Steve Altes

Last updated

Steve Altes
Steve-altes-2014.JPG
Born (1962-11-13) November 13, 1962 (age 60)
Syracuse, New York
NationalityAmerican
EducationS.B. (Aeronautics and Astronautics), S.M. (Aeronautics and Astronautics), S.M. (Technology and Policy)
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupations
  • Writer
  • graphic novelist
  • engineer
Known forhumorous adventure essays, Geeks & Greeks
SpouseDiana Jellinek
AwardsNational Medal of Technology
Website stevealtes.wixsite.com/stevealtes

Steve Altes (born November 13, 1962) is an American writer and former aerospace engineer. He writes humorous essays about his misadventures. [1]

Contents

Early life

Altes was born on November 13, 1962, in Syracuse, New York. He graduated from Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Manlius in 1980. [2] In high school, Altes once ran a track meet in clown make-up. [1] In 2000, when Altes was inducted into the Fayetteville-Manlius Hall of Distinction as one of the high school's "notable alumni", he acknowledged the dichotomy in his career segue from engineering to entertainment, saying, "I owe a tremendous debt to those dedicated teachers for the serious half of my career. For the silly half, I’d like to thank all the class clowns." [3]

Engineering

Altes holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): S.B., Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1984; S.M., Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1986; and S.M., Technology and Policy, 1986. [4]

In 1982, Altes was part of the MIT team that set a world land-speed record for a human-powered vehicle using a five-person, forty-foot-long "bicycle". [1] His master's thesis, "The Aerospace Plane: Technological Feasibility and Policy Implications", [5] was reviewed by James Fallows in The New York Review of Books in 1986. [6]

After college, Altes worked as a space policy analyst for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. [1] He left Congress for a position as program control manager for the Pegasus air-launched space booster at Orbital Sciences Corporation. In 1991, Altes was part of the Orbital Sciences team that was awarded the National Medal of Technology (the United States' highest award for technological achievement) by President George H. W. Bush for developing Pegasus. [7] He is a co-recipient of the 1990 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Current Achievement in Aerospace. [8]

Due to his varied endeavors in the fields of engineering and entertainment, Altes is sometimes listed as one of MIT's more "notable alumni". [9]

Entertainment

In the mid-1990s, Altes left engineering for a career in entertainment and writing.

Essays

Altes has written a series of first-person participatory adventure essays about experiences such as:

These essays have appeared in magazines and newspapers like Salon , [18] The Washington Post , [12] the Los Angeles Times , [17] The Christian Science Monitor , [19] Capital Style , [20] The Writer , [14] Urban Male Magazine , [21] Funny Times [22] and P.O.V. [15]

Books

In 1997, Altes's The Little Book of Bad Business Advice was published by St. Martin's Press.

In 2001, a sequel, If You Jam the Copier, Bolt was published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. [23]

In 2005, Altes was a contributor to Michael J. Rosen's anthology, May Contain Nuts: A Very Loose Canon of American Humor. His piece satirized his career as a male model. [24]

In 2006, the humor editor Judy Brown selected twenty of Altes's jokes to appear in her anthology Joke Express: Instant Delivery of 1,424 Funny Bits from the Best Comedians. [25]

In 2014, Altes ran a Kickstarter [26] campaign which raised $43,098 to finance the illustration of a graphic novel he had written about hacks at MIT, titled Geeks & Greeks . [27] [28] The graphic novel was illustrated by Andy Fish and was published in 2016 to generally positive reviews. [29]

Film appearances

Altes has appeared in a number of films and television shows after being accidentally "discovered" and cast as a German terrorist in Die Hard With a Vengeance in 1995. [1] [30]

YearFilmRole
1995 Die Hard With a Vengeance German terrorist
1997 Shadow Conspiracy [31] Secret Service agent
1999 Girl, Interrupted Medic
2000 Hollow Man Dad

Altes has worked as a commercial print model and hand model. [13] [32]

Other

Altes has also been:

Awards

Personal

Altes lives in the Los Angeles area and is married to Diana Jellinek, an acting coach. [35]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</span> US private university in Cambridge, MA (founded 1861)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the most prestigious and highly ranked academic institutions in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Gehry</span> Canadian–American architect (born 1929)

Frank Owen Gehry,, FAIA is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoot</span> Non-standard unit of length

The smoot is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. It is named after Oliver R. Smoot, a fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha, who in October 1958 lay down repeatedly on the Harvard Bridge so that his fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigma Gamma Tau</span>

