Lock The Quill

We take our mobile studio to Lobby 7 and kibitz with students, while Bill recruits unsuspecting visitors (with mixed results).

MIT Professor Ely Sachs, the pioneer in 3-D printing, then spends time with us in the lab talking about education, learning, and his over two decades developing Guided Discovery - his pedagogy that has been foundational at MIT MechE and beyond, guiding students to encounter the wonders of key scientific principles.   

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website

L.S. McKee joins us in the lab to talk about her new collection of poetry, Creature, Wing, Heart, Machine.
Laura and I taught 2.009 together for a few years before she moved down south. Laura was a lecturer in the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication Program at MIT before moving on to UGA, Athens, where she is Coordinator for Writing Across the Curriculum in the English Department.
https://lsmckee.com/index.html
https://www.english.uga.edu/directory/people/laura-s-mckee
Also, writer and educator, Stacy Mattingly, of BU and Berklee College of Music joins the conversation
https://www.stacymattingly.com/

We start with an announcement from Department Head, Professor John Hart on the MechE 150 celebration. 

Enjoy!

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website

Three alumni stop by the lab to tell the story of how they took a class assignment at 2am, developed it into their senior capstone project, and ultimately founded a medical device company that, six years later, received Class III Premarket Approval from the FDA. Avive is the youngest team to receive such a PMA and their founders were selected for the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30.
Their Automated External Defibrillator, the Avive Connect AED, is the first major innovation in the space for decades, and will, no doubt, save lives.
https://avive.life
IG: @avive_solutions
...but we start with Lock the Quill Office Hours.   

 

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website

One of my favorite professors, Gilbert Strang, comes by the lab to talk about his time at MIT since 1952. Anyone who knows professor Strang knows him to be one of the best mathematics teachers and a prolific writer with a heart of gold.
Professor Strang retired last spring (2023). His last 18.06 lecture was to a packed standing room of students, staff, faculty, friends, and family. We are privileged to have him visit the lab for this conversation.

...and Happy Birthday Professor!!

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website

After President Kornbluth's inauguration, end-of-year projects, finals, commencement, and a long summer break, we've ramped up for a second season. 

A three minute review of the more frivolous moments of season one, and a quick teaser of the soon-to-be-released season two premiere.

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website

As campus prepares for inaugural events, MIT's 18th President, Dr. Sally Kornbluth, visits the lab to talk with us about her move from Provost at Duke University in Durham NC to President of MIT. We talk about leadership, the early read on campus, and some thoughts about getting the job done.
We meet Lock the Quill's newest feet on the street, Danny and Dylan, of the Grounds Department, and we close the episode with an MIT presidents quiz with a number of students.

President Kornbluth's podcast, Curiosity Unbounded: https://news.mit.edu/2023/curiosity-unbounded-podcast-desiree-plata-0419

 

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website

MIT mechanical engineering professor Sangbae Kim drops by after 2.007 lecture to talk about the virtual / physical divide and his concept of physical intelligence - the  seemingly impenetrable category of subconscious physical tasks and motions that carries so much potential for the future of robotics and physical services.
We talk about his research and his group's shift to the integration of machine learning and model-based control, Moravec's paradox, and a couple of cats.

Cognitive bias: https://spectrum.ieee.org/humans-cognitive-biases-facing-ai
Professor Kim: https://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/[email protected]

Keep those entries coming for the Lock the Quill Global Challenge!

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website

Professor Maria Yang comes to the lab to talk about the early years at MIT and Stanford, and her research in design processes. We also chat about the discipline, and she shares the latest scuttlebutt on the Morningside Academy for Design.

We send off another sticker to the March Global Challenge winner, and test Maria's acronym and abbreviation recall skills.  Spoiler: she knows them...really well.

Morningside Academy for Design: https://design.mit.edu/
Maria Yang: https://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/[email protected]

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website

We first met Kait when she was an undergrad with us at MIT, and now she's back home as Professor Becker with the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
We talk about her experiences with the MIT Glass Lab and Pappalardo Lab, her post-graduate research with Rob Wood at Harvard, and her current projects at MIT.

We also chat about music and hatch a plan to roam the infinite corridor in T. Rex costumes.

So happy to have you back as part of the team, Kait!

 https://kaitbecker.com/
https://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/[email protected]

...and Bill responds to a heartfelt email. 

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website

We intercepted Sanjay Sarma before he took off for Logan Airport and meet in building 35 to discuss his book, Grasp - the Science Transforming How We Learn, education, and MIT.
Professor Sarma recently stepped down as MIT Vice President of Open Learning where he led MIT initiatives, such as MITx, edX, OpenCourseware, the Integrated Learning Initiative, and many others.  He is now heading to Malaysia, to take the tiller as President and CEO of the Asia School of Business.
https://asb.edu.my/

Another Lock the Quill Global Challenge winner is announced, and we reset the meter for March. Email your address to [email protected]. The farthest listener in March will win a Lock the Quill sticker, and *may* be a contender for a coveted T-shirt, though the competition is fierce.

Thanks to Professor Evan Ziporyn for the MIT Gamelan track!
https://arts.mit.edu/cast/

Podcast specific:
Podcast Instagram: @lockthequill
Comments or questions: [email protected]

The Lab at MIT:
Pappalardo Lab Instagram: @pappalardolab
Comments or questions: [email protected]
Pappalardo Lab website