grama @ mit

Signing Off

2007-01-04T11:15:00.000-05:00

My career as a part-time blogger has come to a screetching halt. I haven't posted anything in a long time. It's been almost a year since I started this blog, so it seems appropriate that I sign off with a few final thoughts.

I'm writing this as I'm waiting for a taxi to take me to the airport. I'm heading to South Africa (Lesotho, to be exact) to join the rest of my teammates who are currently building the first of three solar power units comissioned by the World Bank. I'll be there for three weeks, high in the mountains of Lesotho, in a small village called Bethel. Away from e-mail, phone and the small conveniences of modern life. I'm not sure what to expect, but it will be an interesting experience.

A few weeks ago we won the MIT $1K business plan competition with a business plan aimed at commercializing the system we're developing in Lesotho. Winning this small competition was a bit of a surprise, but it put a lot of wind in our sails. We're now considering forming a for-profit corporation to mass-produce these systems and make them available to a wider customer base in India. We'll see what happens...

Although my blogger career is ending, my student career is still going strong. I've extended my stay here at MIT for another semester to take a few more classes. I've also been offered a teaching assistant position which I couldn't refuse. If all goes well, I should finish by May at which point I plan to travel for a few months while pondering my future move.

I should end with a thought that has come to mind quite a bit. Friends and family always ask me "What have you learned at MIT?" My first reaction is to answer with a long list of methods, tools, techniques, etc. but I realized a while ago that the most important thing I've learned is to be a critical thinker, to analyze a situation and accept the fact that, most of the time, there is no right or wrong approach to it. What matters is "how" you think, not "what" you think. MIT has made me a better thinker. It has made me question everything around me and, in the process, generate more questions than answers!. But that's ok. Life is just a series of unanswered questions that constantly feeds my curiosity. With that thought, I'm off to my next adventure...

What's Up in Lesotho?

2006-10-15T19:25:00.000-05:00

Libby, one of our team members in South Africa, started a blog.
Here are her initial impressions and pictures:

http://libbywayman.blogspot.com/

I can't wait to go to Lesotho now. My plans are to go for 3 weeks in January to help with the system build and to capture some of the knowledge that they've accumulated so far.

A quick update on what we're doing here at MIT. Things have been very slooooow on the technological front. We haven't turned on the system since we finished it. I can go on and on about the lack of tools, how none of us have time, how the weather just doesn't cooperate, etc., but the reality is that we've lost the momentum when the team split.

The other day we finally had the right tools, the right people, and then... it started raining (the first rain in 2 weeks!!!). Just our luck! This weekend we made some small progress in plugging the holes in the working fluid loop. If the system can hold pressure, then the next thing would be to load it with refrigerant and give it a try on a nice, sunny day. Keeping my fingers crossed...

My 15 Minutes of Fame

2006-10-11T14:48:00.000-05:00

I walked into the Sloan building yesterday and saw my face everywhere. The Sloan Newsletter just published a short article I wrote about living, studying and working in another country. When they asked me to submit a picture of mine, I had no idea they would put me on the front cover. What were they thinking? :) I'm walking around and people are giving me that funny look: "Didn't I just see this guy somewhere?". It's a good thing the newsletter runs for only a week. I'm ready to slip back into the shadows so I can work on my next 15 minutes of fame.

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/pdf/NewsAtMITSloan_Issue69.pdf

Harvard vs. MIT (part 2)

2006-09-25T08:02:00.000-05:00

Early in my blogger career I wrote an article about the difference between Harvard and MIT. It was based on my initial impression of the two campuses. Now, a few months later, I got a chance to "peek under the hood" and understand the real difference between the two schools.

I had a chance to imerse myself in the Harvard environment by taking a couple of classes at Harvard Business School: Entrepreneurial Marketing and Energy. I love these two classes, by the way. The professors are great; the cases are relevant; the class contributions are solid. Plus, we get to meet the entrepreneurs who are the subject of these cases.

On the surface, the Harvard campus is a like a plush resort. Beautiful, manicured lawns, carpeted hallways, fancy cafeterias. Everything is spotless clean... and quiet! The students seem to match this environment: well-dressed, mature and very knowledgeable (intimidating at first, especially to an MIT student with only a hacker's knowledge of business fundamentals). The whole place oozes aristocracy. I mean, take a look at it!

If HBS is a plush resort, MIT is like a student dorm: messy hallways, busy corridors, tiny food establishments covered in posters, all sorts of experiments running around you (watch out so you don't trip over some wires or get in the way of some laser experiment). MIT is full of exhuberance, student curiosity and entrepreneurial spirit. I mean, where else would students find that the longest corridor in the school (the Infinite Corridor) can be used to measure the speed of light? The whole places oozes innovation.

(Above picture courtesy of http://web.mit.edu/planning/www/mithenge.html).

This is the Infinite Corridor at MIT. Twice a year, the sun's path crosses the axis of the corridor and you can see the sunset from the end of the 825 foot corridor. Becausue of the long, unobstructed path, the corridor was once used to demonstrate and calculate the speed of light. A laser pulse was fired from one end of the corridor and was reflected back from a mirror at the other end. The diference between the starting pulse and the return pulse was then displayed (and clearly seen) on an oscilloscope. That difference was the speed of light. Only at MIT!

Parabolas in the Sun

2006-09-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

And here's what they look like...
We tried to start the system the other day, but we ran out of fuel....ahhhh, I mean sun. Just as we were priming the pumps and getting all the pieces ready for the turbine to start, the clouds came in and ruined our test (a reminder of the limitations of our system: no sun, no heat, no electricity). So we took one last team picture and packed up for the day.
The sad part is that the team had to split before getting a chance to see the system running. Matt, Amy, Libby and Headley left for the South Africa on Thursday afternoon leaving myself, Sam and Bryan behind to pick up the pieces and figure out what to do with this thing. With school starting I won't be able to spend as much time on it. But there is hope! An MIT class (G-lab) is taking interest in our project and will work with us to devleop a business plan for the recently incorporated non-profit. More on that later...

Geekology

2006-08-26T09:23:00.000-05:00

Why does MIT excel at innovation? After spending the last couple of months in the basement of the machine shop in building 48, I think I know the answer. MIT students have access to an incredible array of supplies, tools, machine shops and labs. Most of students take advantage of this as professors, advisors and technical staff look on with a mix of mild bemusement, curiosity and pride. "Let the kids learn from their own mistakes", they seem to be saying.

I experienced what it's like to be a true MIT geek (not just a graduate student in a management program) while helping build the solar energy prototype this summer. One of my tasks this week was to mount a pulley to a motor shaft. First I had to pry the pulley off of a power steering pump using some brute force cutting.
Next, I had to attach the pully to the motor shaft shown below.
An off-the-shelf coupling would do this easily, but in true MIT fashion, the coupling had to be hand built. "Why buy it if you can build it?", seems to be mantra around here. In the real world it could be a recipe for disaster, but this is MIT and a true lesson in geekology required that I build my own coupling from a rod of aluminum 2" wide and 3" long.

I began my journey by acquiring the material from the central machine shop in buiding 36. This is a warehouse stocked with any material you can think of. The central machine shop seems to have a mystical significance around here. Everyone knows where it is, but it's a secret only known to those MIT students who care about this kind of stuff.
Next, I had to machine the part to make two holes of different diameters to fit the two shafts. I don't think I've ever used a lathe before, but after a 30-second introduction course, I was ready to go. Another discovery: MIT students love to share their knowledge and help you get on board with the tools and the labs.

And the final result: a nicely machined piece of aluminum. Total time to do this? About 1 hour (from the time I went to the stock room). I would've probably spent as much time researching and ordering the right coupling on-line.

After drilling and tapping four holes on the side, I attached the shaft and tested the whole assembly. It worked like a dream! The motor and the pulley will be used to turn the parabolas to follow the sun. Pretty exciting!

501(c)(3)

2006-08-26T08:44:00.000-05:00

We've done it! We've finally incoporated the non-profit organization. It is officially called Solar Turbine Group International, Inc. The principal aim is to provide financial, technical and intellectual assistance to sustainable energy projects for communities in the developing world.

I know! It sounds like a lofty goal, but it's a humble beginning. The main reason for incorporating was to provide a legal foundation for the project we're doing in South Africa and from there we extended it to include projects anywhere in the world. 501(c)(3) is the IRSs code which provides us with the tax exempt status. Most charitable organizations (but not all) fall in this category. However, our main goal for incorporating was not to take advantage of the tax exemption status, but to provide us with limited libility protection in case anything goes wrong. The world is a litigious place and we must prepare for anything.

