{"id":56,"date":"2016-11-30T20:11:42","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T20:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/?p=56"},"modified":"2016-12-01T17:46:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T17:46:00","slug":"an-interview-with-jim-kurose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/2016\/11\/30\/an-interview-with-jim-kurose\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with Jim Kurose"},"content":{"rendered":"
Interviewed by\u00a0Amy McGovern<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Eric Eaton<\/a>, co-editors for\u00a0AI Matters<\/a><\/h6>\n

Abstract<\/h2>\n

Our second profile for the interview series is Jim Kurose<\/a>,\u00a0Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). \u00a0Please note that NSF is hiring and would love to have you apply<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Jim Kurose<\/h2>\n

\"kurose-short-bio\"<\/p>\n

Dr. Jim Kurose is an Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), where he leads the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) in its mission to support fundamental CISE research, education and transformative advances in cyberinfrastructure across the nation.\u00a0 He is currently a Distinguished Professor in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has been a faculty member since receiving his PhD in Computer Science from Columbia University. His research area is computer networking, but he did manage to pass a PhD qualifying exam in AI.\u00a0 He is proud to have received a number of research, teaching and service awards over the years, and is particularly proud of the many students with whom he\u2019s been so fortunate to work.\u00a0 With Keith Ross, he is the author of the widely adopted textbook Computer Networking: a Top Down Approach. \u00a0<\/em>Jim is a Fellow of the ACM and IEEE.<\/p>\n

How did you become interested in CS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My undergraduate degree is in Physics (from Wesleyan University), which didn\u2019t have a program in CS at the time.\u00a0 But I took the only two CS courses offered \u2013 and loved them both; I worked in the computing center, and had a student job that involved analyzing the various plays run by Wesleyan\u2019s football opponents (definitely \u201csmall data\u201d!).\u00a0 Probably most importantly, I did some Monte Carlo modeling that complemented the experimental part of my undergrad thesis. \u00a0I loved physics, but I also had a sense that I\u2019d love computer science, and so I went to grad school expecting to get a MS degree in CS.\u00a0 There, I fell in love with CS research when I met a couple of great faculty who became my PhD advisors.<\/p>\n

What was your most difficult professional decision and why?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The hardest decisions are always the ones that affect other people.\u00a0 When there are decisions that run contrary to what a person wants (e.g., passing a PhD qualifying exam), you really need to believe that the decision is in that person\u2019s best interests.\u00a0 The people we work with are always so talented that the challenge is really one of helping find the environment in which a given individual will thrive, be happy, and grow.<\/p>\n

What professional achievement are you most proud of?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Without a doubt \u2013 the students I\u2019ve taught and mentored \u2013 that includes nearly 30 PhD students, and many, many MS and undergrad students.\u00a0 It\u2019s really a privilege to have a job that can impact others.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing that makes a day (or a week!) like getting a note from a former student and hearing that you\u2019ve helped make a difference in that person\u2019s life.\u00a0 In second place is the undergraduate textbook (Computer Networking, a Top-Down Approach<\/em>) that I\u2019ve written with Keith Ross \u2013 we wrote that because we both love to write and teach, and have been incredibly pleased (and perhaps a bit shocked!) to see how it has been adopted at so many universities around the world.\u00a0 I am also very proud and honored to be able to serve the CS community in my current position as Assistant Director at the National Science Foundation, where I lead the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering.<\/p>\n

What do you wish you had known as a Ph.D. student or early researcher?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hey \u2013 great question!\u00a0 I\u2019ve given a talk on exactly that topic: \u201cTen pieces of advice I wished my advisor had told me\u201d.\u00a0 I\u2019ve given this talk\u00a0at a bunch of student workshops in my research area over the years.\u00a0 Among my favorites in that list are learning how to communicate (write, speak, and tell the narrative of your work), finding role models, and studying broadly.<\/p>\n

What would you have chosen as your career if you hadn’t gone into CS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Impossible to say!\u00a0 I think there\u2019s a surprising degree of randomness in where we end up, and how we get there.\u00a0 As the saying goes \u201cWhat a long strange trip it\u2019s been!\u201d \u00a0As I mentioned, I didn\u2019t go to grad school planning to get a PhD — but my grad school experience turned out to be phenomenal.\u00a0 Nor did I really choose grad school from a particularly career-oriented point-of-view; I just wanted to be where my girlfriend (and now wife) wanted to be.\u00a0 Both turned out great, but the lesson, I think, is to be open to opportunities and to follow your passion.\u00a0 Sounds a bit trite, perhaps, but definitely true.<\/p>\n

What is a \u201ctypical\u201d day like for you?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

No two days are alike in my job at NSF.\u00a0 I spend lots of time working with the amazing CISE staff (program directors, division directors, and administrative team) on both current and future programs; I spend a lot of time interacting with staff from the other directorates at NSF \u2013 a real treat as well; and I also spend a good deal of time working with other Federal agencies.\u00a0 Last, I really enjoy spending time in <\/em>the CS community, at meetings and visiting campuses and hearing about the amazing things going on, as well as individual and institutional hopes, aspirations, and concerns.<\/p>\n

What is the most interesting project you are currently involved with?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pretty much all of the aspects of my job at NSF. \u00a0Let me add that CISE is always looking for smart, dedicated and talented folks from the research community who might be interested in serving a rotation as an NSF\/CISE Program Director. \u00a0I\u2019d encourage anyone interested to contact the relevant CISE division director or me – \u00a0we\u2019ll be happy to tell you more about the opportunities.<\/p>\n

How do you balance being involved in so many different aspects of the CS\u00a0community?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We all depend on so many other people \u2013 as students, we depend on our teachers, staff, mentors and other students; as faculty, we depend on our students, colleagues and collaborators; in academic leadership, we depend on the people with whom we work to help make things happen.\u00a0 For these many activities to be successful we need to rely on other people, and be reliable to those with whom we work; we really do achieve both more and better things by working together.\u00a0 At NSF, it\u2019s been great to work with Lynne Parker, NSF\/CISE Division Director for Information and Intelligent Systems, and her team, who provide NSF\u2019s technical vision, leadership and management of programs in AI and Information and Intelligent Systems more broadly.<\/p>\n

What is your favorite CS or AI-related movie or book and why?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I can still remember being completely blown away as a kid when I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey.<\/em>\u00a0 It was visually stunning, had the HAL 9000 computer (of course, I\u2019d never even seen a computer then), and was wildly inscrutable to a twelve-year-old.\u00a0 For CS\/AI-related books, my favorites are anything written by Isaac Asimov, and Snowcrash<\/em> by Neal Stephenson.\u00a0 Beyond science fiction, I\u2019ve just finished The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies<\/a> by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee. \u00a0All of these books speak to the relationship between humans and technology \u2013 a topic of increasing importance for everyone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interviewed by\u00a0Amy McGovern\u00a0and\u00a0Eric Eaton, co-editors for\u00a0AI Matters Abstract Our second profile for the interview series is Jim Kurose,\u00a0Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). \u00a0Please note that NSF is hiring and would love to have you apply! Jim Kurose Dr. Jim Kurose is an Assistant … Continue reading “An Interview with Jim Kurose”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62,"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sigai.acm.org\/aimatters\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}