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| Dr. Mark J. T. Smith |
...in quotes because I did not come up with the title/clever double entendre.
Elizabeth Pain, July 27, 2012: With the 2012 Olympic Games set to kick off in London, Science Careers decided to have a chat with electrical and computer engineering researcher and former fencing athlete Mark J. T. Smith about what it's like to combine science and serious sport. Smith served as head of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, in Indiana, for 6 years and is now dean of the university’s graduate school. Smith was the national fencing champion of the United States in 1981 and 1983 and a member of the U.S. Olympic fencing team in 1980 and 1984. He carried the Olympic torch toward the opening ceremonies in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, one of the last torch-carriers. The following highlights from the interview were edited for brevity and clarity.
What attracted me was not only the diversity, but that fencing is similar to my martial arts activities (30+ years and counting). My father started me in western boxing, then I gravitated to Kung Fu, Japanese/Korean Karate, Silat and Jeet Kune Do. I'm currently studying [a type of fencing in] Filipino Kali. As I recall, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson used to wrestle, among other social activities. If you know a 'nerd,' they're not usually one-dimensional, tied to their video game console, nor inept at social skills.
Besides, for the less evolved of the species, it's good to have some mastery of defensive skills.
More of the interview, and the relation science has to fencing:
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