TITLE: Finally, Some Good News
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: March 22, 2018  4:05 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
 It's been a tough semester.  On top of the usual business,
 there have been a couple of extra stresses.  First, I've
 been preparing for the departure of a very good friend,
 who is leaving the university and the area for family and
 personal reasons.  Second, a good friend and department
 colleague took an unexpected leave that turned into a
 resignation.  Both departures cast a distant pall over my
 workdays.  This week, though, has offered a few positive
 notes to offset the sadness.

 Everyone seems to complain about email these days, and I
 certainly have been receiving and sending more than usual
 this semester, as our students and I adjust to the change
 in our faculty.  But sometimes an email message makes my
 day better.  Exhibit 1, a message from a student dealing
 with a specific issue:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 Thank you for your quick and helpful response!  <BR/>
 Things don't look so complicated or hopeless now.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

 Exhibit 2, a message from a student who has been taming
 the bureaucracy that arises whenever two university
 systems collide:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 I would like to thank you dearly for your prompt and
 thorough responses to my numerous emails.  Every time
 I come to you with a question, I feel as though I am
 receiving the amount of respect and attention that I
 wish to be given.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

 Compliments like these make it a lot easier to muster
 the energy to deal with the next batch of email coming
 in.

 There has also been good news on the student front.  I
 received email from a rep at a company in Madison,
 Wisconsin, where one of our alumni works.  They are
 looking for developers to work in a functional
 programming environment and are having a hard time
 filling the positions locally, despite the presence of
 a large and excellent university in town.  Our alum is
 doing well enough that the company would like to hire
 more from our department, which is doing a pretty good
 job, too.

 Finally, today I spoke in person with two students who
 had great news about their futures.  One has accepted
 an offer to join the Northwestern U. doctoral program
 and work in the lab of
<A HREF="http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~forbus/">
   Kenneth Forbus</A>.
 I studied Forbus's work on qualitative reasoning and
 analogical reasoning as a part of my own Ph.D. work and
 learned a lot from him.  This is a fantastic opportunity.
 The other student has accepted an internship to work at
<A HREF="https://www.playstation.com/en-us/corporate/about/careers/internships/">
   PlayStation</A>
 this summer, working on the team that develops the
 compilers for its game engines.  He told me, "I talked a
 lot about the project I did in
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2017-09.html#e2017-09-25T15_01_37.htm">
   your course</A>
 last semester during my interview, and I assume that's
 part of the reason I got an offer."  I have to admit,
 that made me smile.

 I had both of these students in my intro class
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2014-09.html#e2014-09-01T15_17_35.htm">
   a few years back</A>.
 They would have succeeded no matter who taught their intro
 course, or the compiler course, for that matter, so I can't
 take any credit for their success.  But they are outstanding
 young men, and I have had the pleasure of getting to know
 over the last four years.  News of the next steps in their
 careers makes me feel good, too.

 I think I have enough energy to make it to the end of the
 semester now.
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