All Quotes

"That’s an interesting convolution of events; or a “configuration of events” is a better way to put it. What happened was I was working in this R&D laboratory, working with chemicals that were labeled “known or suspected carcinogen” on a daily basis – fumoids, of course, and the like, as well, too. And I loved the joy of discovery of chemistry, which was one of the beautiful things about chemistry, a heavily plowed field. But I also recognized, “Maybe there’s not a future for me if I keep doing this.” And there were accidents occurring in the plant that I was working at, because we took it from research bench, all the way out into process in the plant. And I kind of said, drawing on, “Yes, I was a hippie.” I actually had long hair at one point in time. And so we decided to move up to New Hampshire, my wife and I, who’ve been married for 41 years now, to investigate what kind of work we had. I had bought 50 acres of land up there prior, on a previous visit, so moved up and took a job at a small college which is now defunct. It was called Hawthorne College, in Antrim, New Hampshire; taught there for, I think, close to 10 years, with only my master’s degree in chemistry. A series of events occurred where the Florida Institute of Technology came up and bought the college as a campus for them, because they had a flight program, and it was boring to fly in Florida, and we had interesting terrain up there. And since it was an Institute of Technology, they were interested in starting up computer science, and as I had some background from applied mathematics, I volunteered to set up the program. I served as department chair, and after a while I started thinking maybe I should get my PhD, if I’m going to be a department chair. And so the school was very accommodating, let me go take the time off – not completely. I was still teaching, and the like, at a – it was a teaching school – and went and got my degree. First, I went to the University of Lowell, and I took a robotics course there because it fit my schedule, not because of any deep-seated commitment for robotics. Then I found – and I was disturbed because I had to take the GRE, even there. And I said, “I’m a chair of a computer science department. Why do I have to take a GRE?” Well, I took it, and they give you a couple of places to apply to, and I – UMass Lowell was actually – UMass – excuse me – Amherst was further away, but it was faster because it was freeway. I didn’t know that at the time, so I gave my score. I was accepted because I applied there, and when I was interviewed there, they assumed I was going to be a roboticist because they saw I took a robotics course at the University of Lowell, and they lined me up with all these folks at UMass – Wendy Leonard and others, as well, too, in the AI group – and it stuck. So... it wasn’t a conscious choice, and I would say I’m fairly unique in the field for two reasons. One is the serendipitous aspect of being led. I kind of feel like Jonah being vomited up on the shores of robotics, from a calling from God, if you will, perhaps. So that was one of the reasons, and the other is my scientific background. I have formal training – extensive formal training – in the scientific method, and I think that’s something that, in the computer science area in which I am housed within, not as many of our colleagues have that kind of basis for a deep scientific exploration and understanding that they – as they should. And so, again, those two things, I think, distinguish me from some of my colleagues."

"Well, at the time, the behavior-based paradigm was emerging. If you look at the early work by Brooks, and others, as well, too, it tended to be rule-based. Schemas themselves were concurrent asynchronous processes, which could be multithreaded and run independently. There are also things – those are the motor schemas. Perceptual schemas were the same, so it became an interesting question of how you schedule and manage these particular processes, kind of like, one could argue, the brain does, as well, too, with all these different processes, and how do you make sense of it. My thesis title, if I remember correctly, was Towards Cosmopolitan Robots: Intelligent Navigation in Manmade Environments – Extended Manmade Environments. So we’re looking at inside a building, and outdoor structured sidewalks and the like, as well, too, but not the wilderness or something like that. The key factor, I think, which distinguished my work was – and the advantage of using schema theory, was the ability to create what I call hybrid architectures – hybrid deliberative reactive architectures. The early work in behavior-based robotics, I would say, threw the baby out with the bathwater. All the high-level reasoning and high-level planning no longer played an effective role. My work recognized that maybe we do have a cortex, and there is some value in being able to deliberate about certain things, and the schemas themselves gave us the ability to instantiate change parameters, reason over these things in ways that other forms of reactive systems, if you will, were not as easily amenable to. So the real focus of my dissertation work was hybrid deliberative architectures. The schema theory got most of the press because that’s what made the robots actually do the cool stuff that they were doing, but the deliberative side was what configured those particular control systems."

"Get a solid foundation. It’s a question of how young you’re talking about, but if you’re in high school or younger, pay attention to the basics. Pay attention to mathematics. Pay attention to chemistry and physics. Don’t be seduced by the quick pull to creating cool little robots that are moving around. You can do that. That’s okay. But you need to have a deep understanding of the fundamental principles upon which robotics, which is a science, is based upon. Pay attention to that, and work hard, and you have to have a passion for it. If you don’t have a passion for robotics – and almost any field, for that matter, as well, too – you probably shouldn’t go into it. Don’t – although you can make a good living in it, it shouldn’t be about money. It should be about joy, fulfillment, and creating new knowledge."

"In the same spirit of innovation, Dell introduced Project Lightning, a high-speed file system tailored for AI workflows, and Power Cool, a liquid cooling system that can dramatically cut data center cooling costs. For enterprises grappling with rising infrastructure expenses, these solutions offer tangible pathways to lower total cost of ownership while boosting operational efficiency."

"What stood out most for me was how Dell has moved beyond theoretical AI discussions. Through its AI Factory initiative and strategic partnerships with NVIDIA, Intel, and Qualcomm. Dell is embedding AI capabilities deep into its product ecosystem."