Sigma Gamma Tau (ΣΓΤ) is the American honor society in Aerospace Engineering. It seeks to identify and recognize achievement and excellence in the Aerospace field within the United States. Sigma Gamma Tau's collegiate chapters elect annually to membership those students, alumni, and professionals who, by conscientious attention to their studies or professional duties, uphold this high standard for the betterment of their profession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hope Larson</span> American cartoonist

Hope Raue Larson is an American illustrator and cartoonist. Her main field is comic books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivier Blanchard</span> French economist and professor

Olivier Jean Blanchard is a French economist and professor who is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund from September 1, 2008, to September 8, 2015. Blanchard was appointed to the position under the tenure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn; he was succeeded by Maurice Obstfeld. He is also a Robert M. Solow Professor of Economics emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). According to IDEAS/RePEc, he is one of the most cited economists in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District</span> School district in the U.S. state of New York

The Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District (F-M) is a K-12 public school district located in the Town of Manlius in Central New York, enrolling approximately 4,800 students. F-M serves a large portion of the Town of Manlius, including the villages of Manlius and Fayetteville, as well as portions of Jamesville and Pompey. The district is partially funded by and governed under the authority of the New York State Education Department, whose standardized examinations are designed and administered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology</span> Prank at or by MIT, an American university

Hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are practical jokes and pranks meant to prominently demonstrate technical aptitude and cleverness, or to commemorate popular culture and historical topics. The pranks are anonymously installed at night by hackers, usually, but not exclusively, undergraduate students. The actions of hackers are governed by an informal, yet extensive, body of precedent, tradition, and ethics. Hacks can occur anywhere across campus, or occasionally off campus; many make use of the iconic Great Dome, Little Dome, Green Building tower, or other prominent architectural features of the MIT campus. Well-known hacker alumni include Nobel Laureates Richard P. Feynman and George F. Smoot. In October 2009, US President Barack Obama made a reference to the MIT hacking tradition during an on-campus speech about clean energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dava Newman</span>

Dava J. Newman is the director of the MIT Media Lab and a former deputy administrator of NASA. Newman earned her PhD in aerospace biomedical engineering, and Master of Science degrees in aerospace engineering and technology and policy all from MIT, and her Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Newman is the Apollo Program Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the faculty at the Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. She is also a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, former director of the Technology and Policy Program at MIT (2003–2015), and has been the director of the MIT Portugal Program since 2011. As the director of MIT's Technology and Policy Program (TPP), she led the institute's largest multidisciplinary graduate research program, with over 1,200 alumni. She has been a faculty member in her home department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and MIT's School of Engineering since 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Fish</span> American artist

Andy Fish is a graphic novelist, born Andrew Tiberius Fish, is a comic book artist, illustrator, painter, and educator. He is known for his graphic novels and his series of books on how to illustrate in certain styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Air Defense Sector</span> United States Air Force air combat command

The Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) is a United States Air Force unit of Air Combat Command (ACC), permanently assigned to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). A joint, bi-national military organization, EADS is composed of US and Canadian military forces, federal civilians and contractors. It is located at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, New York, the former Griffiss Air Force Base. EADS is a subordinate command of the First Air Force and Continental NORAD Region, located at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.

The Jerome C. Hunsaker Visiting Professor of Aerospace Systems is a professorship established in 1954 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. It is named after MIT professor Jerome Hunsaker (1886–1984) in honor of his achievements in aeronautical engineering. The visiting professor is expected to deliver the Minta Martin Lecture in several venues in the United States.

Satya Atluri is an American engineer, educator, researcher and scientist in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering and computational sciences, who is currently the Presidential Chair & University Distinguished Professor at Texas Tech University. Since 1966, he made fundamental contributions to the development of finite element methods, boundary element methods, Meshless Local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) methods, Fragile Points Methods (FPM), Local Variational Iteration Methods, for general problems of engineering, solid mechanics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, flexoelectricity, ferromagnetics, gradient and nonlocal theories, nonlinear dynamics, shell theories, micromechanics of materials, structural integrity and damage tolerance, Orbital mechanics, Astrodynamics, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry McDaniel</span> American artist

Jerry W. McDaniel is an American heterogeneous artist; graphics artist, illustrator, communication designer, educator and modernist painter. He distinguished himself by doing advertising work for numerous large corporations, creating posters, doing book and magazine illustrations, and influencing numerous students of advertising and communication design. In parallel with his commercial career he was a prolific multimedia artist, painting in acrylic and in watercolor, in various fields such as landscape, portraits, sports, and political graphics. He also designed sports stamps. He was one of the first illustrators to embrace computer graphics.

