By Global MIT

Coming of age in Belgium during the European economic crisis of the 1970s, Pattie Maes decided to pursue computer science for purely practical reasons – it was a field with jobs. She eventually realized, however, she didn’t want a corporate position and so was drawn to MIT “because it was this mecca…where all this amazing research was happening.” She is now the Germeshausen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab and runs the Fluid Interfaces research group.

“The World at MIT” videos underscore MIT’s distinctive nature as a community that is at once profoundly American and deeply connected to the world. In brief, three-minute interviews, faculty members recount the experiences and circumstances that drew them here and how and why they came to adopt MIT as their professional home.