What is my role in all this? Well, I'm a director of the organization (there are five of us). The directors are the ones who manage the affairs of the organization. It doesn't mean much right now because we're not going to be activelly raising funds and growing the organization (at least for now). But as a directors, we have the fiduciary responsibility to make sure the organization follows its goals and there are no conflicts of interest that could undermine the non-profit or tax-exempt status.

It's pretty exciting! I'm learning a lot about the non-profit world. For example, most non-profit organization end their fiscal year on Sept 30. Why? Because the end of September is the off-peak period for tax filings so the non-profits could get their accounting done for less (or even for free). My... they think of everything!

Our next step is to incorporate a separate for-profit organization later this fall to commercialize the technology developed by the non-profit organization.

Vacation Time?

2006-08-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

Summer session is finally over and I should be on vacation. But I'm really not. I've been working pretty much ever day on the solar energy project. We MUST finish it by Sept 7 when the core of the team leaves for South Africa and we still have a ton of work to do. After a quick start, we got bogged down on the little details of design and implementation (and there are a ton of them). This is not a simple system!

I'm not complaining, though. It's been a lot of fun and I think I'll look back at this as one of the most productive summers I've ever had. The other day we installed the solar concentrators and let them "float" freely. It was a major cause for celebration (never mind that we had to take them down the following weekend to redo the piping). Oh well, two steps forward, one step back.
Here's what the system looks right now (that's me trying to warm up a slice of pizza; the first real application of our solar energy system :).

System Dynamics

2006-08-05T08:44:00.000-05:00

System dynamics has turned out to be one of the best classes this summer. System dynamics uses the concept of feedback loops and simulation models to explain organizational, economic and social system behaviors. It was invented here at MIT by Jay Forrester who was a guest speaker at our class last week (it's amazing that at the age of 87, he is still just as fired up about system dynamics as he was when he invented the concept). System dynamics has taught me some of the most useful and practical concepts which I plan to use in my thesis (and to think that I almost didn't take the class...)

One of the simulation exercises we did was the so-called Beer Game. The game (which unfortunately doesn't involve actual beer) demonstrates how system dynamics comes into play in a simple supply chain compsed of a brewery (the manufacturer), a warehouse, a distribution center, and a retailer. A small disturbance in the customer order rate at the retailer end can cause havoc throughout the supply chain . Soon the order rate perceived at the manufacturer end begins to swing wildly even though the customer order rate at the retailer stays constant after a small, initial increase. Besides demonstrating the workings of the feedback loops, the game also shows what happens when people ignore the supply chain and make short-term decisions (the so-called bullwhip effect).

Our team actually won the beer game, much to our surpise. We managed to score below the average level (a lower score is better). The perfect score in this game I think is 200, but the average is about 2000 (which shows how badly people do in this game). Even though we did better than average we still experienced a significant bullwhip effect (the graphs on the right are our results compared with another team's results on the left; you can see the difference in the oscillations; we managed to keep ours at a lower level by being conservative in our ordering policy.

Tangential Front Following

2006-07-27T09:12:00.000-05:00

Say what!? This was one of the topics in today's systems engineering class taught by deWeck, a professor in the Aero-Astro Engineering department. It was probably one of the most mathematically intensive classes I've had so far. Even though I didn't understand some the theory (he lost me when he started talking about "eigenvectors"), I really enjoyed the lecture. This is what MIT is all about! I love it! One day we could be talking about tangential front following and isoperformance and the next day we could be talking about financial ratios and bond premiums.

Systems Engineering vs. Mountain Biking

2006-07-23T10:14:00.000-05:00

What do they have in common? Nothing, of course. Which is why I have to give up one for the other. Usually on Tuesday mornings a few MIT Outdoors Club members organize a mountain bike ride in the Fells, a wooded reservation just north of Cambridge. I can't make it to these rides because my System Engineering class which starts at 8:30 am. But last Tuesday I said "What the heck! I'm going to skip class and do the ride". I was glad I did. It was an awesome bike ride. It reminded me how much I miss the outdoors, the mountain biking, the exhilaration of running over obstacles, the feeling of crashing at any moment... Living in California I almost took this for granted, but now I need to make the extra effort to get out of the city and experience the great outdoors. Which is why I'm contemplating a hiking trip in the White Mountains during the break. I hope to convince some of my classmates to join me.

Fireworks

2006-07-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while... Serge, Nick, Fernando and I scored front row seats to the 4th of July fireworks show because of our auspicious affiliation with the MIT sailing club. (the week before we rented a couple of boats and sailed around the Charles River; that made us bona-fide sailors and gave us the privilege to view the fireworks from the sailing club dock).
The fireworks were launched from a barge right in front of us. Not only did we see the fireworks in all their splendor, we also felt them; every explosion sending shockwaves through our bodies moments after it spectacularly unfolded in the skies.

What Is Going On...

2006-07-12T16:13:00.000-05:00

in this world? I just turned the TV on for the first time in days to find out that the Big Dig tunnel is closed and the Boston area has apparently been hit by some major rainstorms. When did all this happen!? With school work ramping up, I'm either stuck in that bunker in building 9 (where my classes are held) or finishing some group assignment in the Student Center. The world keeps turning and I'm not even aware of major events happenning right here in my own backyard!

We're half way through the summer session and the amount of coursework is peaking (taking a cue from the spring semester, the midpoint is the toughest period). After next week, the load should go down and, maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to enjoy a day in the sunshine... or keep up with the news.

Before and ...

2006-07-08T17:09:00.000-05:00

after? I'm hoping that some day, a solar concentrator system will take up this space. Ahh, what a beautiful sight that would be! Our team is busy spending the Ignite money on a prototype system that will help us showcase our technology to potential investors (and, of course, the prototype will also help us figure out how to build the systems more efficiently in South Africa).

For now, the MIT Facilities department has agreed to let us install the system on a parking lot in West Campus (at the end of the soccer fields). I've marked up the site and with a bit of luck, we may have a system installed on this very spot at the end of the summer. Keeping the fingers crossed!

Financial Accountability

2006-07-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

I love the Finance and Accounting class! Even the most dedicated CPA would agree that accounting is the most boring subject you could take (especially during the summer!). Which is why I think the professor is phenomenal because he manages to make it interesting while at the same time fun and engaging. To be sure, we're not learning how to do basic accounting, instead we're learning how to analyze financial statements and manage financial expectations. We're learning where the boundaries are and what rules to follow.

This is a really interesting topic in the post-Enron world. For example, how did Enron manage to hide its losses? Let's see if I can remember... Enron was showing revenue coming from sales to entities which were "sufficiently, but not totally independent" of Enron (these were the shadow companies established by Skilling and Fastow). However, because they were not really independent, Enron should've included their gains/losses in a consolidated financial statement. Basically these "independent" firms were taking the losses that should've shown on Enron's financial statements.

The lesson here is that, as future managers, we may find ourselves in a position where we could influence the financial reports of our companies. With the lessons from the Enron or WorldCom fiascos and Sarbanes-Oxley hanging over our heads, this is a pretty heavy burden...

World Cup Fever

2006-06-28T11:51:00.000-05:00

I was supposed to start my thesis this semester, but I've been procrastinating. Major procrastination! But I have a couple of reasons. One of them, I'm taking an extra class (Business Dynamics) so I have less time than I was envisioning. The other is, World Cup Soccer. I'm so wrapped in it! I don't know why. Maybe because it's only every 4 years. Or maybe because the school schedule has made it easy to catch a game here and there (well, ok, almost every other game) between classes, homeworks and other reading assignments. It also helps to have an on-campus bar that shows every game (Muddy Charles has been my official WC Soccer headquarters). Regardless the reasons, I think I'll always remember the summer of 2006 as a hot summer spent between watching soccer games and doing Dupont ratio analysis. cheering for Mexico and Portugal to support my friends...

Summer School

2006-06-26T01:30:00.000-05:00

I love summer school! It reminds me of my undergrad days when I took summer classes to catch up with studies after my internships. I love it because it's so laid back, it's not crowded and I can always reward myself with some outdoor fun after studying for Accounting or Business Dynamics.
I'm taking four classes this semester, more than I had planned, but if I can finish my engineering electives this summer (with Business Dynamics) I can take it easier in the fall when there are many more activities and distractions. Business Dynamics is, in fact, turning out to be the most interesting class this summer. I was reading an article in the NY Times this morning about the rising ethanol production in United States and I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the positive and negative reinforcement loops that drive this new business. Ok, that's a sign of too much studying! I need to go watch a soccer game...

Avian Flu?

