MIT
student to appear on Dancing with
the Stars
NSF
Fellow is passionate about rhythm
tap, engineering
By
Lois
Slavin, ESD Communications Director
– September 25, 2007
MIT
Ph.D. student and NSF fellow Rhonda
Jordan, whose passions include
engineering and rhythm tap, is scheduled
to perform with Savion Glover on Wednesday,
September 26 on ABC's Dancing with
the Stars at 8pm ET on Boston's WCVB-TV,
channel 5. Jordan will appear with
Glover and several other tappers during
the final day of the program’s
three-day season kick-off. Watch for
her in the middle row!
Jordan
has been studying dance since the
age of six and has formal training
in ballet, jazz, lyrical, and tap.
At the tender age of 8, she was the
youngest dancer selected to participate
in the Dance Theater of Harlem residency
program in classical ballet, co-sponsored
with the John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts in Washington,
DC. She has performed in various venues
across the US and around the world
and has taught dance to elementary
and middle-school children in inner
city schools.
However,
dance isn’t Jordan’s only
love. In fall, 2000 at age 16, Rhonda
entered Columbia University’s
Fu Foundation School of Engineering,
in New York City to major in electrical
engineering. She graduated “magna
cum laude” from Columbia with
a Bachelor of Science in Electrical
Engineering and a Masters of Science
in Electrical Engineering, with a
concentration in fiber optics and
lightwave communications in 2004 and
2005 respectively.
Jordan
was named a National Science Foundation
Fellow and awarded a full fellowship
to pursue her doctoral studies. She
is now a Ph.D. student in MIT’s
Engineering Systems Division, where
she will pursue research interests
that include applying systems thinking
to address complex societal problems.
Jordan’s
advisor, Professor Richard Larson,
noted, "Rhonda, a hard core electrical
engineer from Columbia University
as well as an accomplished dancer,
decided a couple of years ago that
traditional engineering was too narrow
and technocratic. She took a hiatus
from grad school to teach inner city
children in New York City, which so
energized her that she sought out
MIT's Engineering Systems Division
as a place to develop her diverse
skills and broadening interests. Because
this is her first year at ESD, it’s
too early to say exactly what her
ultimate research interest may be.
However she seems to be leaning towards
education systems, focusing on technology-enabled
education systems that can multiply
by orders of magnitude the number
of children in poor communities who
can benefit from excellent teachers.
We welcome Rhonda’s intellect,
energy and enthusiasm and wish her
well on network TV!"
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