I remember as a child my dad would always come home and tell us
stories about his work at MIT Lincoln Labs. He start in 1959 and
he retired after 31 years of service.
He took a lot of pride in his jobs and I think the family always
felt as though MIT was not only a very prestigious university to attend
as a student but it was also a prestigious place to work as an employee.
A friend of mine I used to hang around with when we were kids
worked there and he told me about it so I decided to go and try there.
In fact, I think I went down and I applied three or four times before
they finally found an opening for me. I started working polishing crystals.
Semiconductor crystals: geranium, indium antimonide; metalic materials
that they used for making diodes and transistors.
So all in all we have a total of eight family members who have worked
here at MIT in some regards.
I worked there, I got two daughters who worked there. My son worked there
oh two sons.
My son has worked here. My nephew is now working here on campus
as well as my wife.
My father, he wanted all of us to the opportunities that he had and
advancing ourselves and so I considered myself very lucky to be
able to be one of the employees at Lincoln Lab.
All I remember is how impressive the variety of work that was going on.
You could go into one lab that had lasers, which I used to go visit my
father and I would see him and he'd be setting up mirrors and lasers on
these tables, and then you could go into another lab that was a clean lab
where you had to suit up to go into because they couldn't have any dust or
any particles floating around in the air. It was very impressive.
I think my family as a whole has formed a lot of significant and meaningful
relationships throughout our employment here at MIT. I think there's
a lot that MIT has to offer. Not only the enjoyment of doing what we do
here. For me its working with my hands. It's the relationships that I've
built over the year with students, and with my peers. It's just very
rewarding.
Well it's a good place to work and I think, well, I'll say they followed me
because it was a good example, I think I was a good example.
Oh sure (laughter) definitely. I think they are too.