2006-06-25T23:58:00.000-05:00

Romania was in the midst of an avian flu warning when we travelled which made this sight quite common as we drove through villages that had the unfortunate distinction of being hit by the virus that COULD cause avian flu. Of course, no one in Romania died of it yet (the virus hadn't been detected in humans), but the authorities didn't want to take any chances. With the European Union decision hanging over their heads, a good showing in the fight agains avian flu was very important. Yup, that's our fate! Always defending the rest of Europe from some Eastern invasion. :)

Transylvania - Myth and Reality

2006-06-25T23:55:00.000-05:00

If there is one tourist trap in Romania, it must be Sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad The Impaler, also known as Dracula. He was a famous in Romania not for his vampire shenanigans, but for defeating the Turks and keeping his kingdom independent. Growing up in Transylvania I had never heard of Bram Stoker's novel until I moved to America. People's eyes would lit up when I would tell them I'm from Transylvania. "You mean Dracula's land?" "How cool!" "Are you a vampire?"

Why Bram Stoker chose Transylvania for the setting of his famous novel, I'll never know. But a centry later, we can credit him for launching Romania's tourist industry as old, medieval towns like Sighisoara have become "must see" tourist attractions. I had a chance to visit Sighisoara this time around (I was there a long time ago during a school field trip so I didn't remember much of it). If you ignore the other tourists, the vendors who try to sell you everything in sight and the beggar children who know they can make a good profit from clueless tourists, you'll enjoy the sights. I was surprised how small the town is. I walked through the narrow streets and up to the 14th century gothic cathedral on the hill.

The tower at the entrance of the fortress looks as imposing as it did centuries ago. One of the smaller towers used for defending attackers still shows the pockmarks from the last assault a few centuries ago.
Of course, you can't miss Dracula's birthplace; it's been converted into a fancy and expensive restaurant. So that Dracula's spirit may suck the blood out of all those hapless and hungry tourists.

Signs of Progress

2006-06-11T14:53:00.000-05:00

Just got back from Romania, my second trip in less than a year. I'm still amazed at the progress the country has made in the last few years. But the old ways of living cannot dissapear overnight which makes for an interesting contrast everywhere: the old and the new living side by side. Take for example the new trains that run now between the major cities: fast, clean and comfortable; a huge contrast with the old, clunky and dirty trains that still carry the majority of passangers.

It's easy to confuse this with the rich vs. the poor, but I prefer to think of it as the old vs. the new. Outside Sighisoara I ran upon this old couple with a donkey-pulled cart. It's quite rare to see them these days. On the same road that this cart travels, you may very well see the latest BMW flashing by.

Further down the road I saw this old man with his hybrid horse/car contraption (I guess we'll call this a one horse-power car). A rare sight indeed. Ok, so not everyone can afford a BMW yet.

Vacation

2006-05-17T01:08:00.000-05:00

I'm off to Romania for a 3-week vacation. Amynescu's been busy with her film and she could really use my help. I helped her start it, and I should help help her finish it. I'm looking forward to doing something else other than writing papers, reading articles and figuring out how to do risk assessments.

Pieces of My Thesis

2006-05-17T00:39:00.000-05:00

Tech Strategy was my favorite class in the second half. Partly because I liked Mary Tripsas' teaching style: lively, funny and insightful. So much so, I asked her to be my thesis advisor. But, wait! What's my topic? Most sane people figure out their thesis topic first and then look for an appropriate advisor. I did it completely backwards. After asking Mary to be my advisor I started thinking of possible topics. So I asked Mary to suggest some topics (isn't that what an advisor is for?). She seemed really excited about this solar power stuff that I've got myself into so she encouraged me to explore it. Hmmm! I do think energy (and especially clean energy) will be an important area of research and innovation in the coming years. So it may not be a bad idea to do a thesis on clean, renewable energies. Who knows? It may even lead to some entrepreneurial opportunities in the future.

A Lifetime of Knowledge

2006-05-16T23:44:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed the "Organizing for Innovative Product Development" class taught by Tom Allen. Tom is one of the foremost authorities in organizational structures and designs. His ground-breaking studies of communication patterns among engineers have produced often-quoted principles like the Allen Curve: the frequency of communication between engineers drops off exponentially as the distance between them increases. After about 50 m, there's very little communication between groups of engineers. His research studies have led to new organizational structures and building designs. The class was a bit slow; we could've probably finished it in 3 or 4 sessions. The advantage of having a professor like Allen is that he could give us a lifetime of learning in a nice, concise module. Not many professors can summarize their teachings so well. Tom did. And I feel fortunate to have had him as a professor (not least because this may be the last class he'll teach before retiring - which made me think of this picture I took in the spring: the young blossoming tree next to the old perennial).

Oh, and yes, he did answer my question regarding the concentration of biotech firms near MIT. Biotech is one of the industries that feeds directly on science and converts it to marketable products (unlike other industries where science needs to be converted to technology/engineering and then to a product). And were would you find the best scientists? At MIT of course.

And the Winners Are...

2006-05-10T14:11:00.000-05:00

... third place: Synergetic Power Systems!

Not bad considering we put all this together in just 3 months. I'm psyched! The grand prize winner was a company called Stellaris that has patents, customers and is well on its way to being a real start-up (we're not even incorporated, but that may change now). Winning a prize in this competition is a great validation for us: we have something here and we should continue to develop our technology.

However, this was not the biggest news that we received last night. We now have a customer for our product. A customer that has big, deep pockets and offices in every country of the world: it's called the World Bank. Yup, we received a $130K grant from the World Bank to develop this technology and make it available to emerging marktes around the world, starting in South Africa. The World Bank grant was not connected at all with the Ignite Clean Energy competition (in fact, the application for this grant was done before I even joined the team), but it should help us tremendously with our US-based business plan. Here's a huge pot of money (with some strings attached) which will help us develop prototypes and validate the concept. And better yet, we don't have to sell our souls to the (VC) devil...

Ignite Clean Energy

2006-05-07T19:35:00.000-05:00

I've spent most of the weekend working on our presentation for Ignite Clean Energy business plan competition. The final competition is on Tuesday night. We're competing with nine other teams for a grand prize of... who knows how much. It doesn't really matter. I've already learned so much through this process that even if we don't win anything on Tuesday, we'll all be better off after going through this entire process. I have to say, we've developed a nice little business plan (considering that it all started with a few half-baked ideas just 3 months ago). Our team has put on a tremendous effort including in-depth market research, meetings with potential business partners, marathon brainstorming sessions, financial analysis, practice pitches, etc. Along the way we've done a lot of organizational soul searching and got to know each other pretty well. If we win anything, we may even incorporate and attempt to start a new business. If we don't win anything, well..., the fond memories will remain. I found this picture of our team on the Ignite web site.

Entrepreneurship, Finance and Law

2006-05-07T19:10:00.000-05:00

While looking through the catalog of Sloan classes that I should take this fall, I found an interesting one called "Basic Business Law Tilted Towards Innovation and Strategy". Now, business law can put me to sleep sometimes, but, as an aspiring entrepreneur, it can also put me out of business if I don't pay attention to issues like contracts, patents and employment law. The course promises to: teach "legal issues that arise in the context of innovation and development of busines strategy including the legal framework of transnational business, developing cutting-edge technologies and products, and restructuring and repositioning major corporations." Sounds very interesting! So I plunked down all my 1000 Sloan bid points hoping to get into this class which is only taught in the fall and has a limited enrollment of 55.

My reasoning is that in the spring I focused mainly on entrepreneurship (entrepreneurship Sloan class, business plan competitions, etc.). In the summer I'll be focusing more on finance (we're taking the Accounting and Managerial Finance class which is required for SDM). That leaves the fall semester to focus on business law so I can round up my knowledge for a career in small business or entrepreneurship. I'm psyched!

Creative Space

2006-04-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

Excellent guest lecture today by Prof. Gunter Henn from Dresden Technical Institute. Prof Henn is the architect who designed BMW's R&D center in Munich. His premise is that physical space has a direct effect on organizational structure (and vice-versa). A hierarchical organization will prefer traditional office spaces (individual, closed offices), whereas a network organzation will prefer a more open space (open desk areas with high ceiliings, for example). Creativity is bred in large open spaces where the right people come together at the right time to solve a problem. A work environment should stimulate communication while protecting concentration and these seemingly opposite goals can be achieved with the right architecture and organizational structure.

Lately, I've re-discovered the idea that I'm more creative in open spaces and more productive when I interact with people. Today's lecture confirmed my thoughts. At one point, Dr Henn postulated that "the higher the ceiling, the more creative you are". Hmm! This may explain why I tend to gravitate to the lobby of 77 Mass Ave, the large open area with the domed ceiling at the entrace of MIT. There's a Peets Coffee in the corner and I usually get my caffeine shot there every morning. Maybe it's not just the caffeine buzz I'm searching for, but that ever-elusive spark of creativity?
PS. Rajiv wrote a much more detailed summary of this lecture in his blog.

