Saturday, December 5, 2009

It’s pronounced ‘Nucular’

Actually, no it isn’t, but if that’s how Homer Simpson wants to say it then it’s okay by me. 

One of the awesome things about LGO is you get to learn about all of the important business stuff from leading big brain business people, but you also get to learn about technical stuff from leading big brain technical people.  No other business school shares a campus with the best engineering school in the world.

One of my classmates (and summer team member) Natallia organized a tour of the MIT nuclear research reactor yesterday and it was pretty amazing.  A group of about 13 of us spent three hours with Ed Lau, the Superintendent of Reactor Operations, who was kind enough to answer all of our questions and show us how the facility works.  We got to see the control room, the process they use to remove spent fuel from the reactor, their medical research setup and a bunch of other stuff. 

I was intrigued by a form of cancer research established as a joint program between MIT and Harvard.  From the website explaining how the process works:

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a binary form of cancer therapy which uses a boron-containing compound that preferentially concentrates in tumor sites. The tumor site is then irradiated by a neutron beam. The neutrons in the beam interact with the boron in the tumor to cause the boron atom to split into an alpha particle and lithium nucleus. Both of these particles have a very short range (about one cellular diameter) and cause significant damage to the cell in which it is contained. In this way, damage is done to the tumor cell, while largely sparing healthy tissue.

Seemed pretty amazing and then they showed us their diagram of how the reactor and the patient interact:

I could just imagine sitting in a room with a doctor as he (or she) explained to me that they were going to aim a nuclear reactor at my head.

Walking home it made me realize how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to participate in LGO.  I can’t think of another place in the world with so many innovative thinkers, cutting edge facilities, and interesting visitors.  I really do learn something new everyday. 

Monday, November 30, 2009

Fall semester home stretch

Word on the LGO street is that the first two semesters (summer, fall) of the program are the most difficult.  My opinion won’t count until I’ve actually made it through all the semesters so I’ll reserve judgment for now.  I’ve been a pretty crappy blogger for the past few months but in an attempt to redeem myself here’s an overview of what fall has been like for me:

Classes

MBA Core – All LGOs take these classes with Sloan students to give us the foundation for the rest of our MBA degree.  Core includes Economics, Accounting, Communication for Managers, and Organizational Processes.  This is a great introduction to a broad range of topics.  As my Economics professor put it “We’re going to cover three courses of material in the next six lectures so come to class on time.” 

Sloan Electives – As the name implies, this is the elective part of my MBA coursework.  After the MBA core you can take just about anything else you want in the business school to fulfill your degree requirements.  I haven’t counted them but I believe there are over 150 electives to choose from.  I’m taking Finance Theory  this fall as my only business elective, but my next two semesters will be all electives for MBA classes.

Engineering – I’m taking two engineering classes this semester which will leave me with only two more to take to complete my requirements.  Logistic Systems is a class that covers a number of topics that were briefly discussed in the summer Operations Management course but in much more detail.  Integrating the Lean Enterprise covers examples of  companies that have reshaped themselves in order to transition to a lean organization and a methodology to apply the concepts to other firms.  

Other – A fun thing about MIT is when you reach the credit limit (and you will) in a single semester you can audit classes as long as the class isn’t at capacity.  This means you attend lectures and in some cases do coursework but don’t receive a grade.  I am auditing two speaking series: Professional Seminar which is a series of industry leaders, generally from partner companies, who come to campus to speak to the LGO class and Leadership and Ethics taught by two long time supporters of LGO who were in executive roles before retirement. 

The last few weeks of the semester are pretty full with major team projects due in most classes and preparation for finals.  On the bright side, winter break at MIT is incredibly long.  My last exam is December 16th and I don’t start spring classes until February 2nd!  With that much time off I might remember how to play video games.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The application process

Some (or many) of you are reading this looking for advice on applying to the LGO program.  At this time last year I was checking the 2010 and 2009 blogs for the same reason.  Here are some thoughts that will hopefully help:

  • Have a plan - Read the website and make sure you create a timeline that allows you to get everything (essays, recommendations, cover letter, resume, GMAT or GRE test) done in time for the December 12th deadline.
  • Get some help – I relied on friends and family to review my essays and resume to make sure my ideas were clear and concise.  I think I rewrote one of my essays at least six times, but the final draft was much better than what I started with.  It helped to have people with no experience in the type of work I did look at my materials so I didn’t get too technical or specific.
  • Play to your strengths – Make sure you understand why you think you’re a good fit for the LGO program and state it in your application materials.  I knew I wasn’t as strong academically as some others who would be applying last year but I felt I had a lot of relevant leadership experience.  I was candid about both points in my application essays and my interview.
  • Get as much information as you can – There are a lot of places to get your questions answered.  Feel free to email me, or any of the other student bloggers.  There is still time to visit campus before the application deadline to visit a class, meet faculty, hang out with students and check out Boston.

