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Anthony Cocciolo faculty, Information and Library Science Digital Archivist and Researcher Cocciolo was part of a faculty team that developed a mobile website, German Traces NYC, that lets users explore the city’s German cultural heritage. The application, which makes use of archival documents, photographs, and multimedia narratives, delivers information in a way that a book cannot. Cocciolo was recognized with an inaugural Library of Congress National Digital Stewardship Alliance Innovation Award in 2012 for his innovative approaches to teaching digital preservation practices at Pratt.
Photo: René Pérez
What’s the best advice you ever received and who was it from? One of my advisers at Columbia University, Professor Frank Moretti, described using one’s education as a “platform” for learning things that one might be interested in. I found this to be an empowering way of looking at education. I could insert myself into all kinds of situations as a “student” and be granted insider know-how. When people ask you what you do for a living, what do you say? I usually say college professor, unless I am in a place where that could be threatening (like China), and then I just say teacher. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? An astronaut (Star Trek really captured my imagination). Then a doctor. But in high school I had a biology class where I realized I was pretty bad at dissection, and thought it would be best not to pursue that path.
Sam Cochran B.I.D. ’05, industrial design CEO, Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology Named one of Forbes’ “30 under 30” to watch in 2012, Cochran is CEO and M i n d e d I n t e r a c t i v e T e c h n o lo gy
When did you know you wanted to be a de-
cubator—to promote environmenta l c h a n g e t h r o ug h d e s i g n . H i s senior thesis project, GROW, was SMIT’s first design to be marketed.
Photo: Courtesy Sam Cochran
advice you ever received and who was it
from? “Not knowing is a fine place to start, but not to finish,” from my dad.
the help of the Pratt Design In-
it was acquired for MoMA's permanent collection and featured in the “man made greenery” section of the New York Times Magazine: 9th Annual Year in Ideas issue in 2009.
prattfolio
achievement so far? Having GROW, our hybrid solar and wind panel, in MoMA’s permanent collection. What’s the best
d e s i g n d i r e cto r o f S us ta i n a bly (SMIT), which he co-founded—with
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What do you consider your greatest
signer? When I was six, my dad took me through his former professor’s architecture studios at Washington University in St. Louis. I knew then that I wanted to create things and kept gravitating toward art, design, and applied sciences throughout school. What is your favorite place on the Pratt campus? The tunnels underneath Pratt. How do you interpret Charles Pratt’s motto for the Institute: “Be true to your work, and your work will
be true to you”? Ownership of what you create will create you.