Brain Drain

2006-04-24T10:11:00.000-05:00

Given MIT's reputation in the scientific world, it should be no surprise that corporate America is knocking on its doors looking to hire the best and the brightest students. What is surprising (at least to me) is to see that some companies are setting up shop right in the shadow of the Institute. Interestingly enough most of these companies that circle the campus are biotech or pharmaceutical companies. I wonder why? Is it because they're so addicted to MIT's best brains that they need their "fix" as soon as a promising result becomes available?

MIT always takes pride in its connection with the industry. But, for me, these pharmaceuticals are a little too ubiquitous. Why don't we have an IBM or an Oracle or a Google in our backyard?

New Media

2006-04-23T16:32:00.000-05:00

Great article in this week's Economist about the rise of a new form of media: participatory media, as opposed to mass media. It turns out that as a blogger, I'm the forefront of this media revolution. How so? Mass media uses the classic one-to-many approach to disseminate information from content creators to an audience. Participatory media uses a many-to-many approach to disseminate the same information; more like a "conversation" rather than a "lecture". Examples of new media are blogs, podcasts, and Wikipedia. The survey goes on to predict a media revolution on the same scale as the one that happened 600 years ago when Gutenberg invented the movable type. Wow! That a bold prediction. Will these "new media" predictions be as good as the "new economy" predictions of a few years ago? One thing is certain, there is a revolution; we just don't know how deep its impact will be. We'll see...

Long Weekend

2006-04-19T07:36:00.000-05:00

Ahhh! What a relief! A much needed long weeekend to catch up on school and life. Monday was Patriots Day holiday here in MA and Tuesday was a special "student holiday" at MIT (now I know the reason behind this special student holiday: the last couple of weeks have been horrendously busy). I took advantage of the holiday to catch up on my ERBA lectures (second exam is coming up), do my taxes (I've never waited until the last minute), and, of course, do a couple of long bike rides. On Sunday I rode around Boston and ended up, by chance, in Copley Square the finishing point of the Boston Marathon. I walked along the route and watched people who would never, ever run a marathon take pictures of themselves crossing the finish line. On Monday I went to the Fells reservation where I could forget about asphalt, cars and pedestrians, and remind myself how to negotiate between all those sharp-edged rocks, exposed roots and other obstacles. On the way back I took a picture of this sign on the road. I always wondered, does anybody read these signs backwards?

Asleep at the Wheel

2006-04-16T08:46:00.000-05:00

Michelle Pelluso, the CEO of Travelocity, was the featured speaker in the CEO Perspectives class that I'm auditing on Wednesday nights. She was very laid back, casually dressed and spoke to us while perched on the table at the front of the room; a huge contrast with the other CEOs that came before her. I enjoyed her casual style, approachable nature and (perceived) soft management skills. Which comes to show that you don't have to be a high-strung, tough-as-nails, superachiever to become a CEO. Or so I thought... Until she said she'll answer every e-mail that is sent to her within 24 hours, no matter what the subject is or whether she's on vacation, traveling or working at the office. Which begged the question: How do you manage to do all these things and still have a life? Her simple answer: "I don't like to get a lot of sleep". Ouch! I guess being a CEO means never falling asleep at the wheel...

The Big Apple

2006-04-15T10:07:00.000-05:00

Nineteen years ago, when I first set foot on American soil, I had one and only one wish: to see the Statue of Liberty. As soon as we landed at JFK, I asked my dad if we can go see the Statue, that quintessential symbol of America who greets new immigrants and welcomes them into the land of freedom. But timing, logistics and rush-hour traffic prevented us from doing even a drive-by. And so, my American experience started with a few images of Manhattan, dark cornfields of Pennsylvania and then... my new hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. I never had another chance to go back to NYC after that. So it should come as no surpirse that my American experience should be unfullfileld until such time when I get to see New York and the Statue of Liberty in all of its splendor.

And now that I'm on the East Coast, I had to go see it. During spring break I made a run for the Big Apple. To keep with the immigrant theme, I took the Chinatown bus, a Greyhound-like bus that ferries mostly students and Chinese shoppers between the two cities with incredible speed and efficiency. From Chinatown, the Statue of Liberty was a relatively short walk. And so, on a beautiful March afternoon I sat on a bench in Battery Park and marveled at the Statue. From a mile away it seemed small and unimportant. And then I realized how appropriate this should be: its symbolism has gotten smaller over the years. It's as if Lady Liberty's torch no longer burns the same mixture of promise, idealism and wide-eyed immigrant curiosity as it did 19 years ago. Slightly dissapointed, I walked back towards Midtown and lost myself into the turmoil of the Big Apple, searching for a new symbol of promise and hope.

Promise and Hope

2006-04-15T09:42:00.000-05:00

Our team made it into the finals of the Ignite Clean Energy business plan competition. It's a huge achievement for us. Last Tuesday we presented our plan to a private panel of five judges: three VCs, a university director and a CEO. We must've said something right because they picked our team for the finals (9 teams out of 30 made it). What have we got ourselves into!? Our next step is a presentation to a panel of judges (in a public setting this time) on May 9th at MIT.

Catching Up

2006-04-14T08:42:00.000-05:00

I haven't written much lately, but that's not because there's nothing going on. Quite the opposite. There's too much going on! School is incredibly busy, the business competitions are heating up, the social network is widening and I find myself with less and less time to blog. Through all this I try to remind myself to "stop and smell the flowers" sometimes (it's spring time, after all!).

If I do so, I'll discover all those interesting little surprises that life offers. Like this lost toy that I saw on the side of the road the other day. She sat there lonely and dejected, calling to its owner who perhaps had forgotten about her upon seeing his friends at the park accross the street.

Slammed!

2006-04-08T10:02:00.000-05:00

It's only been a week since we started school again, but it's been a fast and furious time. I've been slammed with school work this week which explains the lack of activity on the blog (reading some of the other blogs, looks like I'm not the only one in this position).

I was already behind in my classes before the semester even started. The second class on Monday is a new class (Tech Strategy). This is a case study-based class and, apparently, everyone but me read the case beforehand. Needless to say, I didn't have much to contribute. I hate showing up unprepared for class. "I'll catch up quickly", I said to myself. And catching up I did... all week long. I had to get up to speed with my PDD team, the business plan for the Ignite competition was (and still is) full of holes and unexplained assumptions, the readings were piling up.... and the hours of sleep were going down. Thankfully the weekend is here to save me from this vicious cycle (I slept for 11 hours last night. Ahhhh, what a relief!).

It's funny how the weekends are no longer a time of relaxation, but a time to catch up on readings and sleep. That's student life for you!

Midterm Report

2006-03-30T10:56:00.000-05:00

It's Spring break time at MIT. We're half way through the semester and it's time to pause and take stock. Amynescu asked me what I thought about it so far. My short answer: I'm a happy sponge. I don't have much to complain about and I'm learning a ton of things.

I've decided to treat myself with a short vacation to NY. I've only been to NY once, but didn't spend much time there. Fresh off the boat from Romania, I got a glimpse of NY as I was being carted away to my new home in Ohio. Everything was amazing! I remember the lights, the impossibly tall sky-scrapers, the stores full of electronics, people walking around everywhere. Now, 19 years later, I'll be able to look at NY with a whole different set of eyes: a tourist in my own country.

Perfunctorily!?

2006-03-27T15:52:00.000-05:00

What the heck does "perfunctorily" mean? I knew the East Cost was different, but I didn't realize that moving here required learning a new dialect. Should I walk around with a Webster's in my pocket? Of coahse, they'll say, this is Boston! What are you thinking? Man, this place is wicked wee-id! That's it, I'm going out for some chowda'...

Suspense Is Over

2006-03-27T10:36:00.000-05:00

Ok, so we didn't make it into the semi-finals of the $50K. Bummer! We thought we had a pretty good plan, but the judges didn't think so. The sad thing is, the whole team (all 6 of us) went to Tuesday's award presentation and sat through the entire 2-hour presentation only to find out that we didn't make the cut. We were quite dejected afterwards. Of the 160 submissions, 15 of them were selected out of the Entrepreneurship for Devleopment track. The other 26 that were selected were from the classic business venture track. Lessons learned? Plenty. Our financial viability wasn't rated very high by the judges. Should we have competed as a non-profit? Perhaps. It would've made it easier to justify a profit in Year 3 and 4 of operations. After all, we're doing this to save the world, people! Not to make a load of money.