Above all else don’t stress out about the process and best of luck if you decide to apply. 

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Iceland was awesome

 

We had a blast on our trip to Iceland.  It was a quick four days but we accomplished a lot.  A group of about 40 flew out on Thursday night right after class and came back on Monday evening just in time to study for midterms this week.  We got to visit the central bank to learn about Iceland’s economy and we toured a geothermal power plant.

Here are my highlights of the trip:

Visiting Iceland’s natural wonders

Checking out the city of Reykjavik

And having fun with friends

If you want to see more pictures here is my Iceland album on picasa.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Sloan Treks, or, I’m going to Iceland

One of the cool “extra” parts of going back to college (especially at Sloan) is the opportunity to travel.  Throughout the year different groups organize treks to various parts of the world.  Most of these trips line up with long weekends or vacations.  They generally have a purpose like making connections for a job after school, learning about an industry, exposure to a new culture, or just to visit somewhere you’ve never been.

Some of the treks are organized by LGO, like the domestic plant trek in January and the international plant trek in March, while others are organized by Sloan students but are open to LGOs.  Sloan treks scheduled for this year include trips to LA to meet with media companies, New York City and London for finance and banking, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and others, literally anywhere you could think to go.

I’m leaving tonight to go to Iceland on my first Sloan trek.  A group of about 40 of us are taking advantage of the long Columbus weekend and spending 4 days snowmobiling, visiting the Icelandic National Bank, and checking out other cool stuff.  I’ll have pictures and stories to share when I get back.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Finding a place to live….. again

Like most other people who moved to Boston for LGO Kerin and I spent a frantic weekend back in April looking for somewhere to live for at least one and possibly two years during the program.  After looking at about seven places in different neighborhoods we found one we liked and made arrangements to move in on June 1st.  We’ve been here three months and were starting to get comfortable when we found out that our landlord is selling the property to someone who wants to turn the building into condos.  This means we have to move…again.

On the bright side we have more time to figure out what we want.  In case you’re ever in a similar situation here’s our general thoughts on areas to live while attending MIT:

In our situation (married, no kids, dog, Kerin working in downtown Boston) it makes sense for us to stay on the red line.  There are also other possibilities using buses or driving in and out of the city, but the subway line is very convenient and makes it possible not to bring a car to the city.  There are very distinct neighborhoods around each subway stop with different average rent prices, night life, and general feel.

Sorted starting furthest from MIT

Alewife – This stop is right at the edge of the Cambridge city limits and includes a fairly large parking garage for commuters.  It is possible to walk to this stop from certain parts of Arlington.  There isn’t too much in terms of nightlife around Alewife, but there are some nice parks and recreational sites.  It is possible to find a decent sized (2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1000 sqft) apartment for around $1600 here.  Commuting time from Alewife to MIT is about twenty minutes on the train plus the walk to the station on each side. 

Davis – The Davis T stop is in the city of Somerville.  It’s a pretty cool area near Tufts University with bars, restaurants, a movie theater and other night life.  There are about five LGOs living in Davis from the 2011 class.  It would be easy to find a 2 bed, 1 bath, 1000 sqft apartment in Davis with a parking spot for between $1600 - $1800.  Davis is also a good option if someone in the family will need to commute out of the city for work as you can get to both 93 route 2 quickly.  The subway ride from Davis to MIT is about 15 to 17 minutes.

Porter – There is less nightlife in Porter than Davis, but Porter has a little bit more of a family neighborhood feel.  There are a lot of parks in the area especially to the west of the subway stop.  A handful of bars and restaurants on Mass Ave near the main square are good but can also get old.  Porter has a couple of great advantages over other neighborhoods, a good supermarket right next to the subway station and when it gets boring it’s only a 12 minute walk to Davis Square and a 20 minute walk to Harvard Square.  A comparable sized apartment in Porter will run about $1700 - $1900 and it’s a 12 minute subway ride to campus. 

