Ogi Ogas

{{Short description|American neuroscientist (b. 1971)}} {{Infobox person | name = Ogi Ogas | image = Ogi Ogas.png | birth_name = | birth_date = c. 1971 (age c. 54) | birth_place = United States | other_names = | occupation = Writer, theoretical neuroscientist | known_for = Game show contestant | website = {{URL|ogiogas.substack.com/}} }}

'''Ogi Ogas''' (born {{Circa|1971}}) is an American writer and computational neuroscientist. As of May 2016, he is a visiting scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he serves as Project Head for the Individual Mastery Project.<ref name="wp">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/05/25/is-grit-overrated-in-explaining-student-success-harvard-researchers-have-a-new-theory-and-its-not-comforting-at-all/|title=Is grit overrated in explaining student success? Harvard researchers have a new theory|author=Jeffrey Selingo|date=May 25, 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=6 July 2016}}</ref><ref name="har">{{cite web|url=http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/gse-individuality/individual-mastery|title=Individual Mastery Project at the Laboratory for the Science of the Individual|work=harvard.edu|access-date=7 April 2016}}</ref> Ogas is also known for his participation in game shows, especially ''Grand Slam'' (2007)<ref name="gs">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1057573/|work=IMDB|title=Grand Slam TV Show|access-date=6 July 2016}}</ref> and ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' (2006).<ref name="million">{{cite web|url=http://www.gameshowfavorites.com/trading/show.php?name=viera&page=11|work=Game Show Favorites|title=Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Episode Guide|access-date=6 July 2016}}</ref> His Erdős-Bacon number is 7.

==Early life and education== Ogi Ogas was born and grew up in Annapolis, Maryland.<ref name="or">{{cite web|url=http://www.orau.org/media-center/news-releases/2006/fy07-10.aspx|title="Final Answer" Pays Off Big Time for Former DHS Fellow|date=2006-11-15 | format = organizational press release |publisher=Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2016}} He attended Severna Park High School, where he was a member of the school's ''It's Academic'' team. In 1994, Ogas briefly attempted a PhD at the University of Iowa.{{when|date=April 2016}}<ref name="or"/> Ogas was awarded a PhD in computational neuroscience by Boston University in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cns.bu.edu/people/alumni.html|title=Alumni directory|work=Boston University Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems|access-date=6 July 2016|archive-date=9 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009000733/http://www.cns.bu.edu/people/alumni.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was a United States Department of Homeland Security Fellow during his graduate studies.{{when|date=April 2016}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Boston U. Student Named Homeland Security Fellow|work=New York Times|author=Carrie Dieringer|url=https://www.nytimes.com/uwire/uwire_UDPV091120033054756.html | date=September 11, 2003}}</ref>

==Career== Ogas is a visiting scholar at the Harvard University School of Education.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lsi.gse.harvard.edu/|title=Laboratory for the Science of the Individual|work=harvard.edu|access-date=7 April 2016|archive-date=10 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410054711/http://lsi.gse.harvard.edu/|url-status=dead}}{{third-party inline|date=April 2016}}</ref>{{third-party inline|date=April 2016}}<ref name="coa">{{cite journal|url=http://chronicle.com/article/The-Faulty-Foundation-of/234905/|title=The Faulty Foundation of American Colleges|author=Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas|date=January 17, 2016|journal=The Chronicle of Higher Education}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Dark Horse Project - National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO) |url=https://www.napo.net/page/IRC_DarkHorse |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810115717/https://www.napo.net/page/IRC_DarkHorse |archive-date=2020-08-10 |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=www.napo.net |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ogas is the Project Head for the Individual Mastery Project in the Harvard Graduate School of Education,<ref name="wp" /><ref name="har" /> which ''The Washington Post'' has described as "aimed at understanding the development of individual excellence."<ref name="wp" />

