Lab Operations Staff

Francis Frain
Lab Support Services Analyst

Frankie Frain was born, raised, and continues to live in Westport, Massachusetts, a nice little community squeezed between some of the grossest urban areas you’ll ever visit.  Frankie graduated from Emerson’s film program in 2008 and completed two feature length comedy DV films during his time at the school.  He remains active with film production and animation.

Frankie worked at the Emerson’s IT HelpDesk and in the labs throughout his entire student career (with the exception of a semester in Los Angeles).  He currently works as an all-purpose technician for Lab Operations, creating and deploying new computers throughout the summer while giving attention to any other problems the lab machines or equipment may experience.  He is very approachable and easy to talk to, so feel free to find him and pick his brain! It could use a good picking.

Robin Hoyt
Application Specialist

Robin Hoyt was born and raised in Yorktown Heights, New York, a northern New York City suburb which is also home to IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center, and which was once home to Prodigy's national data center.  Robin spent many of her childhood hours breaking and fixing her parents' Mac and dreaming of becoming a radio DJ.  This inspired her to attend Tulane University, in the Tropic of New Orleans, where she became heavily involved in the campus radio, TV, and media oversight organizations.  Despite all this, she took only one communication course before graduating with a B.S. in Linguistics and returning to the frosty north.

Soon after, Robin rectified her lack of formal communications training by pursuing a Visual and Media Arts M.A. right here at Emerson.  Robin quickly changed her concentration from Audio to New Media and began working at the IT Help Desk and in the labs.  A year after graduating, Robin has returned to Emerson Lab Operations as a full-time staff member.  She is friendly, approachable, and always looking to help people out.  She will sometimes even bake them pie.

Mike Marois
Lab Systems Support Specialist

Mike Marois was born in the hills of Western Massachusetts, in a small village called South Hadley. It was here that Mike spent a great deal of time performing in, set designing or stage managing stage productions.

He also spent quite a few years working at a movie theater as a projectionist, assembling and breaking down film prints as they came and went. During these formative years, Mike took an interest in radio, somewhat inspired by his older brother’s job as a Program Director. It was this interest in radio that brought Mike to Emerson, where he spent only a single semester in the Audio/Radio major prior to switching into the Marketing Communications program.

Mike worked for 4 years at the IT Help Desk and in the labs before becoming a full time staff member. Mike is responsible for maintaining lab computers and coordinating the repairs of any workstations should they need more serious attention. He spends his summers locked away in the Advanced Projects Lab, and when he can get away enjoys being outdoors in the mountains of Vermont and hills of Western Massachusetts.

Gregory Pretti
Lab Services Coordinator

Greg Pretti was born in Canton, Massachusetts. He has lived there and in Pennsylvania as well. He has always been obsessed with learning anything at all, but his passion for writing may one day doom him to settle down and study one thing into mastery. He loves science and psychology, and this constantly creeps into his writing – which doesn’t border on prolific, but never actually stops, either.  

He graduated in 2007 with a BFA in Writing. He will soon pursue another degree, but until then he considers Wikipedia an enormous, and very free, university of everything.  

Greg worked at the Help Desk for three years before he became a full time staff member. At Lab Operations he manages the student employees, assists faculty with technology and teaching, and maintains the non-computer parts of the labs all over campus. During Orientation week he becomes unstuck in time and forms a sort of blur, the beginning and end of which cannot be located until October.