Harvard – Harvard is an interesting place.  It’s one of the more famous spots in Boston and as such is normally packed with tourists.  There are some cool bars, restaurants, and shops but you’ll also pay a premium to live in the area and parking will cost extra.  A 2 bed, 1 bath, 700 sqft apartment in Harvard will start at about $2000 and a parking spot could be another $150 per month.  Unless you’re planning to take a lot of classes at Harvard or absolutely want to have the experience of living there it’s probably better to leave in one of the other neighborhoods and visit when you get the urge.  The subway ride from here to MIT is about 10 minutes

Central – Central has a lot to offer with bars and restaurants spread up and down Mass Ave.  It doesn’t have as many trees or parks as further up the red line, but you can walk to the west side of MIT campus (gym and athletic fields) from here in about 15 minutes.  You can find a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 800 sqft apartment for $1600 - $1800.  Central seems to be the most popular spot for people in LGO who don’t want to live on campus.  It’s only about a 7 minute ride to campus from here.

Kendall – This is the stop right at MIT campus and is only a couple hundred yards from the Sloan buildings and the building with the LGO office.  There is some off campus housing here but most of it is in high rise apartment complexes.  Rent tends to be a little more expensive here and it’s also harder to find places that will take pets.  A 1 bedroom, 1 bath with 600 sqft can run close to $2000.  MIT has a number of good options for grad students although they don’t take pets and many of the buildings are on the opposite side of campus. 

Mass General Hospital (MGH) – This stop is across the Charles River from Cambridge in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston.  It’s a great spot to be in if you don’t need a lot of space and want to be close to downtown.  It’s also near a bar that many Sloan students visit on a weekly basis, Beacon Hill Pub.  A 1 bed, 1 bath, 600 sqft place here can be $2000+.  It’s a five minute subway ride to campus and only about a 20 minute walk across the Longfellow Bridge with one of the best views of the Boston skyline in the city.  It’s also close to the hatch shell, a famous outdoor venue on the banks of the Charles River that hosts frequent free concerts.   

There are many other stops further down the red line and other great possibilities for places to live while in LGO, but these are the areas that Kerin and I have looked at.  We’re still looking at the moment, but we’ll probably end up either staying in Porter or moving to Davis or Central.  We have a couple more weeks to decide but we’re planning to move as soon as possible so I can get back to focusing on school work football.       

Friday, September 4, 2009

Sloan orientation and fall semester

Sloan orientation wrapped up last night after 4 days of informative lectures, meeting a new team, and a number of social events.  The class is split up into six different cohorts which are given ocean names and take core classes together.  I’m in the Indian Ocean.  Each ocean then has teams of six or seven that do group projects together similar to our LGO summer teams.

For the fall I will be taking five classes for my MBA, two engineering electives, and two courses as part of the LGO curriculum.  I will also continue to participate on committees and possibly join some Sloan clubs.  It will be a very busy semester. 

To add to the fun Kerin and I found our recently that we will need to move again.  We currently live in a three family in Cambridge but the owners are selling it to someone who wants to convert the building into stand alone condos.  That means he needs to do some significant renovations and we’ll have to find a new place to live.  Luckily we kept all of our boxes and we have a lot of experience packing. 

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Summer break

One of the great things about being back in college is getting more time off.  Summer classes ended on August 18th and we don’t have to go back until Sloan orientation starts on the 31st. 

It’s nice to have some time to unwind after the busy summer and Kerin and I have taken the opportunity to do some local touristy stuff.  Yesterday we spent some time exploring the bike path that runs through Somerville (the town next to Cambridge).  Today we walked the Freedom Trail, a Boston tourist must see.  Later this week we plan to visit Newport, Rhode Island.  We’ve been there before but it’s a really cool place to visit.  I especially like the cliff walk, a three mile trail along the ocean with views of some incredible mansions.  Next weekend we’re going up to Sebago Lake in Maine.  A benefit of living in New England is being less than a two hour drive from so many interesting places.

Sloan orientation starts a week from Monday and runs for four days.  We get a long weekend for Labor Day and start class on Wednesday September 9th.  I’m taking seven classes in the Fall so I’ll be busy, but I’ll find time to update the blog. 