==Written works== ===''A Billion Wicked Thoughts''=== Ogas's nonfiction book ''A Billion Wicked Thoughts'' (2011, with Sai Gaddam) analyzed the sexual terms used in web searches by approximately 100 million internet users.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hummel |first1=Anna |last2=Shackelford |first2=Todd |date=2013 |title=What Our Sexy Past Reveals About Our Erotic Present |url=http://www.epjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/EP11238242.pdf |url-status=usurped |journal=Evolutionary Psychology |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=238–242 |doi=10.1177/147470491301100120 |s2cid=147703521 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511052500/http://www.epjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/EP11238242.pdf |archive-date=May 11, 2013 |access-date=March 28, 2014 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=McLellan |first=Diana |date=July 15, 2011 |title="A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World's Largest Experiment Reveals about Human Desire" by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/a-billion-wicked-thoughts-what-the-worlds-largest-experiment-reveals-about-human-desire-by-ogi-ogas-and-sai-gaddam/2011/06/13/gIQALKOqEI_story.html |access-date=March 28, 2014 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> In 2014, the main exhibition at the Museum of Sex in New York was devoted to the book.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Universe of Desire: Why We Like What We Like |url=https://www.museumofsex.com/exhibitions/universe-of-desire-why-we-like-what-we-like/ |access-date=2025-12-11 |website=Museum of Sex |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== ''The End of Average'' === In 2016, ''The End of Average'' (HarperOne), co-authored with Todd Rose, examined the limitations of the “average person” concept in science, education, and government.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gaddam |first=Ogi Ogas and Sai |title=Journey of the Mind: How Thinking Emerged from Chaos |url=https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/journey-mind-thinking-emerged-chaos-bookbite/33525/ |access-date=2025-12-11 |website=Next Big Idea Club |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== ''The Drug Hunters'' === In 2017, ''The Drug Hunters'' (Skydance), co-authored with Donald Kirsch, explored the history and methods of pharmaceutical drug discovery.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Khullar |first=Dhruv |date=2024-09-02 |title=How Machines Learned to Discover Drugs |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/09/09/how-machines-learned-to-discover-drugs |access-date=2025-12-11 |work=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref>

=== ''Dark Horse'' === In 2018, ''Dark Horse'' (HarperOne), co-authored with Todd Rose, presented findings from the Dark Horse Project at Harvard and profiled individual who achieved success through unconventional paths.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-10-11 |title="Dark Horse" author: You don't have to choose between success and being happy - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dark-horse-todd-rose-unlikely-winners-who-redefine-success/ |access-date=2025-12-11 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== ''This is What It Sounds Like'' === In 2022, W. W. Norton published ''This is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You'', by Ogas and Susan Rogers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Luhrssen |first=David |date=2022-11-17 |title=This is What it Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas |url=https://shepherdexpress.com/api/content/5a1f3fc0-6681-11ed-88a8-12274efc5439/ |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=Shepherd Express |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Schulz |first=Isaac |date=2022-11-22 |title=Why Do We Love the Music We Love? |url=https://gizmodo.com/music-neuroscience-susan-rogers-book-1849801399 |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=Gizmodo |language=en}}</ref>

=== ''Journey of the Mind'' === In 2022, Ogi Ogas co-authored ''Journey of the Mind: How Thinking Emerged from Chaos'' with Dr. Sai Gaddam, published by W. W. Norton & Company. The book retraced the evolution of thought and consciousness through insights from mathematical neuroscience.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ogi-ogas/journey-of-the-mind/ |title=JOURNEY OF THE MIND {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>

===Other contributions===

====''Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry''==== Ogas is listed as a contributor to Jeffrey Lieberman's book ''Shrinks''.<ref>{{Cite web |author=N. P. R. Staff |date=2015-03-17 |title=From Freud To Possession, A Doctor Faces Psychiatry's Demons |url=https://www.wfdd.org/post/freud-possession-doctor-faces-psychiatrys-demons |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=www.wfdd.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>Little, Brown and Company, 2015, {{ISBN|9780316278867}}</ref><ref>The authorship is listed as "Jeffrey Lieberman, ''with'' Ogi Ogas."</ref><ref>Lieberman is former president of the American Psychiatric Association and current{{when|date=April 2016}} chair of the Columbia Department of psychiatry.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}</ref> As advertising prose from the Hachette Books Group describes it, the book:

{{blockquote|traces the field from its birth as a mystic pseudo-science through its adolescence as a cult of "shrinks" to its late blooming maturity—beginning after World War II—as a science-driven profession that saves lives ... [including] ... case studies and portraits of the professionals of the field—from Sigmund Freud to Eric Kandel ...<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jeffrey-a-lieberman-md/shrinks/9781478979654/|title=Shrinks|publisher=Hachette Book Group|isbn=9781478979654|access-date=7 April 2016}}</ref> }}

