Five Minutes with... Benjamin Bloom

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
I was a freshman in high school, got into the introductory programming course and loved that I could make computers do interesting things.

What is your favorite class and why?
Modern Physics 1 or University Astronomy. They were far and away the most interesting courses I have ever taken, they were a lot of fun, and I learned a ridiculous amount from them.

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
You won't be blasted with work until your senior year, and if you go into the Masters program, you'll be flooded with work, so just be aware of that.

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
I have absolutely no idea.

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
In Cryptography, my partner and I made a man-in-the-middle attack happen with an actual router, that was awesome, to see how that sort of hack works, and actually build it.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Sitting in a multi-million dollar mansion, not caring about anything.

previous next gallery

Benjamin Bloom

BS/MS 6^th year

View PDF version

Five Minutes with... Seong Yup Yoo

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
I knew I was headed for a career in Computer Science when I first took a Java course at Carnegie Mellon University during their summer program when I was a high school student. Since then, I have opened my eyes to the world of business. Now, I am less headed toward a career in Computer Science, but more toward an entrepreneurship in Computer Science.

What is your favorite class and why?
Software engineering is my favorite class because I got to create my first decent looking piece of software for the first time in a team setting. It gave me the confidence to imagine and build large-scale software.

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
It's not your professors' job to upload their knowledge to you. It is your job to download their knowledge.

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
Alan Kay, the father of object-oriented programming. I'd like to ask what he thinks is the next evolutionary step in programming languages.

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
I'm currently on a co-op for my own company called Mosaically, which is currently incubating in the RIT's Venture Creations Business Incubator. We're making a Silverlight Rich Internet Application that will allow users to create, buy, share, and sell photo mosaics online. I'm amazed and so thankful for all the resources and support that are readily available for entrepreneurial endeavors at here rit.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I see myself running my own high-tech software business either in the Silicon Valley, or in Seoul, Korea.

previous next gallery

Seong Yup Yoo

BS/MS 5^th year

View PDF version

Five Minutes with... Gabriel Burns

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
My sophomore year of high school I took an introductory C++ class just as a fluke and ended up thoroughly enjoying it. I knew as soon as I took that class that coding was something that I had a knack for and wanted to keep doing. And then once I realized all of the potential career paths with a Computer Science degree, I was sold.

What is your favorite class and why?
I would have to go with my Project Based Calculus III class, not necessarily because I'm a big Calculus fan, but because I had an amazing professor for it. Professor DeLorenzo was very interested in making sure that his students understood the material and did well in the class, and it felt nice to be getting that kind of support from a professor.

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
My advice would be to get involved. I tried out a bunch of groups my first weeks here and actually ended up not liking quite a few of them, but the ones that I stayed with have done me a lot of good. It's nice to know a lot of people around campus so that when you walk up and down the quarter mile everyday or start new classes there may be some familiar faces.

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
I have absolutely no idea. Sorry!

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
Well, the only projects that I have really worked on so far are the projects assigned in CS2, which doesn't leave many options for this question. But of those two, I think that I greatly preferred working on the Feeding Frenzy Project because it was my first real experience working with gui's and I discovered that I quite enjoy them. Plus, it was nice to have a finished product that I could be proud of.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I have been thinking a lot about this lately and I am honestly not sure. There are so many things that have interested and inspired me since I started here at RIT, that I feel like there are just too many things that I want to do with my life now. As far as programming though, I think that I would prefer a job that works on maintenance of code, going back into it and fixing bugs, adding new features, etc.

previous next gallery

Gabrielle Burns

BS 2^nd year

View PDF version

Five Minutes with... Josh Allman

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
When I got ahold of the Internet and realized I had no idea how any of it worked.

What is your favorite class and why?
Any class that lets me take an idea, run with it, make mistakes, and better myself because of it. Meaning pretty much all of my CS classes.

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
Read as much as you can, think as much as you can, tinker as much as you can, because there is just too much fascinating stuff out there waiting to be done. And none of it really comes easily.

