After receiving a Bachelor of Science from Caltech, Stu moved to Massachusetts, willing to conclude his studies with a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Stu did receive his M.S., but little did he know on the day he joined MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science ("LCS") that he'd meet people who'd move him as much to found a company, be its secretary and treasurer and author books you play along in.

This was indeed unusual for someone with a very scientific background as Stu, but as he already had worked as the editor-in-chief and business manager for Caltech's campus newspaper, he was well versed in the written word.

The first title he eventually wrote for Infocom was "The Witness" in 1983. Following the gigantic success of Infocom's first mystery hit, "Deadline," the game became a hit as well, earning Stu the silver plaque of the Software Publishers Association and the award "best computer adventure of the year" from Electronic Games magazine.

Stu was then sent to explore new lands for Infocom in form of a game aimed at younger audiences. Working with famous writer Jim Lawrence, who had experience in both adult and youth fiction, the result became "Seastalker."

In a 1986 interview with Zzap! magazine, Stu was asked if he enjoyed his work and he answered: "Yes, yes I do. It's funny, it's almost like a dream fulfilled but up until a few years ago, I had no idea that this was what my dream was because I had no examples to go by." His testimonial to the great love he had for authoring adventures was already given in the later famous "Implementor's Creed," written in 1985.

The collaboration with Jim continued in "Moonmist," but partly due to the restructuring Activision undertook after their takeover of Infocom in 1986, it remains the last game authored by Stu and 1986 also his final year as treasurer. Stu had been working on "Hitchhiker's Guide 2," but the game was never finished and the heroes are up to today still standing on the surface of the planet Magrathea.

After Infocom's end in 1989 he started working for Thinking Machines Corporation as a sales system analyst, but in 1994 returned to MIT as a systems engineer.

From http://www.infocom-if.org/authors/galley.html