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Committees

I don’t know how to say this, but committees in LGO are kind of a big deal.

Students in the program are able to influence decisions, shape curriculum, and create change through a variety of committees.  Committees cover topics like new partner company recruiting, social events, leadership,  annual plant trek, and others.  I joined three committees this summer and will give you a general idea about what each of them do:

Leadership – Responsible for a variety of tasks and events relating to the development of leadership skills for the class.  This summer our committee planned the Leadership Reaction Course event, provided advisors to summer teams to improve team skills, and will lead a leadership lab activity next week.  Leadership lab is an opportunity for members of the class to talk about specific experiences in order to teach their peers.  Our session next week will be a discussion of working in union environments.  The members of our class that have worked with unions will answer the questions of those who haven’t.

Professional Seminar – This committee organizes speakers to come to campus and speak to our class.  We look for leaders of various organizations to give us their perspective  and share their experience.  In the next few months we will have a CEO,  a school administrator,  a variety of business leaders, political figures, and others share their message with us. 

Internship – Work with partner companies to identify internships for the class.  This summer we created a survey to poll the class on the types of jobs, locations, and industries we’re interested to work in.  Over the next several months we will work with the partner companies to align their needs with our skills and interests, hopefully resulting in internships that are meaningful and impactful. 

There are many other committees that others in my class are running.  It’s a great way for us to improve the program and give something back.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Meet my summer team

To give you an idea of the people in LGO here’s a brief bio for my summer teammates:

  • Manuel – Graduated from Rice University in 2004 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  He worked for Shell Oil in Houston, TX for five years before coming to LGO. 
  • Asvin – Came to Boston from Florida where he was working for a strategy consultant.  He also worked for Anheuser Busch for three years.  Asvin has an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Florida.  He hopes to work in product strategy after graduation and is especially interested in the medical device industry.
  • Steve Wessels – Prior to LGO Steve was working for UPS and living in San Diego, you can read all about him on his blog
  • Natallia – Is a Nuclear Engineer originally from Belarus.  She was working for GE in their Global Nuclear Fuel division before starting LGO.  After the program Natallia wants to return to the nuclear industry in a project management role. 
  • Emily- Was living in Boston prior to the program and had been working for Osram Sylvania since 2005.  She has a Chemical Engineering degree from Bucknell and her hometown is Greensboro, NC.  

Here’s my team during a bonding experience at Outward Bound.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Crunch time

We have less than two weeks to go in the summer semester so things are officially ‘hectic’.  I can’t believe the time has passed so quickly.  It seems like only days since I dusted off my Voltron trapper keeper and my Scooby Doo lunch box and went to my first day of class.  Fast forward eight weeks and this is what’s left for final projects:

  • A final systems optimization project including a ten page paper and fifteen minute presentation.
  • An operations management presentation based on the experience of one of my team members.  We have to evaluate the scenario on leadership, business process, and feedback mechanism.
  • A competition for our statistics class where teams of students have to use design of experiments methods to maximize the hang time and landing accuracy of a paper helicopter. 
  • A final exam for statistics class.
  • A final team evaluation paper for the performance of our summer team.
  • A final process improvement assignment for high velocity organizations class where I have to evaluate a situation at my prior place of work and determine how it could be improved.

That all wraps up on August 18th and you can be sure our class will have some steam to let off.  I’m looking forward to the party but until then I will be finding out how much sleep I really need to function.  If my next blog post includes something like “ahdf;ldsajlfkdasdfhioew” you’ll know I passed out and my head landed on the keyboard.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The social stuff

LGO is not all work, we get to have a good time too.  As part of our summer bonding we have thrown a number of happy hours, picnics, parties, and other excuses to forget about homework. 

Boston and Cambridge both have some great bars and with most of us living in the city getting together after class or on the weekends is easy.  None of the social events are required and people go to the ones they can make. 

Cool things we’ve done this summer:

  • Watched the 4th of July fireworks at the MIT sailing pavilion on the river. 
  • Small groups of people took weekend trips to New York City and Cape Cod, and other New England spots
  • Celebrated a number of birthdays in many different ways
  • A handful of Saturday picnics (there’s one today)
  • Happy hours with our class, and mixers with people in the SDM program, and people in the MBA program
  • Free concerts at the hatch shell on the river
  • Variety of different “theme” parties
  • Lots of other stuff I’m forgetting

Taking the time to hang out outside of class has helped us get to know each other and keep our sanity. 