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
Donald Knuth, because he is my homeboy.

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
I wrote a program to write poetry once that has been the catalyst for so many weird ideas and cool opportunities.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Advancing the state of the art in computer science and bringing innovations to reality.

previous next gallery

Josh Allman

BS/MS 5^th year

View PDF version

Five Minutes with... Henry Etlinger

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
I realized from taking graduate level physics and mathematics course while still in college that I wasn.t go to make it as an Astrophysicist! I had taken a course in programming and liked it, so I switched to computing for graduate school and the "rest is history".

What is your favorite class and why?
I love teaching Professional Communications, even though at times it can be frustrating as well as lots of work and lots of grading. Still, helping students improve their communication skills is rewarding and worthwhile.

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
The same thing my father told me when I went off to college - make sure at the very least that you meet and try to chat with every one of your instructors, without exception.

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
I'd like a chance to chat with Donald Knuth. I was out in California one time and actually stood outside his office door at Stanford - it was awesome.

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
Rather than single out one technical project, I continue to find it interesting to work with all of RIT's administrative computing systems that I use in my day-to-day work as undergraduate program coordinator. The complexity and interconnections of these systems, as well as the constant evolution of each of the pieces, provides me with an on-going case study.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I'd like to think that in ten years I'll be retired, enjoying warm weather in the winter, and still walking my dog miles and miles each day!

previous next gallery

Henry Etlinger

Professor

View PDF version

Five Minutes with... Ian Tewksbury

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
When my dad designed a program in elementary school that would help me practice spelling words. Whenever I got the words right it would draw a big and whenever I got them wrong it would draw an . From that moment on I was interested in how you could make a computer do such cool things.

What is your favorite class and why?
Artificial Intelligence because it shows you that we have only begun to scratch the surface of what computers are capable of and the opportunities for invention and possibilities are infinite and amazing.

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
Get out of your dorm room and meet people, whether at different clubs or organizations or just by standing on the quarter mile with a sign that says "free hugs". The more friends you have in life, the more enjoyable, memorable, exiting, and fulfilling your career at RIT will be.

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
Bill Gates, even though he is more of a business man than a computer scientist Now a days a computer scientist has no chance of helping to change the world if he doesn't have the business skills to get it off the ground. I believe he is a prime example of a person who used both technical and business skills to help change the world for the better.

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
I love both my jobs as a student lab instructor and supplemental instructor. Every quarter I get the opportunity to help students learn and enjoy a subject matter I myself am passionate about. There is nothing more rewarding then seeing a "I get it, and this is totally awesome" look in a students eyes after they have been struggling with a problem.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
In 10 years I will be jumping out of planes, flying helicopters, and working on some project that will change the way the world thinks of and uses computers, all of this attainted because of my wonderful personal and educational experiences at RIT.

previous next gallery

Ian Tewksbury

BS 5^th year

View PDF version

Five Minutes with... James Heliotis

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
I got two degrees in Electrical Engineering, but everyone wanted to hire me as a programmer.

What is your favorite class and why?
Really, I don.t have any one favorite. Any class in which I get to talk about programming languages or design techniques is a lot of fun for me.

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
Visit and speak with your teachers!

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
Probably Noam Chomsky. He was a computer scientist, a linguist (a field which I also find fascinating), and a political hot head!

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
When we started teaching objects in CS1 and CS2 (using Eiffel) in 1994, I, with help from other faculty, developed a framework for card games that we used in lots of assignments. It is not that impressive by today's standards, but I was discovering on my own several designs that would be called common "patterns" in a book that came out the next year.

