Five Questions For Jerrold Grochow, VP Of Information Services And Technology At MIT

1

Change Afoot
Technology is playing a significant role in new areas at MIT, including in the biological sciences and in cancer research. Grochow's son, a computer science grad student, is using technology to sequence the genome of yeast. "Breakthroughs in research will result in totally different ways in dealing with cancer."

2

Innovation Central
"We've got 1,000 faculty, and each is an entrepreneur doing their own thing. Plus, we've got 10,000 students all dreaming up new things. If you're the CIO of a Fortune company, you need to look three years into the future. I need to look a lot further ahead."

3

Stargazer
Grochow dabbles in astronomy using a computer-controlled telescope. "When you look up at the heavens and see a dark spot in the sky, the telescope lets you see it's not really a dark spot at all. You begin to realize our place in the universe isn't as significant as some of us make it seem."

4

Thanks, But No Thanks
When Grochow hits the road, he totes a PC, a Treo, an iPod, noise-cancellation headphones, spare batteries, and AC adapters. Needless to say, he's looking forward to convergence, including gadgets that combine cell and 802.11 Wi-Fi technologies. "That will open up all kinds of new devices, applications, and capabilities."

5

Pet Peeve
Technology is still too hard to use. "The industry spends a lot of money putting advanced features into products, and 90% of them aren't used. We need to take a PC or Mac out of the box and make it easier to use all those great functions without a thick instruction manual."