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A day in the life

The only thing on the internet that I read religiously is Bill Simmons – The Sports Guy columns on ESPN. He frequently runs a minute by minute diary during major sporting events.

While I won’t bore you with that much detail I thought some people would find it helpful to know what a typical day in the LGO program is like so here you go:

July 29th, 2009

6:45AM – Finally get out of bed after hitting the snooze button five times.

6:50AM – Walk Charlie Murphy around my neighborhood, Porter Square in Cambridge. One of the reasons we chose to live here was because of the trees and grass that make it easier to have a dog.

7:00AM – Check my Littlefield plant. Littlefield is an internet simulation of a manufacturing plant. For Operations Management class, teams of three people make decisions in order to run a Littlefield manufacturing facility. We compete against other people in the class to maximize cash over a sped up 268 day period where every hour is one system day. It’s an interesting game and it can be addictive to see how much money you’re piling up.

7:25AM – Leave the house to walk to the T (Boston’s subway system). I’m lucky that I live only a 3 minute walk from the nearest subway station.

7:45AM – Arrive on campus for my first class of the day.

8:00AM – Check Littlefield again

8:05AM – My first class is Operations Management. Today we talk about various types of planning and scheduling techniques including MRP (Materials Resource Planning), JIT (Just in Time), ConWIP(Continuous Work in Process) and others.

9:25AM- First class ends. MIT operates on a time schedule so that classes start 5 minutes after the half hour or hour and end 5 minutes before the half hour or hour. This gives everyone a chance to get from one class to the next.

9:30AM – Check Littlefield again

9:35AM – Our next class Systems Optimization begins. Today’s topic is how to determine confidence intervals for the results of a simulation model. Fancy stuff.

10:55AM – End of Systems, time to check Littlefield again.

11:05AM – Probability and Statistics, the last class of the day, begins. We talk about the Taguchi method and analysis of residuals. One word, “Awesome”.

12:25PM – After Stats it’s time for lunch, and another chance to check Littlefield.

1:00PM – Today we have an LGO program town hall. We use these class meetings to review important information and update each other on the activities of smaller committee subgroups. Today one of my committees, the internship committee, is reviewing dates and events everyone needs to be aware of over the next several months.

2:05PM – My summer team reviews our Systems Optimization project with our professor and teaching assistant. One of the assignments for this class is to develop a solution to a real world operations problem using the tools we have learned in class. My team chose to create a mixed integer optimization model for the daily staffing process at a plant where I used to work. We built a spreadsheet and wrote a program in ILOG OPL software that determines the best method to place people into jobs based on their skills and the production needs of the day. Our model also has the “News Team, Assemble!!!” sound clip from Anchorman when you push the run button which we find hilarious and our French Professor doesn’t really understand.

2:30PM – Meeting with my summer team to plan out the last few weeks of the semester. We have a number of plant tours, final projects, homework assignments, and one final test to fit into the next twenty days.

3:00PM – I meet with a subset of my summer team to review a case for one of our classes on Friday. The case is based on an internet advertising company that is struggling to turn a profit during a time of rapid growth in the late 90’s. We diagram the business processes discussed in the case and try to come up with improvements.

5:00PM – I leave campus and jump on the subway to go home.

5:40PM- As sometimes happens in Boston the subway was having “service interruptions” so it took about an extra twenty minutes to get home. I try to take advantage of my time on the train by reading for classes. Due to the delay I was able to finish all of my reading for tomorrow.

5:45PM – Charlie Murphy and I take our afternoon walk.

6:00PMChillaxin

6:30PM – Kerin calls to say that the subway problems have slowed down her commute too so I start dinner. Tonight is pork chops from an awesome little grocery / meat market in Davis Square. One great thing about living in Boston is being able to walk to such a wide variety of cool little shops and restaurants.

7:15PM – Kerin and I eat dinner while watching Arrested Development. We never got into the show while it was on the air but lately we have been watching the old episodes and loving them.

8:00PM- We drive to a Target in nearby Watertown to pick up a few things. We brought a car (actually two) with us to Boston and it has been helpful once in awhile when we need to go to a store that’s not within walking distance. Watertown is about ten minutes away and has a Best Buy, a small mall, and a Target.

