Letters

10/01/1997

Success from a community college

I just finished reading the editorial ("Vocational education vs. the ivory tower," August, p. 16) and I have to say I agree 100%.

Let me give you a "real life" example. I hired two summer students this year: one an excellent and experienced programmer, the other a student from a community college. After three months, the latter is more productive, and in general, contributes much more to our project than the programmer. He takes initiative, gets things done on time, and has good communication skills.

Thank you too for your articles in Solid State Technology. Hope to see you again somewhere.

Thomas Janacek
SIMBAD product manager
Alberta Microelectronic Centre
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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MIT report

I read your article on MIT ("MIT: Innovation and the economic impact of a research university," August, p. 58) with great interest. Could you kindly tell me how I can obtain a copy of the report MIT: The Impact of Innovation by the BankBoston Economics Department?

Satoshi Hamaguchi
research staff member
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

To obtain a copy of MIT: The Impact of Innovation, you can call the MIT News Office at 617/253-2700 or visit the web site http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/founders/.