Fifteen Questions
Fifteen Questions: Finale Doshi-Velez on AI Decision Making, Novel Writing and Unicorns
Computer Science Professor Finale Doshi-Velez sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about artificial intelligence in healthcare decision making, the dangers of “boring AI,” and writing what may be her first novel.
Fifteen Questions: Spencer Weinreich on Solitary Confinement, Religious Violence, and Quizbowl Grooming
Junior Fellow Spencer Weinreich sat down with FM to discuss the history of solitary confinement, the meaning of his tattoos, and being a “textual omnivore.”
Fifteen Questions: Bruce H. Mann on Legal History, Studying Debt, and Owning Golden Retrievers
Legal Historian Bruce Mann sat down with FM to discuss socratic teaching, the pervasiveness of debt, and supporting his wife, Senator Elizabeth Warren, on the campaign trail.
Serhii Plokhii portrait
Serhii Plokhii, History professor and director of the Ukrainian Research Institute, studies Ukranian history and recently published a book about Chernobyl.
Fifteen Questions: Serhii Plokhii on Atlantis, Chernobyl, and the Dangers of Writing History
History professor and Ukrainian Research Institute director Serhii Plokhii sat down with FM to discuss his newly-published book on Chernobyl, his role as a historian of the Russo-Ukrainian war, and how searching for the lost city of Atlantis pulled him into academia.
.Maya Jasanoff 15Q Portrait
Jasanoff is the Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard. Her research has taken her from the city of Calcutta to the worlds of Joseph Conrad; she interests herself in subjects as varied as the workings of the British Empire and our obsession with ancestry.
Maya Jasanoff Eclipse 15Q Picture
The trees began to sway and the bushes gently rustled as a breeze came over the courtyard. The shadows lost their strength.
Fifteen Questions during the Solar Eclipse: Maya Jasanoff on the British Empire, Joseph Conrad, and Judging The Booker Prize
The history professor talked with Fifteen Minutes during the solar eclipse about being in a family of academics, postcolonial literature, and reading.
Fifteen Questions: Yevgenia Albats on Journalism in the USSR, Freedom of the Press, and Her Bibliophilia
The journalist sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about her career, including being declared an enemy of the Russian state, investigative reporting on KGB officials, and her deep love of reading that was kindled in Widener Library’s basement. “In many countries, people are suffering because of their cruel leaders, because of injustice, because of poverty, because of absence of normal medical help,” she says. “Our job is to tell their stories.”
Yegvenia Albats
Yegvenia Albats is a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and former Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Russian publication The New Times.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Maria Dominguez Gray
Maria Dominguez Gray has been at the Phillips Brooks House Association for going on 25 years, and has been the executive director for 11.
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.
Fifteen Questions: Rochelle Walensky on Pandemics, Public Health, and Reading for Fun
FM sat down with the former CDC director to discuss her experience as one of the nation’s public health leaders during an unprecedented global pandemic. "I don’t know that America appreciates how the people of CDC, the 12,000 people of CDC, work tirelessly, quietly,” she says. “You never know their name.”
rochelle walensky portrait
Rochelle P. Walensky served as the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2021 to 2023.
Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer is the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts as well as graduate advisor for the Music Department’s Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry program.