Michael
M. Chorost was born in 1964 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
He received his B.A. from Brown
University and a M.A.
in English Literature from the University of Texas at
Austin in 1990. Since then, he's received a
Ph.D. in Renaissance Literature and Philosophy of Language.
Dr.
Michael Chorost (pronounced "kor-ist") is
an internationally-known authority on cochlear implants
and the social issues raised by advances in medical technology.
He was born with severe hearing loss in both ears due
to an epidemic of rubella. He learned to talk after getting
hearing aids at age 3½.
Having
lost his remaining hearing, Dr. Chorost received a cochlear
implant in 2001. This experience was chronicled in his
book, Rebuilt: How Becoming Part
Computer Made Me More Human (Houghton Mifflin,
2005). It won the PEN/USA Book
Award for Creative Nonfiction in 2006 and has
been optioned for the screen. It has also been published
in the UK and translated into Japanese. Dr. Chorost has
been featured in numerous national and international periodicals,
has been a guest on radio and television programs in the
U.S. and Great Britain, and has given book readings at
education and research centers and conferences, including
at the Conference for World Affairs,
and the Coleman
Institute for Cognitive Disorders. He has
also been widely published in scientific and popular journals.
He wrote the screenplay for a TV special on brain implants
titled The 22nd Century,
which aired on PBS in January
2007. He teaches at the University
of San Francisco, and continues to work as a freelance
writer and public speaker. He has a cat named
Elvis, who is a major character in his book. His
website is http://www.michaelchorost.com.
After
becoming intrigued with the mystery of the crop circle
phenomenon, during June and July 1990, he traveled to
England spending three weeks studying the enigma first-hand.
Mr.
Chorost published his first article on the subject, titled
"The Summer 1990 Crop Circles"
co-authored with Colin
Andrews in the December 1990 issue of the
MUFON UFO Journal.
He serves on the MUFON
staff as the Crop Circle Specialist.
Sources:
http://med.brown.edu/news/frontiers/bio.html
MUFON 1991 International UFO Symposium
Proceedings
