There have been some discussions lately on gender ratios and equality in Computer Science. In this post I don't want to rehash the scientific studies, but just talk about my own experience as a man in the field of theoretical computer science, ever since I started graduate school nearly 20 years ago. I don't presume … Continue reading Men in Computer Science

Since the close of MSR-SVC, I seem to have lost my taste for blogging. I think I finally know why: For me blogging is a social activity. I loved discussing the posts with my down-the-hall colleagues and friends. So, to regain this wonderful feeling, we (Stanford Theory) are opening a new theory group blog - … Continue reading A Social Blogger

Most of the stories in the research-life story project (including mine) are already processed and often told with some well-packaged perspective the teller wants to share. Today I am sharing a moment as it unfolds: Come next fall, I’ll be joining the Stanford CS Department. I’m very excited. Since the closing of MSR-SV, I’ve been … Continue reading Stanford, Here I Come

I taught my first class last quarter and it was an enjoyable and eye-opening experience at many levels. First some background. The class was undergraduate algorithms or as popularly known in UCLA - CS180. There were 129 students (kind of like jumping into the deep end to test the waters). Like most other CS curricula, it is a … Continue reading Doing a 180 and still spinning

This is my last research life-story (at least for now), possibly concluding this project (though you are all very welcomed to share more as long as this blog lives). My main hope was to give legitimacy to all of us to acknowledge and discuss our uncomfortable feelings and the “non-scientific” challenges of our careers. My … Continue reading Goin’ up, down, all around, it’s like a see saw*

Another instalment on my research-life stories. --------------- The Talmud says: “competition/envy among scholars increases wisdom” (kinat sofrim tarbe chochma). Good or bad, competition is here to stay. Nevertheless, one of the strengths of our community is in its collaborative nature. This is good for science, but in my eyes also makes our life so much … Continue reading Collaboration, competition, and competition within collaboration

Coming back to the research-life stories project I intend to write a few (three that currently come to mind) more stories of my own, hoping that they will inspire more stories by others. --------------- My first research project progressed very quickly. A few months after I started working with Moni, I found myself writing my … Continue reading Woos and boos: my research talks

My FOCS PC work slows down the flow of stories (but feel free to send me your stories without all the redundant arm twisting, you know I’ll get to you at some point anyway 😉 ). In the meanwhile, here are two pointers that are relevant. First, People of ACM has some great stories. In particular, … Continue reading Craving for Stories

Next story on our project from Erin Wolf Chambers: ------------------------ I spent most of my first couple of years of graduate school unsuccessfully trying to figure out what "research" meant.  I read papers and had plenty of meetings, but somehow had no luck really making new progress on any of the problems I looked at.  … Continue reading Research Life-Stories: Erin Wolf Chambers

The following is a post by Oded Goldreich which I found very interesting. It is based on a brave and important Hebrew post/essay, and I'm grateful to Oded for bringing it to my attention, translating parts of it and allowing me to post it here as well. I think that this is exactly the kind … Continue reading On intellectual passion and its unfortunate confusion with sexual passion (and how it may relate to issues of gender)