Barbara Oakley is the acclaimed author of a number of books including Evil Genes, Pathological Altruism, and Cold-Blooded Kindness, which have been lauded by Joyce Carol Oates, Steven Pinker, and Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson.  Dubbed a “female Indiana Jones” for combining worldwide adventure with solid research expertise in her writing, Oakley began her career working as a Russian translator on Soviet trawlers in the Bering Sea, served as a radio operator at the South Pole Station in Antarctica, and rose from Private to Regular Army Captain in the U.S. Army.  When she realized how her lack of quantitative and technical skills limited her professional career, she returned to school to retrain her brain, eventually earning her M.S. in electrical and computer engineering and her Ph.D. in systems engineering.  Oakley is a professor of engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.

Photo by John Meiu