The Jargon File is a glossary and usage dictionary of slang used by computer programmers. The original Jargon File was a collection of terms from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab (SAIL) and others of the old ARPANET AI/LISP/PDP-10 communities, including Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Carnegie Mellon University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. It was published in paperback form in 1983 as The Hacker's Dictionary, revised in 1991 as The New Hacker's Dictionary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aprille Ericsson-Jackson</span> African American mechanical engineer

Aprille J. Ericsson-Jackson is an American aerospace engineer. Ericsson-Jackson is the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in Engineering at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

Dottie Dartland Zicklin is an American television writer and producer.

Veronica Fish is an American comic book artist and painter best known for her work with Marvel Comics and Archie Comics.

<i>Geeks & Greeks</i>

Geeks & Greeks is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel written by humorist Steve Altes, illustrated by Andy Fish, and colored by Veronica Fish. It includes a foreword by novelist Matthew Pearl and is dedicated to Sean Collier. Geeks & Greeks is set at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and locations in Boston, Cambridge, and the Quincy Quarries. The story was inspired by MIT's hacking culture and the writer's experiences with fraternity hazing. At MIT a hack is a clever, benign prank or unsanctioned public display or installation that requires technical sophistication to execute and often incorporates an offbeat sense of humor. Geeks & Greeks has been described as Good Will Hunting meets Animal House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DC Graphic Novels for Kids</span>

