Telling stories using computer science
For MIT senior Shannon Kao, expert storytelling is essential, even — if not especially — when it comes to coding. The computer science major relies on narrative everywhere from her science fiction writing to her research on educational computer games at the MIT Media Lab — and it all stems from a childhood replete with books. Kao grew up in Michigan and then China, where her mother, who was her school’s librarian, exposed her and her two younger brothers, from an early age, to everything from picture books to hefty novels. “Instead of hanging out, we would all just grab a book and sit in our living room and read,” Kao says with a laugh. After two semesters of organic chemistry doused her interest in medical school, Kao stumbled on course 6.01 (Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and immediately saw computer science as a way to use her love of math...