9:30PM – I forgot to mention, I checked Littlefield about 15 times between the last time I mentioned it and now. Tonight for homework I cover two cases that are due on Friday. One is a continuation of the internet advertising company that I started with my team earlier and the second is a medical supply company trying to improve their finished product distribution and warehousing strategy.

10:45PM – I’m done with homework for tonight. Time to watch some TV with Kerin and then read for awhile before bed.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The summer so far - classes

We’re almost done with our first semester on campus. I thought it might be helpful to describe the classes we take and some of the other academic related stuff associated with our first experiences in LGO.

All first year LGOs get to campus in early June to begin classes. The MBA students don’t show up until the Fall and there aren’t many classes during the summer for students in other programs so we have most of the campus to ourselves. We all take the same classes together so it’s a good opportunity to bond and get to know each other.

We take a total of six classes:

Building and Leading Effective Teams (the universe within) – this is the only class we take our first week on campus. It is meant to speed up the process of bonding, starting to build team skills, and our first exposure to the leadership curriculum.

Engineering Probability and Statistics – this class provides some tools for problem solving and working with data sets. It introduces the laws of probability and builds to statistical tools like linear regression.

Systems Optimization and Analysis – another class for analytical problem solving. This one focuses on optimization models like linear and integer programs.

Organizational Leadership and Change – in this class we focus on a variety of leadership topics including case studies of various leadership methods and styles.

Introduction to Operations Management – this class covers concepts like basic inventory theory, process metrics like utilization, flow time, capacity, and others.

High Velocity Organizations- this class used to be called “Lean / Six Sigma”. It provides an introduction to many of the tools and operations concepts of highly successful organizations.

Our summer curriculum also includes a number of speakers, outside the classroom activities, and group projects. We have class everyday but our schedule week to week varies. I will cover a typical day and week for this semester in a future post. It is certainly busy through the summer but it’s also a good reintroduction to college for those of us who have been working for the past number of years.

Monday, July 13, 2009

The introduction

To get us started, my first post will be answers to questions I think you’re likely to ask.

You: Why should I read this?

Me: You probably shouldn’t unless you fit a pretty specific profile. If you want to learn more about the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program from someone who’s currently enrolled, that’s a good start. If you think my particular perspective is relevant to your background, foreground, or middle ground, that’s good too. If you don’t know enough about me or the LGO program to answer those questions, then at least read the rest of this post.

You: What is the Leaders for Global Operations Program?

Me: If you somehow found this blog without knowing the answer to that question I recommend you check this page out for way more detail than I’m willing to type. If you prefer the short version it’s a partnership between industry and academia involving a number of companies and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Students who graduate from the two year program earn a Masters Degree in the engineering discipline of their choice, an MBA from the Sloan School of Management, and complete a six month internship with one of the partner companies.

You: Who are you and why are you writing this?

Me: I’m writing this blog because when I was deciding whether or not to apply to LGO the information in the student blogs was the best resource to help me make up my mind. Now that I’m in the program I would like to assist others in the same way. I also hope this blog becomes something to help me reflect on and remember my time in grad school for purely selfish reasons.

Now the who am I part. On the personal side I’m 29 years old. I’ve been married for almost five years to my wonderful wife Kerin who has been incredibly supportive and sacrificed a great deal so I could have the opportunity to join LGO. I have an older sister, a younger brother, and my parents live in Albuquerque, NM. I also have a dog named Charlie Murphy.

DSCF7410

I grew up in Central New York near Syracuse, then moved to Rochester for college and have since lived in Vermont, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, California, and now Cambridge, Massachusetts. I enjoy traveling, hiking, photography, sports, and lots of other things in small doses.

I went to college the first time at the Rochester Institute of Technology (I have a thing for institutes of technology) and got a BS and an MS in Industrial and Systems Engineering. While in school I interned for five different companies in a variety of industries including automotive, semi-conductors, electronics, and industrial products. After college I worked for General Mills for six years in the Yoplait Division in jobs like Team Leader (shift supervisor), Startup Manager, and Program Manager.

You: Why did you choose LGO?

Me: That’s a long answer for another post, but for now I think it’s important to know that I spent about three years making up my mind before deciding to apply, and six weeks in I couldn’t be happier.

I’ll do my best to keep this blog useful and current. I plan on posting information and details that don’t show up in the brochures but are important parts of the LGO experience. I also take feedback well so email me if you have suggestions or specific questions I can help with.