Conversations
crespo portrait
Andrew Manuel Crespo ’05 is a professor of criminal law and procedure at Harvard Law school, the executive faculty director of the Institute to End Mass Incarceration, and a founding editor of Inquest, a forum for advancing decarceral ideas.
Avi Schiffman
Having once turned down a multimillion-dollar offer to monetize a Covid-19 tracking website, Harvard dropout Avi Schiffmann now intends to “conquer” the world of wearable AI.
Unapologetic Selfhood with Matta Zheng
“When students come to me — many, if not all the times — they’re really suffering because they’re worried, they’re concerned, or maybe they even believe that their person is fundamentally wrong in some way,” Zheng says. “I am able, when it’s appropriate and when it works, to affirm to them in no uncertain language, in the fullest ways that I can, their full humanity, their full perfection, their full wholeness.”
Harvard Dropout Avi Schiffmann is Making an AI-Powered ‘Wearable Mom’
Having once turned down a multimillion-dollar offer to monetize a Covid-19 tracking website, Avi Schiffmann now intends to “conquer” the world of wearable AI.
matta courtesy
Matta Zheng stands in San Francisco's Chinatown in a qipao and black heels with their face painted white and magenta.
Fifteen Questions: Andrew Manuel Crespo ’05 on Plea Bargaining, Playing Football in High School, and a Fateful Coop Dance Party
The law professor sat down with FM to talk about the potential of collective plea bargaining, meeting his wife on the dance floor of the Dudley Coop, and what’s kept him coming back to Harvard. “The Harvard degree does not confer on you a guarantee that you will use the privilege and power that you get by virtue of being here to make the world better. That’s a choice. It’s always a choice,” he says.
Jonathan L. Zittrain
Jonathan L. Zittrain is a professor at Harvard Law School and faculty director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.
Fifteen Questions: Jonathan Zittrain on Social Media, AI Litigation, and CompuServe
The law professor sat down with Fifteen Minutes to discuss AI regulation, moderating online communities, and the Applied Social Media Lab. “I’m very interested in ways to see how people can gather with a sense of shared ownership rather than a corporate patron overseeing the conversation,” Zittrain says.
Brooks Lambert-Sluder
Since graduating from Harvard, Brooks Lambert-Sluder has worked as a proctor for 11 years and has worked in the APO since its inception in 2006. In nearly 20 years, he has witnessed Harvard’s advising programming evolve, including the PAF program.
Brooks Lambert-Sluder, the Adviser’s Adviser
Brooks B. Lambert-Sluder ’05 is now the assistant director at the Advising Program Office and overseer of the Peer Advising Fellows program, but he recalls feeling a lack of support when he first arrived at Harvard — at the time, the PAF program did not yet exist.
fasano
Joseph N. Fasano ’04 is a poet working to democratize the genre. “My work comes from a place of feeling like I really need to earn the reader,” he says.
delilah brown
Delilah Brown has quickly established herself as a “powerhouse” of management and optimization at some of Harvard’s most beloved eateries.
naomi oreskes portrait
Naomi Oreskes is a professor of the History of Science and is an affiliated professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University.
Fifteen Questions: Naomi Oreskes on Climate Change Denial, Apolitical Scientists, and Her Favorite Rocks
The historian and her dog sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about disinformation, climate change, and rocks. “Generally people don’t act — especially if you’re asking people to change how they're living, how they’re behaving, how they’re thinking — if you just give them dry scientific information,” Oreskes says.
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Since starting to learn Kenpo Karate at three, Hunts-in-Winter has gone on to win national world titles in Karate, Jiu-jitsu, and Judo.
Delilah Brown, Campus Cafe Extraordinaire
Brown has since transitioned to her role as assistant manager of both Barker and Lamont Cafes, and she can be thanked for putting an end to students’ lonesome glances at the empty coffee bars. Now up and running for the 2023-2024 school year, featuring a menu of fresh pastries and brewed drinks, the cafes have restored their lively student audience and are accompanied by Beyoncé, Whitney Houston, or whoever’s on queue on Brown’s go-to playlist.
Kylie-Hunts-In-Winter 2
As Hunts-in-Winter sees it, martial arts and MMIW advocacy concern the same fundamental principle. “They’re both about women empowerment. They’re both about the voices that aren’t heard,” she says.
Joseph Fasano is Not Ready to Renounce the Universal
Fasano is not your typical poet’s poet. Far from content with keeping poetry ensconced to its narrow readership of academics and literary savants, he has worked in past years to democratize the genre.
Get to Know ‘Brave Woman’ Kylie Hunts-in-Winter ’25, a Martial Arts World Title Holder and MMIW Advocate
As Hunts-in-Winter sees it, martial arts and MMIW advocacy concern the same fundamental principle. “They’re both about women empowerment. They’re both about the voices that aren’t heard,” she says.
Fifteen Questions: Jules Gill-Peterson on Trans DIY History, Deep-Fried Memes, and the End of the World
The historian sat down with Fifteen Minutes to discuss modes of transition and the current political moment. “Despite every attempt, people have been remarkably bad at stopping people from transitioning,” she says.
Jules Gill-Peterson
Jules Gill-Peterson is a 2023–24 Radcliffe fellow and an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University.
bruno carvalho portrait
Bruno M. Carvalho is a professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and African and African American Studies and is an affiliated professor in Urban Planning and Design at the Graduate School of Design. His work focuses on cities and culture.
Fifteen Questions: Bruno Carvalho on Cities, Bike Lanes, and Punny Halloween Costumes
The urbanist sat down with Fifteen Minutes to discuss cities and urban studies. “I’m not sure I would say cities are inherently anything except for places where strangers live among each other and places where constructions are supposed to last beyond a single generation,” he says.
Fifteen Questions: Maria Dominguez Gray on PBHA, Leadership, and Public Service
The executive director of the Phillips Brooks House Association sat down with Fifteen Minutes to share her thoughts on what makes a good student leader and the value of community service.