture, and Chinese-Greek-American culture. 

Education:

B.A., Language Science, Columbia University; Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, Northeastern University (collectively, Linguistics, Psychology and Computer Science)

Experience:

- Founder and Owner, Vox Informa Research and Consulting
- Instructor, Psychology of Language, Northeastern University
- Instructor, Engineering Psychology, Tufts University
- Principal Research Scientist, American Institutes for Research
- Senior Research Scientist, GTE Laboratories, Inc.
- (and so much more)

Selected Publications:

Volaitis, L., Joffre, K., Birns, J., & Thurrott C. (2001). http://www.microsoft.com/Office XP vs. Office 2000: Comparing Productivity Advantages.

Fowler, T. Vote of confidence/Made-in-Texas electronic ballot received high marks in election. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/
story.hts/business/746327.

Volaitis, L.E. (1999).  Can speech improve cell phone interfaces?  Speech Technology, April/May issue.

Gardner–Bonneau, D., C. Delogu, F. U. Bordoni, C. Green, L. Volaitis, M. Lindeman, and L. Laux (1998). Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Systems as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) Comes of Age.  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 42nd Annual Meeting, 5 to 9 Oct., pp. 444–447, Chicago

Volaitis, L., Dumas, J. & Mastoras, E. (1997).  Comparison of productivity gains among leading programming languages for test applications: LabVIEW, HP VEE, and C/C++.  Online:http://www.hp.com/go/hpvee. 

Miller, J.L., Volaitis, L.E., and O'Rourke, T.B. (1997).  Internal structure of phonetic categories: Effects of Speaking Rate. Phonetica, 54, 121-137.

Wayland, S.C., Miller, J.L., & Volaitis, L.E. (1994).  The influence of sentential speaking rate on the internal structure of phonetic categories.  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 95(5), 2694-2701.

Volaitis, L.E., & Miller, J.L. (1992).  Phonetic prototypes: Influence of place of articulation and speaking rate on the internal structure of phonetic categories.  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 92, 723-735.

Volaitis, L.E., Sundstrom, G.A. & Salvador, A.C. (1991).  An evaluation of the graphical human-machine interfaces of five network management systems. GTE Labs Technical Memorandum 0439-08-91-465.

Miller, J.L., & Volaitis, L.E. (1989). Some effects of speaking rate on the perceived internal structure of phonetic categories.  Perception and Psychophysics, 46, 505-512.

Other:

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
--Groucho Marx

Mary Zoll

Email
Office: 12-111

Selected Classes:

Interests:

Education:

 A.B. Vassar College with honors, biochemistry, Ph.D. Boston University, biochemistry

Experience:

I am an independent contractor offering substantive editing, mostly on materials in medicine, science, pharmacology, and biotechnology and mostly on primary research papers, review articles, white papers, and proposals.  

I developed and taught courses in medical writing, advanced medical writing, scientific writing, and style and grammar for the Masters in Technical and Professional Writing Program at Northeastern University.  I continue to develop and teach courses in various aspects of technical and professional writing for various schools and professional organizations and have worked for Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Women's Technical Institute in Boston, Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts Medical Society, American Medical Writers Association, Society for Technical Communication, Boston Center for Adult Education, Brookline Adult and Community Education Program, and Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education Program, among others.

Selected Publications:

Other:

I founded the Scientific Communication Professional Interest Committee within the Society for Technical Communication.  I was a founding member of the InterChange Conference in Technical Communication.  I am a founding member and life member of the Concord Poetry Center.  I am a life member of Rowe Camp and Conference Center.