At http://www.inquiry.com/pubs/infoworld/vol23/issue21/010521opbriefing.asp

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Publication Date: 05/21/01 (Vol. 23, Issue 21)

Copyright (c) 2001 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.


Student teachers

Adults can learn a lot from student employees, who just need the chance to 
prove their value


Loretta W. Prencipe


DURING THE SUMMER of 1998, Alex Wissner-Gross, now 19 and a student at 
MIT, worked on an intensive nanotechnology project as a student employee 
at MITRE, an independent, not-for-profit company serving as a technology 
resource for the U.S. government. His work at MITRE resulted in a recently 
issued U.S. Patent entitled Nanomanipulation Using Nanometer-Scale 
Patterned Granular Motion (NanoPGM).

To put it as simply as possible, Wissner-Gross' system applies PGM on a 
tiny scale -- with particles 10,000 times smaller than earlier experiments 
-- and introduces the concept of using the pattern structures to 
manipulate other nanoscale objects. Alex's improvement generates millions 
of "nanofingers." These fingers might be used one day to handle multiple 
molecular-scale objects and possibly lead to mass-produced nanoscale 
computers.

What I find just as amazing as the fact of a 16-year-old working in 
nanotechnology is MITRE's leadership and atmosphere allowing students to 
work on such ground-breaking research.

Sure, I can hear the arguments: "I'm not doing nanotechnology research; I 
run an IT department."

Not all MITRE student employees conduct nanotechnology research. Some 
student employees are doing the work that IT managers must do: solving 
complex technical problems.

"MITRE has student employees developing software that supports the Federal 
Aviation Administration, developing a Web site in [MITRE's] economic 
analysis and decision center, conducting online surveys, and working on 
systems engineering for national missile defense," says Dr. James 
Ellenbogen, head of MITRE's summer employee program. This June MITRE will 
hire some 35 to 40 student employees, with approximately 20 students 
working in Ellenbogen's nanotechnology group.

Since 1997, I've been following the program at MITRE and have always been 
amazed at the capabilities of the MITRE student employees. Ellenbogen says 
many adults miss the potential young people hold. "Unquestionably, 
students can do more than most people expect," says the principal 
scientist and head of the nanotechnology group. "I find they are eager for 
direction, for purpose, and are eager to please adults. The students bring 
more than you can imagine."

Ellenbogen has pointers for IT managers working with summer students or 
interns.

Ellenbogen's final advice: "Sometimes the young people know more than you 
do. They have shown me so many things, both personally and scientifically, 
that have made me say 'Hey, I was wrong.'