From: straz@media-lab.media.mit.edu.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Steve Strassmann)
Subject: Re: The Media Lab
Date: 1 May 91 00:53:02 GMT
Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA



   From: trump@elaine45.stanford.edu (Michael Jason Lewis)

   Having just read _The_Media_Lab_ by Stweart Brand, I have been
   struck by a bolt of white light, obviously engineered by someone
   above, that has instructed me to apply my life's work to this VR field.

Uh oh, another divine intervention. It's as if Cosmic Customer Support
issues a patch release for the universe every so often. What do you
think this is, unix? :)

   Wishing to learn from the masters, though, I would like to visit
   the AI/Media Lab and speak to some of these geniuses in their
   natural habitats.  

Um, I'd better just leave this one alone.

   1) Is the lab general-access (guided tours, etc.) or 
      can anyone get in?
     "or must you be authorized to get in?"

The MIT AI Lab and Media Lab aren't exactly top-secret nuclear weapons
facilities, but on the other hand, we're not set up to handle crowds
of tourists either. We're just university research labs with a few
students and professors. 

Speaking for the Media Lab, we can't afford to give general guided
tours because then we'd have no time left to work on building things.
Just imagine, say, your chemistry professor, handling dozens of
visitors a day. It'd be nice to show visitors a cool explosion or two,
but it'd be kind of a drag after the first few months, especially when
you've got systems to build, papers to write, and grants to beg.

It's true, we do give tours to corporate visitors and folks from the
National Science Foundation, but heck, if a guy writes you a check for
$500,000, the least you can do is invite him in for a cup of tea.  We
nalso have a few guided tours (once or twice a year) for people
interested in becoming grad students. For more information about
applying, contact Linda Peterson (linda@media-lab.media.mit.edu, or
617-253-5114). Getting in is pretty much the same routine as any other
graduate school - an essay, some recommendations, etc.

About those recommendations and having an impressive resume - it's
never too early to start thinking about grad school (and/or jobs).
It's relatively easy for MIT undergraduates to get part-time and
summer jobs at MIT research labs because there's a bureaucracy set up
to promote that.  Perhaps the Stanford AI Lab and other colleges have
a similar deal, if so, I strongly recommend you go for it. By all
means, try to get a challenging summer job, and get involved in
research as much as you can during the school year.  Even though
you're a freshperson, you might be able to get some real computer work
experience if you look hard enough.

If you're really determined and clever, you can probably figure out a
way to do an independent study if nothing else falls into your lap.
Keep looking around, asking questions, call the dean's office...
people respect that kind of thing (well, up to a point) and might just
find a way to give you some money.

Good skill!


[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  The tour problem is endemic to all the labs.
Tourists have to consider that, unless the work can get done,
there won't be anything to see, in the lab or elsewhere.  However,
such a nice letter as this one will probably encourage more people
to want to visit the Media Lab.  :-)   -- Bob Jacobson]