''Shrinks'' received a starred review in ''Kirkus Reviews'',<ref>{{cite web|date=December 20, 2014|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jeffrey-lieberman/shrinks/|title=Shrinks|author=Lieberman, Jeffrey A.|work=Kirkus Reviews|access-date=7 April 2016}}</ref> was a ''New York Times Book Review'' Editors' Choice,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/books/review/editors-choice.html|title=Editors' Choice|date=5 April 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=7 April 2016}}</ref> and was longlisted for the PEN/E.O.Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pen.org/2016-pen-literary-awards-longlists|title=2016 PEN Literary Awards Longlists|date=December 2015|website=pen.org|access-date=7 April 2016}}</ref>

==Game show appearances== {| cellpadding="5" cellspacing="2" width="350" style="float:right; background:#FFFFFF" |- style=text-align:center; bgcolor="CFB53B" | colspan=2| '''$1 Million (15 of 15) - No Time Limit''' |- style=text-align:center; bgcolor="00008B" | colspan=2| '''Which of these ships was not one of the three taken over by colonists during the Boston Tea Party?''' |- style=text-align:left; bgcolor="00008B" |width="50%"|'''• A:''' Eleanor |style=text-align:left; bgcolor="00008B"|'''• B:''' Dartmouth |- style=text-align:left; bgcolor="00008B" |'''• C:''' Beaver |style=text-align:left; bgcolor="green"|'''• D:''' William |- style=text-align:center | colspan=2| Ogas's $1,000,000 question |} Ogas won $500,000 on an episode of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' that aired on November 8, 2006, using his cognitive science research to guide his game strategy.<ref name="or"/><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2006/11/11/the_decider/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061119122005/http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2006/11/11/the_decider/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 19, 2006|journal=Boston Globe|date=November 11, 2006|title=The Decider|last1=Ogas|first1=Ogi}}</ref> Ogas has intimated in interviews that he had a strong hunch about his final question (about the Boston Tea Party, shown), after tentatively eliminating three of the choices; he ultimately decided to walk away because of the large amount of money at risk ($475,000 of his $500,000; a miss would have dropped him back to $25,000). His hunch was correct.<ref>{{citation|title=OK, Ogi! Waltham man wins $500K on game show|journal=Boston Globe|date=November 8, 2006|url=http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/regional_editions/globe_west/west/2006/11/waltham_man_may.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905210016/http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/regional_editions/globe_west/west/2006/11/waltham_man_may.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 5, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/who_wants_to_be_a_cognitive_neuroscientist_millionaire/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404025204/http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/who_wants_to_be_a_cognitive_neuroscientist_millionaire|url-status=unfit|archive-date=April 4, 2009|journal=Seed Magazine|date=November 9, 2006|title=Who Wants To Be A Cognitive Scientist Millionaire? A Researcher Uses His Understanding Of The Human Brain To Advance On A Popular Quiz Show}}</ref> Since playing, he has appeared 22 times as the syndicated show's "Ask The Expert" Lifeline.

Ogas was also a contestant on ''Grand Slam'', which aired in August and September 2007.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts_entertainment/articles/the_gonz_show_ogi_ogas/|journal=Boston Magazine|title=The Gonz Show: Ogi Ogas|date=October 2007|first=John|last=Gonzalez|access-date=2009-07-28|archive-date=2009-09-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905171335/http://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts_entertainment/articles/the_gonz_show_ogi_ogas/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He said that after feeling the intense emotional pressure on ''Millionaire'', he developed a new suite of cognitive techniques for ''Grand Slam'', including calming techniques as well as mathematical, verbal, and mnemonic heuristics derived from his brain research. He defeated former ''Millionaire'' contestant Nancy Christy in his first-round game and all-time game show winnings record holder and ''Jeopardy!'' champion Brad Rutter in the second round. Ogas then defeated former ''Twenty-One'' champion David Legler in the semifinals before losing to Ken Jennings in the final. More recently, he appeared on ABC's game show ''500 Questions'' as one of the challengers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=500 Questions Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/tv/500-questions/ |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=www.metacritic.com |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== *{{official website|http://www.billionwickedthoughts.com}} *{{IMDb name|0002807}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogas, Ogi}} Category:1970s births Category:Living people Category:Boston University alumni Category:Computational neuroscience Category:Contestants on American game shows Category:Loyola University Maryland alumni Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Writers from Annapolis, Maryland Category:Writers from Boston Category:Year of birth missing (living people)