A native of Baldwin, N.Y., McLurkin says he got considerable encouragement and support from his parents to pursue scientific projects and interests. As a youngster, he delighted in taking apart and rebuilding gadgets, electronic devices and toys. Even before graduating from high school, McLurkin had already programmed his own video games and built robots.
Despite a busy schedule, McLurkin manages to devote time to community outreach and being a mentor to minority students. For several years, McLurkin taught in MIT's summer program for incoming minority freshman students. And these days, McLurkin teaches classes at The Saturday Engineering Enrichment and Discovery (SEED) Academy at MIT for minority high-school students, often demonstrating scientific concepts by using toys, such as Lego™ bricks and model trains.
While he's optimistic that his doctoral research will yield the software tools that will empower scientists to program mobile robots, McLurkin says he wants his career to be in teaching and research. He is expected to complete his doctorate in 2006.
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