Moss '71 chosen to lead MIT media lab

Could a computer ever have common sense? Emotion? To technological innovator Frank Moss '71, these are not just possibilities, but goals.

Last month, Moss was named director of the prestigious MIT Media Lab, an information technology laboratory founded in 1980 by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte and then-MIT president Jerome Weisner. For more than 20 years, it has worked at the juncture of computer technology and the physical world, pioneering such areas as digital video and multimedia.

"I am especially excited about giving computers common sense," Moss said. "Computers should be able to understand the emotions of humans. As computers begin to understand the human world, they can help us far more efficiently."

"Imagine having a cell phone that knows to turn off as you enter a movie theater," he added.

Moss has led an active career in information technology. He co-founded Infinity Pharmaceuticals in 2001 and currently serves as president of Strategic Software Ventures, a group responsible for supporting a variety of software companies, including Stellar Computer, Inc. and Bowstreet, Inc., which he also co-founded.

He was also the chairman and CEO of Tivoli Microsystems until it merged with IBM in 1996.

"When I turned 50, I took a look at the bigger picture," Moss, now 56, said. "Until then, I developed technology to build companies, but now I want to advance technology to make a difference for people."

MIT Media Lab has begun research into a field called biomechatronics, which aims to extend human physical capabilities.

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"Eventually, this will be applied to all people," Moss said. "For example, a person could run a minute-mile in a biomechanic suit."

Engineering school dean Maria Klawe said that Moss was a great choice to lead the Media Lab.

"I am very impressed by Frank's intellectual vision, that information technology can have a great impact on healthcare," she said in an email.

Klawe has worked with Moss on the SEAS executive committee and leadership council.

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"[Frank] articulates his own ideas clearly and effectively, listens to everyone and is warm and inclusive," Klawe said. "He interacts with people ... particularly in the context of building consensus around a vision."

The MIT Media Lab's faculty includes a variety of computer scientists, engineers, social scientists, behavioral scientists and even performers.

"This is how you create breakthroughs, bringing a range of eclectic people together," Moss said. "A composer is working on a program [with computer scientists] capable of composing anything from ring tones to opera."

After receiving an A.B. in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton and a Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT in 1977, Moss began working in Haifa, Israel, programming for IBM.

"I was brought up in the '60s, the era of the space program, and like many others I was starry-eyed," he said. "During my time at MIT, the opportunities for aerospace engineering largely dried up and I spent a year-and-a-half in Israel, where I made the switch to computers," Moss said.

Of his current post, Moss said that he hopes to "make computers and technology relate to the human world."

"We're not out to make a profit, but rather to make a difference," he said.