Oakley, Barbara A. 1955-

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Oakley, Barbara A. 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born November 24, 1955; Married Philip Oakley; children: two daughters and two adopted sons. Education: University of Washington, B.A., 1977, B.S., 1986; Oakland University, M.Sc., 1995, Ph.D., 1998.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Oakland University, 648 SEB, Rochester, MI 48309-4478. E-mail—oakley@oakland.edu.

CAREER:

Engineer, educator, and writer. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, associate professor of engineering. Also worked as a radio operator at the South Pole Station in Antarctica; an instrumentation and controls engineer at a laser research and development firm near Seattle, WA, and for Ford Motor Company near Detroit, MI. Military service: U.S. Army, rose in rank from private to captain.

MEMBER:

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (senior member; former vice president of Medicine and Biology Society).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Association of the United States Army Award, 1976; Distinguished Military Scholar and Graduate, U.S. Army, l977; Antarctic Services Medal, National Science Foundation, l984; Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Literary Awards, first place, 1990; Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Academic Achievement, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Oakland University, 1993 and 1994; Mary Kay Davis Literary Award, Oakland University, 1994; De Vlieg Graduate Fellowship, Oakland University, 1996-98; National Science Foundation New Faculty Fellow, 1998; Excellence in Teaching Assistance, Oakland University, 1998; National Science Foundation New Century Scholar, 1999; John D. and Dortha J. Withrow Teaching Award, 2001; Naim and Ferial Kheir Teaching Award, 2002.

WRITINGS:

Hair of the Dog: Tales from aboard a Russian Trawler, Washington State University Press (Pullman, WA), 1996.

Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

An expert in electromagnetics who has researched the effects of electromagnetic fields on biological cells, Barbara A. Oakley has also had a career in the military and a series of globetrotting adventures. These exploits, such as serving for one season as the radio operator at the South Pole Station in Antarctica, resulted in her being referred to by some as the "female Indiana Jones." Oakley first enlisted in the U.S. Army right after graduating from high school. The army sent her to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, to study Russian. While in the Army, the author also received her first degree in Slavic languages and literature and subsequently worked several fishing seasons as a Rus- sian translator on a trawler belonging to the Soviet Union. The job was part of a joint 1980s fishing operation between the United States and the former Soviet Union.

In her first book, Hair of the Dog: Tales from aboard a Russian Trawler, Oakley recounts her experience working in the Bering Sea with a group of volatile Russian and American fishermen. As one of a dozen or so translators hired to live aboard the Soviet ships as interpreters, Oakley details her experience with a keen eye for the clash of collaborating but very different cultures. Among her adventures are encounters with the notorious Soviet spy agency the KGB and drinking bouts with Russian fishermen. The author also writes about the components of fanaticism, greed, and opportunity that were part of the project.

For her next book, Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend, the author explores the often sinister behavior of her sister, Carolyn, through an overall examination of evil or sinister people. Oakley delves into recent scientific advances such as brain and genetic imaging that have contributed to the understanding of how the brain functions. She examines how the size and shape of its various parts relate to differences in genes that may correlate to mental illness and antisocial conduct, such as being deceitful, manipulative, and sadistic. In the process, she provides case histories of notable people with evil backgrounds. For example, she analyzes personages such as Slobodan Milosevic, who was known as the "butcher of the Balkans," and Mao Zedong, the ruthless Chinese communist leader known for atrocities. However, Oakley also relates these "evil geniuses" to more ordinary people, as reflected in the memoir the author provides of her sister's mixed-up life.

While most people see evil as something to eliminate, the author provides an interesting twist on her research. She writes about how the human race might actually receive benefits from the passing on of "evil" genes, which the author relates to a Machiavellian approach to life. (Niccoló Machiavelli is the author of The Prince, a political treatise on the use of power and force as a necessity in governing.) For example, what many people see as bad, or Machiavellian, traits, such as ambition and self-involvement, do not simply produce bad results, but also provide good outcomes for society as a whole. The author points to her own experiences in academia as she encounters egomaniacs and plotters who, nevertheless, use their egotism to advance their careers and their fields of study.

A Publishers Weekly contributor commented that through the author's "own personal story … [she] offers an accessible account of … psychiatric disorders and those affected." Although some reviewers wrote that the author may have been stretching the scientific findings in her effort to compare the brains of people like Hitler to her sister and other less malevolent misfits, other reviewers strongly praised the author's attempt to explain the possible biological underpinnings associated with evil.

"Oakley's explanations are lucid, making Evil Genes an easy read," wrote Jennifer Garfinkel in a review on the Psychology Today Web site. Conversely, Fred Bortz wrote in a review on Guidelive.com that although "clear and lively in its prose, the book is not always easy reading, especially when it details brain physiology and function or the taxonomy of psychiatric and behavioral disorders." Bortz noted that the author's research included "one untraditional source, diaries found after Carolyn's premature death."

Oakley told CA: "When I was about twelve years old, I found myself naturally assuming I was going to be a writer. I planned to have a life of adventure, not just of book-learning, because I had a feeling it was important for the kind of writing I was going to do. Ultimately, living an adventurous life, while also studying language and receiving a doctorate in a hard-science related field, gave me the tools I needed for my writing.

"I did not know what kind of writing I wanted to do. All I knew was that I was going to write, and there was a certain path I had to follow to get ready.

"I am influenced by academics who write about people and events in a nonacademic fashion. Jack Weatherford's book Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is one of my favorites. Another is Colin Turnbull's classic, The Mountain People. I'm influenced as well by daily reading of many different blogs. Some bloggers are just fantastic writers—pithy, witty, and riveting. I also like both high- and low-brow literature, for very different reasons. I enjoy my weekly dose of the National Enqirer even as I'm reading, say, Cormac McCarthy's book All the Pretty Horses. Both types of writing are a nice break from electromagnetics research.

"Before I write, I roughly outline a book using Microsoft Word's ‘outline’ feature. Then I compulsively focus on completing one section at a time, although I will sometimes return to something once it has sat for a week or two. I probably reread and adjust a section twenty times or more before I'm happy. For me, writing is a lot like walking a tight rope. I have to do my writing sandwiched between research, teaching at the university, and being a wife and mother at home. So I try not to think about everything that eventually needs to be done to complete a book, because then I can feel overwhelmed. I try to keep my focus on the section at hand. My best writing is sometimes done when I think there is nothing there and I can't write.

"Writing is a wonderful way of focusing the mind for extended periods of time—years, even. It's amazing what you can figure out when you focus on something for so long.

"I hope people will take a step back after closing my books and realize that life is more fascinating than they'd ever realized."