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April 10, 2006 Vol. 77, no. 12S
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EECS professor Michael Jordan is also a professor in the Department
of Statistics. He received his B.S. in psychology from Louisiana
State University in 1978, his M.S. in mathematics (statistics)
from Arizona State University in 1980, and his Ph.D. in cognitive
science from UC San Diego in 1985. Before joining the Berkeley
faculty in 1998, he taught in the Department of Brain and Cognitive
Sciences at MIT for 10 years. His research interests include
graphical models, computational biology, and nonparametric
statistics, among others.
(Peg Skorpinski photo)
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Professor Minute with EECS professor Michael Jordan
What first inspired
you to go into engineering?
I took some control theory classes in graduate school, and I remember
being enthralled by the idea that the movement of poles and zeros in
the complex plane could have something to do with the behavior of real
world systems. In general, I’m fascinated by the possibility
of reducing intelligence to mathematical abstractions.
To date, what has been
the most memorable moment in your career?
I like giving talks to audiences outside my own area. The particularly
memorable times have been when I’ve been invited to join
them in their own conclave and, thereby, meet a whole new crowd
of smart people.
If you had a few extra hours, what would you do?
Hop on a plane, head down to Puerto Vallarta, catch a mariachi act,
drink a beer or two and finish up the evening with fish tacos from
a street vendor. Give me a few more hours and it would be South
America.
What should engineering
students make sure they do at Berkeley before they graduate?
Learn a foreign language. Learn it well enough to be able to read novels,
understand songs and learn poetry. Travel in the country and get to
know people in their own home. Not only will you have fun, you’ll
be contributing to the development of a citizenship of the Earth, the
only real hope for all of us.
What is one thing you would like to learn how to do?
I was given a drum set for my birthday, and I’d like
to learn how to play it convincingly.
If you would like us
to feature your favorite professor, please e-mail his or her name to
engnews@coe.berkeley.edu.
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