The Alumni Association's annual Technology Day program will take place at Kresge Auditorium and the Stratton Student Center on Saturday, the day after Commencement. The theme this year is "Technology at Play: The World of Sports, Games and Toys."
Following President Charles M. Vest's welcoming statement at 9:10am, four speakers are featured in the morning session in Kresge Auditorium:
Stephen C. Jacobsen (PhD '73), professor at the University of Utah and chairman and CEO of Sarcos Inc., will talk "On the Design and Manufacture of Some Interesting Machines" at 9:30am.
Seymour A. Papert, Lego Professor at the Media Lab, will take "A New Look at Play as Child's Work" at 10:10am.
Edward F. Crawley (SB '76, SM, PhD) head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, will discuss "Airplanes, Baseball and the Fun of Flight" at 10:50am.
Woodie Flowers (SM '73), Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering and faculty advisor for Tech Day, will discuss "The Many Dimensions of Hard Fun" at 11:30am.
Professor Flowers's talk will be followed by the annual Tech Day luncheon. Three panel discussions are scheduled for the afternoon:
Dr. Howard W. Johnson, 12th president of MIT, will moderate a discussion of "Sport, Money and the Pursuit of Happiness: What are the Impacts of Sports and Games on Society?" Panelists will be Kenneth Wang (SB '71), president of US Summit Co.; architect Richard Dattner (BAR '60); and Albert L. Zesiger (SB '51), principal, Zesiger Capital. The session will be take place from 3-5pm in the Mezzanine Lounge on the third floor of the Stratton Student Center.
"Pushing the Limits: What Are the Frontiers of Human Performance?" will be moderated by Martha L. Gray (SM '86), Kieckhefer Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and interim director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. The panelists are Thomas B. Sheridan (ScD '59), professor of engineering and applied psychology; Laurence R. Young (SB '57), Apollo Program Professor of Aeronautics, and Hugh M. Herr (SM '93), PhD candidate in biophysics at Harvard University. This discussion will take place from 3-5pm at the Twenty Chimneys on the third floor of the Stratton Student Center.
"The Technology of Play" (3-5pm, Kresge Little Theater) will be moderated by Douglas E. Glen, senior vice president and chief strategy officer of Mattel Inc. Panelists are Media Lab Professor Tod Machover; Jennifer W. Glos (SB '95), research assistant in the Media Lab's gesture and narrative language group; and Rudrapatna V. Ramnath, adjunct professor of aeronautics and astronautics.
The Technology at Play Expo will feature exhibits, demonstrations and presentations from noon-5pm at La Sala de Puerto Rico in the Stratton Student Center. The day ends with an alumni/ae and faculty reception at McCormick Hall at 5:30pm.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 4, 1997.