Epilogue is.... There's none! We're moving foward with the business plan and hoping to get it in front of some of the VCs around here. Who knows? Someone may find our plan viable. Supposedly the first lesson you learn in entreprenership is to never give up even when others tell you you're out of your mind. I couldn't agree more...

Getting Nervous

2006-03-21T07:52:00.000-05:00

Life without a little suspense would be really boring! Suspense gets our adrenaline going, gives us a reason to hope. Of course, there's the flip side: despair and dissapointment. I always try to balance the two. Whenever faced with an uncertain outcome I mentally prepare myself for either outcome: positive or negative. I always keep my emotional rollercoaster from going into extreme highs and lows.

Tomorrow we'll find out if we made it into the semi-finals for the $50K competition. This year they received 160 entries for both tracks (traditional business venture and entrepreneurship for development). I'm not sure how many will make it to the second round, but I'll estimate about a quarter of them (the judges probably don't want to be overburdened with too many business plans). If we get in, great! If not, we've got the other competitions to worry about (by the way, we made it into the semi-finals of the Ignite competition).

This week I'll also find out how I did on the ERBA quiz, the first quiz of my newly revived student career. Ahhhh, this is what it means to be a student! Nervously anticipating the results of an exam. I think I got most of the answers right, but I've been known to make stupid mistakes in the past (without even realizing it). So I'm caustiously optimistic... What's my contingency plan? There's always next year :))

City Bike

2006-03-19T08:23:00.000-05:00

My bike has never been a city bike. It was raised in Marin county, the birthplace of mountain biking, and still bears the signs of a rough life in the great outdoors (dents and scratches, a few missing spokes), consequences of many un-intentional cartwheeling manouvers performed in tandem with its owner. But those scratches and wounds are nothing compared with what could happen here in the city. City life is much tougher for a bike and owner who are not used to riding in the city (see next posting). But we're all adapting these days, so with the spring weather just around the corner I decided it was time to take the bike out for a spin. First I had to buy a lock to make sure nobody is tempted to ride it in the sunset without my consent. Then, I had to take a picture of it, so if it ever gets stolen I will remember what it looked like; it still looks weird sitting on the sidewalk, chained to a signpost :(
Then I rode it carefully to school, stopping at every stop light, watching for every car passing by, carefully studying the parked cars in case someone decides to open a door just as I pass by. Frightening experience! I timed to see how long it takes me to get to school. Official time: 6 minutes. Wow!! It takes me about 30 minutes to walk to school and just about as long to take the T. This is an 80% improvement! Talking about system optimization. With that statistic, the bike has become my preferred means of transportation to school. Next step, check my renters insurance, just in case... Final analysis:

renters insurance: $180
bike lock: $40
chance to sleep a few extra minutes in the moring: priceless

Ode to the Fallen Bikes

2006-03-19T08:06:00.000-05:00

City life can be very precarious, especially if you were a bike. Not a day goes by without noticing a dismembered, rusted out bike on the sidewalk. And I always wonder what happened to those fallen bikes? How did they become such a casualty? Did they get vandalized, forgotten by their owners, devoured by weather and time? At one point they were the dream of a child, the pride and joy of a new owner... And look at them now!

I wonder if my bike will survive life in this urban battleground. How long before someone decides to walk away with a few "souvenirs" from my bike: the seat, the bike computer, a wheel, who knows? But one thing is for sure, my bike will never end up on a sidewalk because of my own neglect. If I ever get tired of it or replace it, I will donate it to someone who will appreciate it at least half as much as I do.

Darwin's - The Evolution of Coffee Shops

2006-03-19T07:39:00.000-05:00

I have the fortune to live right around the corner from a great coffee shop. Darwin's Ltd is a wonderful coffee shop famous around here for its sandwiches and laid-back atmosphere. I love it because of the free wireless access, the strong espresso and the excellent music they pipe through the speakers.

So while most people are still asleep on Sunday morning, I'm out blogging at the coffee shop. It's 7:00 am. What the hell am I thinking? There's nobody around. Shouldn't I be sleeping in and relaxing like every normal human being? Nah! This is my most productive time! I'm still a morning person despite the fact that I'm in school and getting used to pulling late-nighters.
I'm all alone with my thoughts here at the coffee shop. But not for too long. A few people with small children just strolled in. I feel sorry for the parents. Unlike me, they didn't have much choice but to wake up and take the kids for a stroll. But look at it on the bright side! We get to see what may possibly be the last snowflakes of the season. Yup, it started snowing with big, fluffy snowflakes. They're gone in an instance though. It seems the sunny spring weather is not ready to give in to a full snowstorm.

Music and Homework

2006-03-15T00:54:00.000-05:00

I'm listening to KCRW while cramming for the ERBA quiz. I discovered KCRW while living in LA and, thanks to its Internet broadcast, I've been listening to it everywhere I go. It's an eclectic mix of progressive pop, international jazz, classical music, you name it. They podcast one of their more popular programs (Morning Becomes Eclectic). Another reason I should get an iPod (I've been resisting all these years). Hmmm.... Let's see... www.apple.com

Designing and Leading the Entrepreneurial Organization

2006-03-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

This tongue-twister of a title is the official name of one of my Sloan classes this semester (I'll call it the "entrepreneurship class" from now on). This class is based on case studies of various entrepreneurial organizations. As such, it relies heavily on class participation to analyze the different situations.

When the semester first began, the classroom was bursting with first-year MBA students many of which had signed up because of professor Diane Burton's awesome reputation (she's returning to lecturing after a one-year hiatus, I believe). Diane Burton's reputation is well deserved. She conducts the class well, but the class participation is pretty weak: half-baked opinions, confusing thoughts, long-winded answers, etc. (not to say that my own participation has been any better; there have been no pearls of wisdom coming out of my mouth). Despite Diane's best efforts to extract the essence of these case studies from us, we rarely express the main points clearly and objectively. So in the end, it's up to her to unveil the curtain and show us what went right or wrong with that particular case. Despite all this, I'm learning something from every single case we study: powerful lessons and reminders reinforced by my own work experience in an entrepreneurial organization.

Here's one...

Organizational models are defined by the founders of the organization. Some observers may think that all start-ups are the same, but that's not true. Different founders come up with different organizational models based on their personal beliefs and values. Furthermore, founders have a long-term effect on the structure and culture of an organization. Changes in these models are difficult to undertake and can be catastrophic in some cases. Stanford did a study on this and came up with 5 basic organizational models as defined by three different measures: employee attachment, selection of employees and the type of control/coordination enforced upon employees.

Ok, enough of this... If you're really interested, read about these models at: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2001/summer/1a/

Entrepreneurs of the World, Unite!

2006-03-12T21:27:00.000-05:00

I've been approached by Romania's honorary consulate in Boston to help with an entrepreneurship competition in Romania. (I met the consul by chance in Romania last fall and I got in touch with him recently. He lives in Boston, but travels frequently between US and Romania).

The competition will be modeled after MIT's $50K competition (I guess since I'm in the MIT competition, that makes me a bit of an "expert" on it). Despite my dubious qualifications, I offered to help the student teams in Romania with questions about business planning (with my access to MIT resources I should be able to contribute somehow). The competition will be judged by a panel of Romanian and US judges and the winners will be flown to US to present their business plans to interested VCs.

My, how times are changing! Just 16 years ago Romania was firmly planted in the lofty ideals of communism. And look at it now: a fertile ground for entrepreneurs and VCs, the essence of capitalism.

Running For the Law

2006-03-12T18:26:00.000-05:00

... a mile by mile account of my first official running race.

Boston's second annual "A Run to Remember" race in honor of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty took place today. A few of us in the SDM '06 class decided this would be a good team-building activity and registered to run the race. Team-building or charitable goals aside, I've never run more than 3 miles in my life, so my main motivation was to score a personal best in distance AND time. You see, official race results (collected with a super-high-tech timing chip) will be stored in perpetuity somewhere on the Internet and they'll haunt me forever. Next time someone will Google me, those results will be the first to show up and it wouldn't look good if it took me 2 hours to run a 5 mile course, would it? The stakes were high!