DC Graphic Novels for Kids, formerly known as DC Zoom, is an imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics consisting of original one-shots and reprints of books previously published under other imprints. The imprint intends to present traditional DC Universe characters for middle-grade readers. The first title of the DC Zoom imprint, DC Super Hero Girls: Search for Atlantis was published on September 26, 2018. Black Canary: Ignite and Super Sons Book Two: The Foxglove Mission were the last titles to be published under DC Ink. Diana: Princess of the Amazons, the first title of DC Graphic Novels for Kids, was published on January 7, 2020. The first reprint, DC Super Hero Girls: Weird Science was published on July 14, 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Model/Actor/Scientist Adds Writer to Resume". Lawrence Journal-World. Lawrence, KS. 1998-09-10.
  2. ↑ "Valedictorian Tradition Scrapped at High Schools". The Washington Times. Washington, DC. May 7, 1999.
  3. ↑ "Hall of Distinction Inductees". FMSchools.org. Manlius, NY. June 1, 2000.
  4. ↑ "MIT Graduate Inspires Crowd with Life Experience". The Tech (MIT). Washington, DC. December 1, 1998.
  5. ↑ "The Aerospace Plane: Technological Feasibility and Policy Implications" (PDF). MIT.edu. May 1, 1986. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 5, 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Americans in Space". The New York Review of Books. New York City. December 18, 1986.
  7. ↑ "Technology and the Future Warrior: Protecting Soldiers in the 21st Century". Cambridge, Massachusetts: M.I.T. September 13, 2004.
    - "Rocket Scientist Turns to Entertainment". MIT.edu. Cambridge, Massachusetts. September 1, 2008.
    - "The National Medal of Technology and Innovation 1991 Laureates". USPTO.gov. Washington, DC. January 1, 1991.
  8. ↑ "National Air and Space Museum Trophy Recipients". Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. June 1, 1990.
  9. ↑ "Notable Alumni: After Departing from MIT, Alumni Make their Mark on the World". The Tech. Cambridge, Massachusetts. May 5, 1999.
    - "Notable Alumni". MIT Admissions. Cambridge, Massachusetts. September 4, 2014.
    - "12 MIT Grads that Changed the World". BostInno.com. Boston, MA. February 16, 2011.
    - "Top 10 famous alumni of MIT". TopYaps. September 8, 2014.
    - "MIT's 150th Birthday". FastCompany. April 11, 2011.
    - Fordham, Sara (September 30, 2009). "The Rival Rundown: Caltech vs MIT". College Candy. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Reverend Me". Atheists.org. Los Angeles, CA. June 1, 2004.
  11. ↑ "So, You Want a Piece of Me?" (PDF). Tear Sheet. New York City. June 1, 2000.
  12. 1 2 "Standing In for Brad". The Washington Post. Washington, DC. March 26, 1997.
  13. 1 2 "Guy on the Box" (PDF). Tear Sheet. New York City. December 1, 2000.
  14. 1 2 "How to Become an Author in Four Easy Steps" (PDF). The Writer. Boston. March 1, 1999.
  15. 1 2 "The Fugitive" (PDF). P.O.V. New York City. August 1, 1998.
  16. ↑ "Bill Clinton Hit on My Wife" (PDF). Capital Style. Washington, DC. October 1, 1998.
    - "The Basement with Bill" (PDF). New York Post. New York City. September 24, 1998.
    - Gillis, John F. X. (January 1, 2000). "Jove Laughs, They Say: Lewinsky as Text". ISBN   9780761818052.
  17. 1 2 "My Short, Sorry Career as a Spy". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. February 24, 2003.
  18. ↑ "Brad and Me". Salon. Washington, DC. April 27, 1998. Archived from the original on October 20, 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  19. ↑ "How I Became a CIA Spy for a Day". The Christian Science Monitor. Boston, MA. March 3, 2003.
  20. ↑ "Capital Style Overcomes Substance". Washington Business Journal. Washington, DC. November 9, 1998.
  21. ↑ "Reverend Me" (PDF). Urban Male Magazine. Canada. Spring 2004.
  22. ↑ "Confessions About My Baby". Funny Times. Cleveland Heights, OH. November 1, 2007.
  23. ↑ "Books Represented". JeffHerman.com. New York City. August 19, 2015.
  24. ↑ "May Contain Nuts: A Very Loose Canon of American Humor". August 12, 2015.
  25. ↑ Brown, Judy (August 2007). Joke Express: Instant Delivery of 1,424 Funny Bits from the Best Comedians (1st ed.). Andrews McMeel Publishing. pp. 7, 23, 37, 45, 68, 107, 108, 110, 137, 181, 189, 218, 220, 227, 233, 236, 239, 260, 265, 272. ISBN   978-0740760471.
  26. ↑ "Geeks & Greeks – an epic graphic novel about MIT pranks". Kickstarter.com. Los Angeles, CA. June 12, 2014.
  27. ↑ "How Stunt Work on Die Hard Led to a Graphic Novel About MIT Hacks". MIT Slice of Life blog. Cambridge, Massachusetts. May 8, 2015.
  28. 1 2 "Humor Writer to Publish Graphic Novel on Hacks". TechnologyReview.com. Cambridge, Massachusetts. April 21, 2015.
  29. ↑ Moore, Karleigh (April 8, 2016). "Book Review: A Tale of Hazing and Hacking at MIT". The Tech (MIT). Retrieved August 9, 2016.
    - Bench, Anthony (August 8, 2016). "Geeks & Greek Review". FanboyNation. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
    - Adkins, Jana (August 1, 2016). "From Aerospace Engineer to Life as a Spy". Santa Clarita Valley Business Journal. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
    - Pachter, Richard (August 11, 2016). "From John Lewis to Jughead, a Roundup of Graphic Novels". Miami Herald. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
    - Cornog, Martha (September 15, 2016). "Altes/Fishs, Beaumont, Clowes, Cornell/Parker, Girard, Jackson, Schulz - Graphic Novels Reviews". Library Journal[ dead link ]. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
    - Frank, Casey Rose (April 8, 2016). "Battle of the Geeks". The Post-Standard. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
    - Carreiro, Remy (September 5, 2016). "Animal House for the Tech Gen: Geeks & Greeks Graphic Novel Review". Forever Geek. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
    - Hughes, Johnny (September 8, 2016). "Review: Geeks & Greeks". Comic Crusaders. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
    - Ferno, Clay (August 10, 2016). "Talking Geeks & Greeks with Steve Altes and Andy Fish". Force Of Geek. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
    - Hickey, Patrick (August 25, 2016). "Steve Altes Talks Geeks & Greeks". Review Fix. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  30. ↑ "IMDB - Steve Altes". IMDB. Los Angeles, CA. September 4, 2014.
    - "Yippie-Ki-Yay, Mr. Falcon". 2 February 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  31. ↑ "Shooting Charlie Sheen". YouTube. Hollywood, CA. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  32. ↑ "Goodbye, Modeling" . Retrieved August 12, 2015.
    - Starkey, David (August 12, 2015). "Living Blue in the Red States". ISBN   978-0803209855.
  33. ↑ "Screenplay deals closed 2006". Ink Tip. Los Angeles, CA. June 1, 2006.
  34. ↑ "Bad Move". National Public Radio. Los Angeles, CA. May 26, 2003.
  35. ↑ "Diana Jellinek". IMDB. Los Angeles, CA. September 4, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.