...John Maeda, associate director of research at the MIT Media Lab and president-elect of the Rhode Island School of Design. Maeda, a graphic designer, computer scientist, author and professor -- one of Esquire magazine's 21 Most Important People of the 21st century -- takes the helm at RISD in June...

...[Maeda's] continuing his work at the Media Lab and has been visiting the Providence campus a few times a month to get acclimated and meet people. He also set up a blog to interact with the RISD community -- and even blogged from a hospital bed while recovering from a hernia operation.

Maeda expressed a bit of trepidation with the move -- without tenure, he says, "I'm not immortal anymore" -- but he seems thrilled with the opportunity, as thrilled as he is with the technology that has changed the way he does the job.

"As a professor, with new technology such as blogging, I can share what I'm thinking with not just a classroom but with thousands of people."