So, there I was on a crisp, beatiful March morning, sitting at the starting line with the timing chip planted on my foot, bar code pasted on my leg, high on sugar and caffeine, feeling like a super-human android; ready to run my first official race.
Mile 0.0 - just as the race was about to start, I had to take a leak so I split from the group and made my way to the port-o-pottys. Shoot! I was already starting late! But that was ok, my super-high-tech timing chip was going to record the net running time, not the gun time.
Mile 0.1 - I'm running, it feels good. I'm passing people. Yeah, this is great!
Mile 0.5 - the first hill. I hear groans behind me. I have no problems. I'm just gaining strength. Wait, what is that? A jdate.com ad? I'm wondering if they let non-jewish people join.
Mile 1 - entering downtown Boston. This is really my second time in downtown Boston (during the daytime, at least) and what am I doing? I'm running. How can I enjoy the beautiful historic sights? Mental note: I must come back when I'm not in such a rush.
Mile 1.5 - the first water station. Nahhh! Don't need it yet! I must not break my pace. The street is littered with trash now. Someone needs to invent a better hydration system that produces less waste. If I fail PDD class and have to take it again, this will be my next idea.
Mile 1.9 - spit on the road. What?! Women are spitting? I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not very nice. I keep my mucuous substances in check.
Mile 2.5 - the first race fans show up on the sidewalk. I'm looking for signs that say "Go, Sorin, GO!". No luck. What happened? Where's the cheering gallery?
Mile 3.0 - Beginning un-explored territory of my physical strength. Will my legs last for another 2 miles? No problems so far. I'm still running strong.
Mile 3.2 - Yes, first chance to take a short-cut and reduce my time. Nahhhh, let's not cheat!
Mile 4 - I'm feeling great! I'm passing people! I have a chance to win this race. I know it! All these people ahead of me are running the half-marathon race that started earlier.
Mile 4.5 - I hear the music at the finish line. My moment of glory is getting closer. I'm picking up the pace.
Mile 4.7 - I turn the corner and see the finish line. If I could only pass these two runners in front of me, I'll be the winner. I'm running as fast as I could. I don't feel my legs anymore. I imagine myself being crowned the winner; wreath on my head, gold medal around my neck, waiving at the adoring crowd below me. The greatest 5-mile racer ever.
Mile 4.999 - What? Someone's trying to steal the victory from me. That can't be! I lunge forward. I make it! I win!
What does the race time say? It took me 45 minutes to run? Ah, that's great. But wait... There are the official race results. I can't believe my eyes! There were some 700 people ahead of me!? I must've entered a time-warp because I surely felt I was the winner.

All in all, it was a great time. I really enjoyed the race and the company (thanks to Serge for his smooth organizing). After the race I split from the group and walked back home taking a circuitous route through historic downtown Boston. I treated myself with a big pasta lunch and 2-hour powernap afterwards and when I woke up I realized I'm just an average human being: official race results - 44:18.

Business Plans

2006-03-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

I just spent the last 4 hours re-writing the business plan for our $50K entrepreneurship competition. After meeting with the advisors last week we realized that our plan was too idealistic and needed to be grounded in some good ole' fashioned business concepts (just because this is a business venture for the developing world it doesn't mean that the investors don't want their money back). They're investing in a business not donating money to charity! I spent part of the weeekend raking my brains trying to figure out how to show that this could be a sustainable venture. I think targeting India as the initial market may be the answer.
By the way, here's a picture of what the prototype system in Lesotho looks like:
Executive summaries are due on Wednesday. We'll find out if we made it to the semi-finals on March 22.

Intellectual Property

2006-03-04T08:52:00.000-05:00

Of all classes this semester, Innovation in the Marketplace stands out as the most philosophical one. Eric von Hippel is either a great professor or a great magician! He takes takes a topic, turns it upside down and makes it stand on its head. Sometimes my brain is trying to resist his logic (that can't be right, professor!), but in the end his logic really make sense. Take for example, the "lead-user innovation" concept. In some industries, the lead-users, not the manufacturers are the ones who innovate most. For example, when it comes to scientific instruments, 77% of the innovations were concieved by the advanced users of those instruments. Manufacturers tend to develop dimension-of-merit innovations while users are the ones who tend to develop the novel functional capabilities. His logic made me think about my own experiences as an innovating lead user. Ha! That's exactly what I did when I made that little ProgramIC board. I was a lead-user myself and didn't even know it! But wait! The story goes on. My idea didn't go unnoticed. It wasn't long before the big manufacturer took notice and developed one of its own. Just like von Hippel would predict...

But the most controversial topic is the intellectual property topic. Von Hippel assertion is that intellectual property protection is no longer serving the purpose for which it was originally designed: to stiumlate innovation by protecting the innovator's idea from being copied. As it turns out, IP protection has the opposite effect in industries like biotech and software. The chance to discover new drugs, for example, are reduced when a firm has to license tens of patents before it can proceed. IP in this case will stifle innovation!

This had many of us scratching our heads. You mean, the society is better off without IP protection? That's exactly what von Hippel is trying to assert...

Anatomy of a Brainstorm Session

2006-03-04T08:20:00.000-05:00

We've been slacking off on our Product Design and Development assignments. It was time for a a team meeting to decide on a concept (as a reminder, we're doing a produce plastic bag dispenser). We picked an empty classroom in building 1 (inadvertently kicking out a class that was to start an hour later in that same room) and held an intense brainstorm. Rules of the game: 1) anything goes, and 2) don't judge the ideas (we'll do that later). We started with the "classic" ideas we had in our minds all along. Ziv presented his printer roller idea to an approving look from Regan:
Then it was Shelley's turn to present her ideas (drawing a skeptical look from Ziv):
As we went on, something interesting happened. We started to think "outside the box". What if we don't even need a bag? What if we can just drop the item in a black box that wraps it up nicely, labels it and prints the price? Hmmm... The brainstorm was starting to kick-in some good ideas. Every piece of blackboard in that room was covered. We began to shout out crazy thoughts. Tempers flared! It became so intense that Ziv almost strangled Regan! In turn, I almost choked Ziv with the object of our attention: the puny plastic bag.
Of course, we were just having fun. The brainstorm session was a great succcess. We have some "safe" concepts, but we also have some far-out ones that need to be explored further.

Tell Me It's Spring Time

2006-03-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

It's March already and I can just begin, just begin to hope that winter will be over soon. It seems my hopes are not unfounded.

I love spring. It's probably my favorite season. Having lived in California for the last 9 years, I haven't experienced a real spring in a long time. I can't wait!

Hook, Line and Sinker

2006-03-01T07:46:00.000-05:00

I bit into this MIT $50K competition so hard and now I'm hooked beyond escape. The team I joined (Synergetic Power Systems) has an idea for a renewable energy source. We're entering not only the $50K competition (pshaw..., that's pocket change!), but we're also entering four (count them, 4) more competitions: Ignite Clean Energy, EPA P3, MIT IdeaStream and a WorldBank competition to top it off.

That means very little sleep especially when all executive summaries are due about the same time. But it's fun! I'm already learning so much (even though I'm not getting any credit for it). I'm finding out that the extracurricular activities here at MIT are sometimes worth more than the classes I'm taking.

For the $50K competition we'll be entering the Entrepreneurship for Devleopment Track which is new this year. This competition is focused on business plans targeting low-income communities in developed and developing countries. Ok, so here's our pitch...
---------------
Over 2 billion people in emerging market economies are without access to electricity, heating, cooling and hot water. The United Nations Environment Programme predicts that global energy demand will double in the next 25 years, largely due to increased energy use in developing nations. In United States the usage of renewable energy is predicted to grow at a healthy rate of 11.3%.
Synergetic Power Systems aims to develop a modular, distributed, renewable energy system using a novel combination of solar thermal, biogas and micro-scaled thermodynamic technologies that can be can be configured to supply heat, electricity and cooling capabilities in varying proportions according to the needs of people in diverse places such as Africa, Asia and the United States. Using low-cost, widely available materials that can be locally manufactured or sourced, the system is designed to be easily constructed and maintained by distributors in both developed and developing world.
-------------
Are you hooked?

Harvard vs. MIT

2006-02-25T16:13:00.000-05:00

I walk through Harvard Yard almost everyday on my way to the T station and I can't help but notice the difference between Harvard and MIT campuses. Harvard has a quaint, old-fashioned campus that exudes a scholarly feeling.

In contrast, MIT's campus has an industrial, harsh look to it. Furnaces billowing smoke, turbines running, the noise of tomorrow's technology as it takes shape in its underbelly.

As Harvard sits and ponders the past, MIT busily churns out the future. It's no wonder that Harvard and MIT have such a storied rivarly.
I don't know if I prefer one over the other. I like them both. Someday I hope to take some classes at Harvard as well (cross-registration policy between the two schools allows us to take electives at Harvard). Maybe I'll extend my stay here in Boston for another 6 months to get a chance to take some additional electives. What can I say? I really like the school environment, but check back with me in 6 months. We'll see how I feel about it...

PDD Advice

2006-02-25T14:27:00.000-05:00

I'll follow Ilana's lead and add another advice.

