I was born in Japan; moved to the States when I was two and half years old - to New Jersey of all places. My mom was born and raised in Hawaii and the majority of our very large extended family lives there.

I love to dance, having started ballet at the age of five. I'm not classically trained - it was the type of dance studio mothers sent their kids to have fun and so they could say "Oh, my kid is taking [insert dance form here] lessons." Me, I wasn't there so my mom could brag about it; I was there for medical reasons. My doctor was worried that I was developing scoliosis, so he sent me to a specialist who said I should take ballet and swimming lessons to strengthen my back and learn how to have good posture. I did both and managed not to develop scoliosis.

I danced ballet until I left for college, where I took modern and dabbled in Latin/Carribean, African, Australian aboriginal, and hula. I took classes and danced in 5 senior theses, including an interpretation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.

One of the best things my parents ever did for my well-being and self-esteem was to send me to CTY. I attended the Franklin & Marshall College site in Lancaster, PA for 5 years, 7 sessions. For you fellow CTYers, here's the list:

89I Latin | 90I Ancient Greek | 91I Etymologies | 91II Writing 1 | 92I Logic | 92II Writing 2A | 93I Intro to Psych

I skipped my senior year of high school to go to college at Simon's Rock College of Bard. As one of my friends once said, "Simon's Rock isn't an accurate depiction of the real world. :)" It's difficult to be an accurate depiction of the real world when you live on a country college campus with 300 other teenagers. But it's a good environment for many and the most important thing I took away from my college education was the ability to write coherently.

You start off writing during orientation week and you continue to write in every single class at Simon's Rock, whether it be a literature class, a dance class, a science class, or a math class. Sometimes the assignments didn't seem too important to me, but when you write all the time, it gives you the ability to organize your thoughts and develop a solid writing style. If you stay for four years, you finish off your degree requirements by writing a mandatory senior thesis, even if you are a performance or science major.

I was a Women's Studies major and wrote my senior thesis on women and computing and the importance of female role models and mentors for women and girls interested in the computer world, both in academia and industry. I got some hands on computing experience by working with the Networking Office for most of my stay at the Rock.

I moved to Boston in October 1997 and after a series of random temp jobs landed at the MIT Alumni Association working for Alumni Network Services. MIT is a fabulous place to work, and who says the MIT campus isn't pretty? One of my early projects at ANS was to take pictures for web postcards for the Alumni Association site and it helped me gain a greater appreciation for the campus. My pictures hardly do the campus justice compared to these photos taken by a graduate student: MIT Landscapes I, MIT Landscapes II, MIT III.

I recently moved across campus to the MIT Media Lab where I support two research groups: Software Agents and Synthetic Characters.

My spare time is mostly taken up with crafts - primarily knitting and crocheting which I took up in college during my senior year. It was great relaxation/procrastination. Other crafts I do somewhat regularly: sewing, cross-stitch, and origami (been doing this one since I was five).

Over the summer I was in my ex-housemate's wedding and spent quite a bit of time researching weddings. Here is a good article on the secrets to a successful wedding. Also, I would highly recommend this book, for any bridesmaid-to-be: The Bridesmaid's Guerrilla Handbook by Sarah Stein, and Lucy Talbot. I found the book before the wedding but failed to buy it until -after- the wedding. Next time, I'll be prepared!

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ilean@simons-rock.edu
Last modified: October 16, 2004