Creative genius in technology [electronic resource] : interpersonal influences
Keywords: Education.

Objective: Discover the interpersonal influences and mentoring experiences that contributed to geniuses' creativity in technology innovation. Background: Krumboltz (2009) proposes the Happenstance Learning Theory as a set of educational practices, 'open-minded' thinking paradigms, and decision-making and learning skills that maximizes the 'happenstance' opportunities for each individual student to succeed and excel within the educational process and his or her career. Studies have shown that mentoring can play a valuable role in an individual's educational process, in career development and psychosocial support. Methods: This study used a qualitative approach to analyzing semi-structured interviews of fourteen creative geniuses in technology (7 White males, 4 White females, 3 Latino males). All interviews were digitally audio recorded and transcribed. Data analysis was performed in two phases: (1) Computation of the most frequent concepts, the 'ingredients of genius', used among the three participant groups using a computer tool, WordSift.com. (2) Classification of 'story' units of the transcripts using Happenstance Learning Theory as an interpretative framework, an attempt to make meaning of the data, to discover a 'recipe for genius'. Participants included: the 'Fathers of the Internet', Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn; National Medal of Technology winner, Ray Kurzweil; 'The Father of Ethernet', Bob Metcalfe; 'Father of the World Wide Web', Tim Berners-Lee; the first female Director of the National Science Foundation 1998-2004, Rita Colwell; Nobel Laureate in Physics, Doug Osheroff; the PhD advisor and mentor of the Google cofounders, Hector Garcia-Molina; a World Bank engineer; winners of the National Medal of Science; and professors at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Results: I determined the 'ingredients of genius' based on computing word frequency used across the three participant groups. For White males, the ten most frequent concepts were: People, Year, Time, Work, Mentor, MIT, Student, System, Internet, See. For White females, the ten most frequent concepts were People, Time, Good, Science, Student, School, Different, Want, Work, New. For Latino males, the ten most frequent concepts were: People, Time, Work, Year, Idea, Working, School, Good, Parent, Completely. I interpreted the data through a theoretical framework and observed a total of 806 'instantiations' of Happenstance Learning Theory within the stories. The most dominant Happenstance Learning Theory component was Proposition Three, with 106 total instantiations. Proposition Three is "Clients learn to engage in exploratory actions as a way of generating beneficial unplanned events." Conclusion: This doctoral dissertation proposes the GENIUS Theory, six educator actions to contribute to geniuses' creativity in technology: Give, Energize, Nurture, Inspire, Utilize, Stimulate. Give encouragement, validation and self-confidence to the genius. "You can do it." Energize the genius to explore and experiment in engineering and science discovery at an early age. Learn by doing. Nurture creative new ideas through 'play' and providing the genius with an abundance of educational resources. Love learning. Inspire through role modeling and mentoring. Set the example. Utilize unexpected events as opportunities for serendipitous benefit, and adapt; encourage the genius to do the same. Ride the wave. Stimulate the genius to solve problems of practical importance and create beneficial technology solutions. Invent.