The product innovation process must start with a need. A product that doesn't address a pressing need (whether obvious or hidden) is doomed to fail. Engineers like us love to solve problems and oftentimes we jump to solutions (innovations) without really understaning the problem (the need). We get excited about possible solutions and then try to fit the needs to them. That's completely backwards!

This is one the reasons we're having such a hard time quantifying the needs for our PDD project. We have to force ourselves to stay in the problem space, analyze the needs and then, only then, come up with a solution.

Settling In

2006-02-25T13:12:00.000-05:00

It's taken me a few weeks to settle in the new apartment, but considering what it looked like when I first moved in ...
and what it looks like now...

it's come a long way. On cold winter days like today it feels cozy and warm, on warm sunny days it feels open and bright. I've never liked to study at home (I prefer a coffee shop, bookstore or library), but this apartment feels different and I find myself being more productive when I'm home even though there are plenty of distractions (walking up to and opening the fridge every 15 minutes, taking naps, playing guitar, etc.). At least I don't have a TV yet...

Up a Mountain and Down a Hill

2006-02-19T21:46:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that there's no trace left of last week's winter snowstorm, a few of us decided to take advantage of the long weekend and head for the mountains to ski/snowboard for a day. We decided to go somewhere near Boston because we were too lazy (or too busy) to make any plans in advance. We ended up going to Nashoba Valley Ski Area. Notice that it's called a "valley", not a mountain; and for a good reason. Nashoba ski area is basically a hill with a few trails, none longer than half a mile. Despite the fact that the snowboarding experience was a bit underwhelming for me (I've been spoiled with Lake Tahoe), we had a lot fun hanging out in the outdoors and going out for well-deserved lunch afterwards.

The most exciting events of the day were Ziv's dare-devil acrobatic jump (that ended up with a nice spill at the bottom of the ramp), Serge's first turns on a snowboard (and complete run without a fall) and Nick's introduction to the snowboard park (ouch!).

Product Design and Development

2006-02-17T02:08:00.000-05:00

I love all my classes, but the coolest class this semester has got to be Product Design and Development. Get this, we are asked to come up with a product idea, develop a design and build a prototype. We get a $1000 budget to do all this. Doesn't that sound like fun? I love academia! Where else can you get to dream up your games and play them, too?

In the past, teams have developed some pretty interesting products a few of which have been patented and even commercialized (like the paint jug with the anti-drip pour spout). Our team has settled on a plastic bag dispenser for produce bags used in grocery stores.

"What bugs me though are the plastic bags on a roll, that are available to get bulk items, fruit...etc. Are those what you meant? That would be cool!!", said an enthusiastic user (Hi, sis!) when I explained her what we're trying to do.

Sounds like there's a need in the marketplace! Of course, we've done more research than this. We actually went to the grocery store and watched how people used the plastic bags. It's amazing how many people still try to open the wrong end first. And once they figure out the right end, it still takes them a few seconds to open the bag. Here's one unhappy shopper who always forgets which end is up (this is Ziv, our teammate who came up with the idea for this product).

Well, our goal is to make everyone's shopping experience more enjoyable by designing a dispenser that will allow you to pull and open the bag with one hand. How about that!? Watch for a DispensEase at a grocery store near you.

Winter Wonderland

2006-02-14T16:06:00.000-05:00

It snowed for the first time since I got here. I missed the snow! It reminded me of my childhood: big fluffy snowflakes, quiet streets covered with snow, the feeling of burrowing in for the winter...
But the feeling didn't last long. As soon as the storm was over, the snow removal crews came out in force. Forget the shovels! They use buldozers these days; much more efficient at destroying our dreams and bringing us to reality. So much for a winter wonderland...

Shopping Around

2006-02-11T11:05:00.000-05:00

I'm not about to burn a hole in my credit card (although I do need a few things for the new apartment). This "shopping around" has to do with what classes I should take this spring. Due to MIT's liberal add/drop policy, the first week of classes is a constant running around trying to figure out what classes fit best. Fortunately, I only have room for a few electives and I quickly settled on the following classes:
- Designing and Leading the Entrepreneurial Organization (taught by Diane Burton), a soft-skills kinda' of class that uses real-life case studies to analyze organizational behavior and structure in the context of a new, small firm.
- Organizing for Innovative New Product Development, taught by Tom Allen, an experienced professor of management (in fact, a legend in the SDM department as he is the co-founder of the department).
- Corporations at Crossroads - the CEO Perspectives - this is an easy class often called "applauses for credit". I'm only taking it as a listener (meaning no credit), but it should be interesting. Every week there's a new CEO that will come and speak to the class and a few people (of those who are registered for full credit) will get a chance to go out to dinner with the CEO.

The electives and the required courses add up to 51 credits which is a decent load, with plenty of room to pursue other activities like the $50K entrepreneurship competition, the toasmasters club or other networking events.

Spring Semester

2006-02-11T10:13:00.000-05:00

A short vacation and then the spring semester will start. As students are arriving (or just getting out of hibernation), the campus is starting to come to life. January is known as the the Independent Activities Period (IAP) here at MIT, meaning you can do whatever pleases you. But since this is MIT, most students will attend some sort of class, workshop, training seminar or other academic-related, but fun activity. One of these activities is the Charm School, a series of tutorials that take these bright, but sometimes awkward students away from high-minded academic pursuits and teaches them how to... (gasp)... socialize. Sessions such as bathroom etiquette, how to ask someone for a date, or how to handle roommate conflicts, have been very popular in the past.

So when my landlady asked me volunteer for a Charm School session, I jumped at this opportunity to get to know some of these mythical MIT students. The session that I volunteered for was called "how to tell someone something they'd rather not hear". Like anything in life, even this "soft skill", can be condensed into a simple formula (I know miss A will disagree, but since this is MIT, we must put everything into a context that everyone will undestand). The formula is: I feel.... about... because...

The idea is to express the feelings first, then the subject and then the reason behind the feelings. Most left-brained people like me will focus on the subject and the reasons, leaving the feelings behind. But the whole point about this is the feelings. Expressing feelings is what makes people open up to accept the negative news. Hmmm, what a concept!

And thus an intresting thing happened. While I was supposed to teach others how to behave in life, I was learning a little lesson myself. A lesson which I put to use shortly thereafter when I called my new landlord to express to him my feelings of frustrations about the uncleanliness state of the new apartment and the fact that I would have to spend $100 of his own money to clean it. It must've worked because he agreed to pay whatever it would take to make the apartment livable. It just takes a little charm...

January Session is Over!

2006-02-06T21:47:00.000-05:00

We survived the January "boot camp" and, to celebrate, a few of us went out to Warren Tavern in Charlestown. We're such a diverse group, but apparently we all have in common one thing: we like to have fun.
The January session wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be. Sure, we had many 12-hour days of lectures, homeworks and other assignments, but overall it was manageable. And, besides, we had many opportunities to go out and have fun. Perhaps it was the unseasonably warm weather that made it easier to go out and socialize, or maybe we're just a fun group of people that will go out no matter what. Who knows?

Design Challenge 2

2006-02-01T13:09:00.000-05:00

The second design challenge of the January session was more challenge than design. Our task was to create a disaster recovery plan in case of a terrorist attack on Boston. It is a purposefully ambiguous topic meant to stimulate creativity and teamwork in a setting that is outside our expertise and comfort zone. To mix it up even more, we were assigned to different groups. Perhaps it was the difficult task at hand or the different personalities involved, but our team didn't gel as quickly as the team in design challenge 1. Still, by the end of the assignment we were able to form a choesive team. Neither of us had strong opinions about things, we reached consensus quickly and made major decisions easily. We were ruthlessly efficient.

For our assigned topic we chose the scenario of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tanker explosion in Boston Harbor. Imagine what would happen if a tanker (like the one below) is attacked en route through Boston Harbor where it passes within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of residential areas. It could be worse than 9/11.

An LNG tanker passed by condominiums in Charlestown on its way out of Boston Harbor. (Globe Staff Photo / David L. Ryan)

Of course, we're not the only ones thinking about this possible scenario and there are plenty of safety measures to make sure this doesn't happen. Our task was to come up with our own disaster recovery plan, study the existing plans and then make a gap analysis followed by recommendations for improvements.

I learned quite a few things during this exercise, most of them having to do with teamwork. Whereas in DC1 I was the project manager setting the schedule, priorities etc., this time I decided to take a step back and let others take charge. The funny thing is that everyone must've thought the same thing: let someone else take charge. So we ended up with a team that had no one-upmanship, ran well on consensus, and was very efficient at getting the assignments done. Something to keep in mind for someone like me who likes to be in charge all the time...