"As someone deeply invested in IT digital transformation, I was particularly drawn to the spotlight on Kyndryl Bridge an AI-powered operating platform that is redefining how services are delivered at scale."

"By automating routine workflows and reallocating over 13,000 professionals to strategic roles. Kyndryl has unlocked over $775 million in annualized savings while elevating service agility and customer value."

"it is a real-time, integrated process powered by AI, automation, and intelligent infrastructure."

"Whether in healthcare, manufacturing, or financial services, the organizations that will thrive are those that embrace agile ecosystems, leverage AI at every business process layer, and pursue continuous operational refinement."

"The future of cybersecurity lies in our ability to anticipate, adapt, and act leveraging AI and emerging technologies to stay one step ahead."

"So many problems in society have a technical solution rooted in chemistry: sustainable energy, food security, clean water, personalised medicine."

"I was always interested in understanding the natural world, even as a child. I wondered if milk was a pure liquid or whether it was a mixture of things in water, at about age 8. In later schooling, physics seemed boring, biology was messy, and chemistry was just right."

"Always try to do the very best, and to be the very best, in whatever group you are working with."

"She just didn’t want to part from it."

"My parents believed that education was the only avenue through which an African American man or woman could better them selves [sic]. Therefore, they encouraged all of their children to attend college, While we were not wealthy, by the standards around us, I always thought we were middle class. I was proud of the fact that my parents could vote in the presidential election. Not everyone could in those days."

"Some of my fellow graduate students did all they could to help and encourage me. They included me in most of their activities. I know this situation was not the norm for a lot of Blacks studying mathematics, but I was fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time"

"In short, my life in mathematics was, and still to a great extent is, shaped by opening doors. I have always taken advantage and walked in"

"I remember when I took calculus in college the only book I took home over the Christmas holidays was my calculus book. I wanted to do those word problems. I worked on one problem for the whole two weeks before I solved it. It wasn’t that hard, but I just didn’t understand the process involved. When the light dawned, I was so happy! I don’t believe I ever felt so rewarded. It was a major breakthrough. I was hooked. After that, to the amazement of my fellow students, I recall sitting on campus doing calculus problems for recreation."

"I love space, period. Hands down, I think the night sky is one of the most beautiful things in the universe. Learning about space was sort of the thing that I did when I was a kid. And then I found black holes, and life was different."

"I think one of the biggest problems we have yet to solve is how to truly make sure that the science and technology ecosystem is open, welcoming, and accessible to all"

"When I came home from school as a girl and said I wanted to study astrophysics, my mother convinced me it was not a ludicrous goal, that in fact I could do it, and she would help me get there."

"Be bold. Search out people who work in your area of interest. I gained a lot of opportunities by just emailing folks that I thought did cool research and inquiring if I could be their summer intern"

"Don’t be afraid to ask for a job!!!"

"In 5 years, I hope to have finished up a post-doc, and be working at a research lab, studying volcanic and magmatic processes on both terrestrial and icy bodies. I’d also like to be teaching part time at a minority-serving institution."

"I think the best strategy is first realizing that it is impossible to make time for everything, all the time, and still remain sane! So, setting priorities are important."

"We not only deal with sexism. We also have to deal with racism, We need to think of diversity on multiple axes."

"To solve the problem, all you have to do is blow up the continent of Africa."

"Started to guide me into what I had to do."

"I had to make it so that other 12-year-old African girls sitting in Westchester would not be trapped in conversations where that sentiment is brought out."

"I always felt Ghana was home."

"From when I was a child, I knew I wanted to come back."

"it was the kind of food my mom was making or my grandmother telling us stories, I just knew that there was somewhere called home."

"Ghana was always a paradise."

"Ghana was home."

"Whenever I turned on the TV, or opened a newspaper, or turned on the radio, if Africa was mentioned, it was very negative."

"It was always a story of war, poverty or famine."

"“I said to myself, ‘That’s my answer. I’ll fight the single story of Africa by producing a show like “Sex and the City,” set in Accra.’”"

"You’re African,Why are you majoring in AAAS?"

"I have some really great memories, but I also remember really wrestling with my identity and my blackness."

"You can’t study at Brandeis and not get inspired by the fight for justice."

"I had been in development communications for about five years when I decided to look into programs that could help me hone that skill."

"I chose to go the business route as political freedom needed economic freedom to blossom."

"I googled “development communication programs” or something with similar keywords and Georgetown’s Masters of Professional Studies in Public Relations/Corporate Communications was on the first page of results."

"I applied, was accepted and began classes a few months later."

"It was at Georgetown that I met Professor Mike Long and discovered we both had a passion for the creative world, for theatre and for television."

"When I told him that I wanted to create a show where Africa meets ‘Sex and the City’ but I had no idea how to go about it, he said to me: “step one: just write."

"When it comes to the TV industry, I teach myself by googling everything I don’t know. Maybe one day I’ll take a more formal course in TV production, but Google’s search engine has given me all the tools I have needed so far."

"How many hopes lie buried here"

"Think about humanity’s connection to moonlight,” Proctor said. “We have love songs, poetry, werewolves, and more. Now imagine yourself being in space orbit, and getting all that energy from our planet."

"When I’m talking about space to inspire, it’s about this space — the space that made you, you,” she said. “How you use your space — your beautiful, unique space — to inspire yourself and those around you matters."