Josh Wallman

I first encountered Josh as a PhD student in his Neuroscience class at the Graduate Center. I knew that Josh was no ordinary instructor as soon as he pulled out the camera. He said something about his interest in perception and then asked if he could photograph each of us, the entire class, one by one. I don't know what, if anything, he ever did with those pictures, but it set the tone of the class and was the perfect introduction to Josh. I think students had mixed feelings about how Josh taught; felt uneasy about his unwillingness to give traditional lectures or to focus on letting you know 'what you need to know'. For the student who wanted to be engaged, Josh was great. I loved when he held out a piece of chalk to a student struggling with a concept and invited them to come up and illustrate their understanding on the board. Those were the best moments to me - not because I learned the most, but because you could see how excited he was to engage with his students at that level, and that got you excited. After that class if Josh offered a seminar, I enrolled. It didn't matter if it was relevant to my work or was a current interest of mine. I knew that, through Josh, I'd be exposed to ideas I'd not considered and a way of seeing the world that I wasn't capable of generating on my own.



My history with Josh wasn't as long as most of the people writing here, nor was my relationship nearly as close. Josh was an important figure in my life nonetheless - I considered him a mentor and an inspiration. I had enormous admiration for his ability to see what other people gleamed over. He saw all the interesting parts when other people saw the gestalt. I remember how struck I was walking along 34th St. with him, from the Graduate Center on 5th Ave to the subway at 6th Ave., as our conversation was constantly interrupted by his observations of strange window reflections and visual illusions. It was his way of seeing and his love of engagement (both social and intellectual) that led me to ask him to serve on my thesis committee in spite of the complete lack of connection between his research and mine. I wanted him there because I thought he'd push me to think more creatively and ask more interesting questions than I otherwise would. And I knew he'd tell me the truth about my work.

It was clear to me that Josh lived to engage, and I cherished the times that that engagement was with me. Though that was infrequent compared to others, I loved it because his energy gave me energy. Josh's excitement (about food, people, ideas, experiences) was contagious. I hope that when I forget to look for the interesting things around me I'll remember to ask myself, "what would Josh see?"

-- Wendy Friedman

ps. I found these great photos on-line. At first I wasn't sure they were Josh, but as I studied them closely the posture and hand positions were unmistakable!