I also often remember fondly the project a few years ago in which I supervised a handful of honors students. The goal was difficult -- hooking together incompatible calendar and mail programs -- but the enthusiasm and knowledge of the students made it quite rewarding.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I hope to still be at RIT, but starting to wind down towards retirement, thinking up great pearls of wisdom that I can pass on to the young'uns who are just starting. I also may be looking for software projects to start on once I do retire!

previous next gallery

James Heliotis

Professor

View PDF version

Five Minutes with... Richard Zanibbi

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
I took my first course in Computer Science and loved it. After that class, I decided to finish my Music degree while working on a minor in Computer Science, and then try to become a Professor of Computer Science.

What is your favorite class and why?
Pattern Recognition. The course is a seminar, so students present a significant amount of material in the course. We study a number of algorithms for making complex decisions, and then discuss and compare them. I've offered the course once so far, and really enjoyed watching the students gain confidence in their ability to read and present state-of-the-art techniques.

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
This quote: "A year in the lab saves you a day in the library."

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
John von Neumann, who made significant contributions in many areas including set and game theory, and devised the notion of the stored-program computer (the Von Neumann architecture).

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
A problem that I like to work on with my students is the recognition of typeset and handwritten mathematical notation, and I was one of the contributors to ffes/draculae, an open-source pen-based equation editor. I'm also quite interested in the Video captcha work that I'm currently doing with Kurt Kluever, a former M.S. student of mine who now works at Google in New York.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? I'd like to be a tenured professor in the department, teaching courses and carrying out research projects that I'm interested in.

previous gallery

Richard Zanibbi

Professor

View PDF version

Five Minutes with... William Rummler

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
I re-discovered my oldest brother's Commodore 64 with some old C64 games in early high school. I had never really understood the existence of computer programming until I sat down to that light blue-on-blue C64 command prompt.

What is your favorite class and why?
I've only my thesis left to complete here at RIT, but I would say my favorite class was 4005-800 Algorithms. Simply put, it was a great course (small section with interested students) with great content taught by a great teacher (Professor Bezáková).

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
To conscientiously figure out where you'd like to specialize in the field of computer science. Talk to your professors, especially those from whom you take courses. Explore your options by taking a sampling of courses in different areas. And unless you have a *very* good reason not to (e.g. advice from a mentor), you should seek to master at least three things: the C programming language (preferably via a strong dose of complex data structure/algorithm implementation); a good, standard shell (like Bash) with its commands and scripting environment; and the LaTeX computer typesetting tool. I believe that mastery of these three things will serve any computer scientist well, directly or indirectly, throughout his or her career.

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
I wouldn't mind dinner and discussion with Jack Edmonds, the fellow who is widely attributed as the first to recognize the importance of the distinction between polynomial-time and exponential-time in algorithm analysis. He also developed the polynomial-time non-bipartite matching algorithm, one of my favorites.

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
That would have to be my thesis, "Sampling and counting edge covers". It's only fitting that this is so. If your thesis/project topic is less interesting than some previous work, you should probably do your best to change your topic to an interesting extension of that previous work!

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Assuming my current plans for a Ph.D. work out, I'll be a 33-year-old algorithms researcher with several years under my belt, probably as a university professor, but maybe as an employee of a government or commercial laboratory.

previous next gallery

William Rummler

BS/MS 6^th year

View PDF version

Five Minutes with... Rajendra Raj

You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
I realized that programming was fun (and my eyes learned to scan ebcdic).

What is your favorite class and why?
Any class that involves the pragmatic application of interesting data structures, algorithms, or programming paradigms. (e.g., Database System Implementation or Programming Language Concepts)

One piece of advice I have for 1^st year students is...
Make sure you work on something new every year (well, it's worth at least a new bullet on your resume every year).

If you could have dinner with a famous computer scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
Alonzo Church... his work on Lambda Calculus made it possible even for me to understand the notion of an undecideable problem.

What is the most interesting project you have worked on, either in a course or on the job?
Developing a distributed data management system for distributing objects in near-real-time across the world (really!)

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I hope to be learning and teaching things that the computing world considers relevant. Obsolescence is extinction!

previous next gallery

Rajendra Raj

Professor

View PDF version