An MIT fiction writer-researcher uses his day job as an engineer to inform his fictional books about the private lives of scientists.

Lori Valigra

Roboticist Karl Iagnemma is driven to write fiction. When he was working on his PhD thesis in engineering at MIT, he was also writing short stories at night. Those stories later would be compiled in his first book, On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction, about scientists and their personal, emotional struggles.

Karl Iagnemma juggles a dual career as a MIT robotics researcher and published fiction writer. (Credit: Ann-Kristin Lund)

Iagnemma works full time as a research scientist in MIT’s mechanical engineering department, developing mobile robots, and squeezes in time for writing whenever he can. Last year he took a partial leave from MIT to spend one day a week working on his second book, The Expeditions, which came out in January. It’s about an amateur naturalist who joins a survey expedition to the unexplored northern parts of Michigan during the mid-1800s.

In his writing, Iagnemma delves into the human side of science and in doing so has struck a chord with some of his scientist-readers. “I was shocked after my first book when I was contacted by scientists who felt a connection to the stories,” he says. “They said they wanted to write and were thrilled to see people like themselves portrayed in fiction.”

While doing research and writing fiction may seem like polar opposite careers, Iagnemma says one can do both. There is a “universal human impulse to write,” he says. But some scientists may be deterred by perceived barriers to entering the writing field or sentiments from colleagues that fiction writing is a waste of time that detracts from their work as scientists. Iagnemma—who has been the subject of both praise and criticism from colleagues about his choice to write fiction—has shown it doesn’t have to be that way. “It seems to me there are a lot of scientists with an unrequited love for fiction writing.”

Dual careers

The son of an engineer and an aspiring writer of children’s books, Iagnemma, 35, began writing as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. While studying mechanical engineering, he took a fiction-writing class taught by a writer he’d admired, Charles Baxter.

Iagnemma finds similarities between writing fiction and doing scientific research. For instance, both involve problem solving. In the case of fiction, Iagnemma must solve the problems of scientist characters facing the possible failure of their experiments.

“The creative moment feels very similar as a scientist and as a fiction writer,” says Alan Lightman, a physicist, writer, and adjunct professor of humanities at MIT who knows Iagnemma’s work.

For Iagnemma, most of the benefits of having a dual career flows from his research career to his writing, and less so in the other direction. Using an engineer’s approach, for example, helps his writing. “I tend to approach writing in a somewhat systematic way. I tend to break stories into components and figure out which parts need to work in order for the story to be satisfying.” And being immersed in research gives him insight on how scientists and researchers see the world.

Labcoat and pen

Still, Iagnemma and Lightman both encourage scientists to do some creative writing, even if they don’t get published, because it connects them to human concerns. “Even if you are doing science, writing forces you to give deep and considered thought to different aspects of life. You sit in a room with your thoughts and explore how you feel in the world,” says Iagnemma. “There’s an addictive quality about writing.”

Lightman advises scientists to start writing in stages, progressing from an essay to short stories and finally a book, if they’re so inclined. Reading good writers is a must. Iagnemma says aspiring writer-scientists can take a writing class, get involved in the writing community in Boston, and go to author readings at local bookstores.