My answers to the questionnaire

9. My name is Jerod Weinman. For this course, I prefer to be called any of the following: Professor Weinman, Dr. Weinman, or (in egalitarian Grinnell College style) Mr. Weinman, whichever you prefer.

10. I studied Computer Science and Mathematics (double major B.S.) at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, a similarly-sized school in Terre Haute, Indiana that focuses on teaching engineering, math, and science.

    My PhD in Computer Science came from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I specialized in computer vision and machine learning. My dissertation research involved designing algorithms for a system to help the blind navigate by reading text from images (such as street signs and storefronts).

11. In addition to this course, I am teaching "Computer Vision," a fun class investigating what it takes to get computers to understand and do useful things with images. I am also teaching "Algorithms and Object Oriented Design," which covers a different model of computation for solving problems and some fundamental topics relating to information organization and access.

12. Unlike today, when I started with computers, it was still unusual to be first exposed to them as a one year-old, which I was when my dad brought home his first Apple ][. This is the same computer I first learned to program on in junior high. (My first was a quiz program about baseball trivia.) I was excited by the opportunity to practice creative thinking and problem solving that could be applied to whatever other interests were at hand. As an undergraduate, an introductory course on image processing led me to my research area where I am often faced with reverse engineering a different kind of "computer"--the human visual system.

13. As always, I look forward to getting to know my students and their approaches to learning about computation. I also can't wait to see your creative processes at work in your projects.

14. Even if you are not a Computer Science major or choose not to take any further CompSci classes, my biggest concern is that you will all see the utility of computational thinking and not be dismayed by the utter stupidity of computers. (You really do have to tell them exactly what to do!)

15. You can ask me about the landmark of my hometown in Nebraska, my earlier involvement as a college radio DJ, my stint as a frontman for a punk band in a previous life, or how well I'm doing with my hobby of playing fingerstyle guitar.

What questions do you have for me that have not already been answered?

I would like to know why you chose computer science and how you ended up finding your path to teaching at Grinnell.

Oh boy, these are two big, great questions! First, why computer science? There are a lot of reasons. Hopefully I highlighted some of them for you on the first day. The same thing that frustrates all programmers about computers, I initially found very attractive: they do EXACTLY what you tell them to do. Once I understood that, getting them to do many cool things was a fun challenge. I've always been a problem solver and enjoyed thinking creatively, even artistically (I'm a musician, too), and I get to do all of these in computer science, in addition to dabbling in the many other areas where computation can be of use.

As for teaching at Grinnell, well, once I made up my mind that I wanted to be in academia, where I have more freedom to choose the problems I work on, I wanted to be at a small school where community matters. Truly, it's you, the students, that make my job a joy. Furthermore, I grew up in western Nebraska, so the cornfields of Iowa are a perfect fit!

I would like to know why you are in Iowa teaching CS.

See above.

What is the best thing about being a Grinnell prof, whether it relates to CS or not?

Cool question! Hard to choose, but one of the things I appreciate most is all the support I get from peers and the instution for the things I care about: enhancing your learning and building knowledge with my research.

And did you have other plans before settling down here?

Long ago I wanted to work in industry, but then I found out how much fun this is.

Did you always know that computer science was what you wanted to do, or did you start out with the intention of doing something else?

Depending on your definition of "always," I suppose I did. I did a lot of computing in high school and went straight to a CS major in college. Though I enjoy lots of other things, computing has been in my blood for quite a while.

What got you interest in computer science?

See #11 above.

I'm wondering why you chose computer science as your career. I heard a lot of people chose it because it can make money quickly, and only few people are really interested in programming. How about you? Do you have any reasons for choosing computer science as your major and career?

It's definitely nothing to do with money (especially since I'm in academia, not in industry). I believe you'll quickly tire of what you don't enjoy. Many in the industry are there because they love solving problems--myself included.

Do you use a GNU/Linux-based operating system on your own personal computer?

My primary personal machine is a Macbook Pro, running Snow Leopard. My ancient desktop machine still runs Ubuntu Linux, though.

I'm curious about your stint in a punk band.

I played guitar and sang in a group while I in college (and high school). I'm still not sure what wearing button-down shirts does for my street cred, though. :)

I am curious about what brought you to Grinnell and your interest in artificial intelligence.

I'm interested in AI as a means of using computers to solve problems. It's clear that there are solutions to problems of generalizing from concepts and making predictions (as humans do) -- what are the computational aspects of these solutions? I find such questions fascinating and exciting to study.

Conan or Leno?

That's both easy and hard. I haven't watched much Conan, but I'd have to go with him. (Letterman over Leno any day, but I'm usually asleep before either is on anyhow ... and I don't have a TV.)