Probability and Statistics

2006-01-28T12:31:00.000-05:00

I couldn't help it. I had to take a picture of our blackboard at the end the 3-hour Probability and Statistics class. This is what school is all about: blackboards, chalk, and some very confused people (me included).
I love probability and statistics, but after being out of school for 12 years, my knowledge is a bit rusty in this area. Sometimes my brain gets so confused that coin tosses appear less random then they really are, confidence intervals are... hmm, not so confident about them, and normal distributions are anything but normal. Arghhh, it hurts! My notebook is full of notes like these:

Time to scrape that rust and get to work. I've got some catching up to do.

Mind Maps

2006-01-28T12:28:00.000-05:00

If you're wondering what this "left-brained vs. right-brained" business is all about, I've been reading Tony Buzan's book, "Use Both Sides of Your Brain", an interesting book that taught me a few lessons which I'm now trying to put in practice (this is why I love MIT; I get exposed to so many new things).

One of them is speed-reading. The basic concept is that our minds work by connecting things together. When we read something we connect the words in our minds and that's how understanding emerges. But during normal reading, we tend to read only one word at a time. This doesn't really take advantage of the brains immense power of connecting things in real-time (not to mention that it leads to more eye fatigue because our eyes have to stop on each word). Buzan's speed-reading approach is to try to capture 2 or 3 words at the same time. Our brains are capable at looking at a set of words and process them simultaneously. So I tried this techniques and it really works! I still have to get used to it, and sometimes I revert to normal reading, but at least now I know how Miss A was able to read so much faster than me.

The other thing I learned is how to do mind maps. Again, the brain doesn't work in a linear fashion, but when we typically take notes or write down our thoughts, we write them nicely one line at a time. Mind maps are spiderweb-like notes that match the way our brain thinks: by making associations between elements. So I'm now firing my neurons in all directions with mind maps that perhaps only I can read. Here's an example of a mind map I did while searching for the apartment. I wanted to write down what was imprtant to me, but instead of using traditional notes, I did a mind map using a program called Mind Mapper.

A Right-Brained Approach to Finding an Apartment

2006-01-22T12:53:00.000-05:00

Cambridge, MA churns out students like your grandma's ice-cream machine. Students come in, they get "processed" and then leave (hopefully with a few lessons learned and a different perspective on the world). Despite what some economists may tell you, students are Cambridge's most important contribution to our nation's GDP.

And when the students come in, the first thing they do, is look for a place to live. If you're a landlord in Cambridge, you're guaranteed a constant stream of revenue (what's the chance that Harvard or MIT will go out of business?). Innevitably, this phenomenon creates a whole industry with a bewildering array of offerings: apartments of all sizes, shapes and living conditions. And with that you get all sorts of people who are cashing in on this bonanza by offering to walk you through this confusing maze. These are the apartment brokers.

When I started looking for an apartment back in December, I quickly found one that would've suited my needs. It wasn't perfect, but it was convenient and cheap (never mind that the bathroom was the size of a small closet; I tend not to spend much time in my apartments, let alone the bathroom). But miss A didn't think it would be a good place. She's much more atuned to her surroundings and prefers to look at all the available options before making a decision. Her decisions never seem to be based on formal logic (or at least not initially). The most important thing is for the place to just feel right. I call this the right-brained approach to finding an apartment. Well, I decided to take this approach and I must say that after viewing countless apartments over the last few weeks, after living through moments of hope and despair, I finally found one that just feels right.

It's in a classy old building with a wooden staircase. From the instant I walked in the building I had a good feel about it. The hallway has a musty wood smell that welcomes you like a beautiful old church. The apartment, located on the second floor, has hardwood floors, high ceilings, a marble (decorative) fireplace and bay windows that look out to a small park accross the street. Accross the park I can see the Starbucks and, next to it, the Broadway market (where I'm sitting right now), a Whole Foods-like store that sells everything from fresh veggies to hot bread and cooked food. Harvard Square is but 5 minutes from here and on my way to the T-station (the subway station, for those of you unfamiliar with Boston) I can cut thorough the Harvard campus, a collection of classic red-brick buildings. Going the other direction, I can be in Central Square in about 10 minutes and from there I can get to MIT in another 5-10 minutes. But rather than walking to MIT, I will probably bike there in the summer along some one-way streets with dedicated bike lanes. All in all, I feel pretty good about this place. I'm glad I listened to miss A and took the time to find the right place.
Oh, and yes, I did have to pay the piper. The apartment broker who pointed me to this place charged a third of the first month's rent for his services, less than most brokers charge for the same service. A reasonable (if unavoidable) price, I guess.

And the Winner Is...

2006-01-17T22:56:00.000-05:00

... us! We won! It was unbelievable. My hope was that we would at least pass the first stage. I would've been happy with that. But, no, our robot kept on running over those obstacles and made it into the final where it beat a very tough competitor (Aesop) for first place. Needless to say, we were thrilled!

This was all fun and everything, but there were plenty of lessons to learn out of this exercise. I think it's interesting to note that the top two designs were based on the same principles: simple and efficient. We didn't try any crazy ideas, didn't use after-market software packages, didn't build any custom circuits. To be sure, our design wasn't even close to being perfect, but for the given context (obstacles, rules, etc.), it was just a bit better than the competition (or luckier, depending on your perspective). But there were some really creative designs out there (the compass robot comes first to mind) and I wish there were multiple categories and winners to highlight the diversity and creativity.

In the end, I think everyone had a good time and we all got to know each other better. I will always appreciate Shelley's ambition ("Come on guys, we need to work harder! This IS MIT!"), Dhiman's brilliant software suggestions and ideas, Bob's precision and methodical approach, Will's mechanical genius and Shantnu's flare for storytellling. Good job, team!

Desing Challenge 1

2006-01-16T15:11:00.000-05:00

It didn't take long to meet a few like-minded individuals. We were quickly split into teams of about 5 or 6 people for our first cohort building exercise: the infamous design challenge #1. I ended up with a great group of people. If random assignments can be so successful, imagine what it's like when you seek out people that share your thoughts.

For the uninitiated, Design Challenge 1 (DC1 for short) is a team-building exercise that requires each team to build and program a robot using a Lego Mindstorms kit. This year, they asked us to build an autonomous vehicle that could navigate a randomly-placed set of obstacles. The challenge was modeled after the DARPA Grand Challenge to build an autonomous, unmanned ground vehicle.

Our team gelled quickly and we had a great time building the robot. We realized early on that our goals should be to get to know each other, have fun, build a cool robot and maybe, win the race. And that's exactly what we did!

First Day of Classes

2006-01-16T14:44:00.000-05:00

The System and Design Management (SDM) program at MIT is an interesting program. It blends both business and engineering courses and it's targeted for people with more years of experience than a typical MBA candidate. I discovered the SDM program by accident while doing research on MBA programs. It sounded perfect for me: one year instead of two, emphasis on management AND engineering, lower cost than typical 2-year MBA at one of the Ivy schools. And, on top of it, I would finally get a chance to go to MIT (I had dreamed of attending MIT as an undergraduate, but my parents couldn't afford the tuition back then - we had just emigrated to the US and a one-year tuition fee probably cost as much as my dad's salary for an entire year).

Well, here I am twelve years after I finished my undergrad. I finally made it! I must admit, I was as nervous as a schoolboy on the first day of classes. What will school be like? What would the people be like? Will I fit in? Will I enjoy this whole experience? The night before, I tossed and turned all night pondering these questions. Finally, the morning arrived to put me out of my misery.

Walking into the Tang center I noticed the sign at the entrance and tried to imagine all these bright minds coming to MIT to learn not how to build better rockets, but how to become better leaders and managers. Can leadership really be taught? Or is it in us already and just needs to be awakened and stirred? I guess we'll find out...

New Beginnings

2006-01-10T20:15:00.000-05:00

It's a cold January morning in Boston. The cruel weather prompts me to consider what the hell am I doing here in Boston at this time of year? I gave up sunny California for freezing Boston, a nice apartment near the beach for a (yet to be found) grungy apartment in Cambridge, a well-paid job for a negative income. All this for a chance to do some... homework? Ahh, but these are exicting times! You see, I'm fulfilling a long-standing dream of getting a graduate degree. And what a better place to do it than MIT, the pinnacle of geekdom, a place where I could fit right in with other left-brained engineers and scientists like me. Despite the freezing weather I'm thrilled to be here in Boston. I'm back in school!

Encouraged by my blogging experience in Romania, I decided I should keep another blog about my times here at MIT. The next year should be a unique experience in my life and through this personal memoir I hope to capture, for my own benefit, some of the more interesting moments, lessons and observations (if nothing else, I could keep my family updated with how I'm spending my hard-earned money).