Name: Keith W. Miller
Title: Associate Prof. of Computer Science
Company: University of Illinois - Springfield
Contact Info: miller.keith@uis.edu
Web page: http://www.uis.edu/~miller
How I arrived at my present job (academic and other influences): I've always loved teaching; both of my parents (now retired) were teachers. First math then computers fascinated me, and university teaching lets me teach, think, and write about stuff I like. I came up through the ranks: I taught high school and junior college, got my masters in math, taught some more, got my Ph.D. in computer science, and then taught computer science in universities.
How I organize my day: I react to emails, plan lectures and push research projects ahead bit by bit. I use a Palm Pilot frequently. I'm home almost every week day when my two sons arrive on school busses.
Amount of time spent working daily (at home and office): I would guess I average 10 hours on week days, but it varies. One of the joys of university teaching is the flex time.
What I do to get myself thinking creatively: Jogging and walking are good for thinking. Arguing helps me refine ideas. And writing things down for publication helps me to clarify and justify. Teaching is also a good way to review the fundamentals.
My problem-solving strategy: On a tough problem, always return to the basics. Steve Park (at William & Mary) says about proving things "from first principles," and I've found that to be good advice. I find drawing pictures often helps me to think clearly about something.
What I do to relieve stress: Reading a book (in one day if I can) inspires me. (I like mystery novels.)
My hero, mentor, or person I most admire and why: Many people have helped me professionally, and continue to do so. Here are just a few in roughly chronological order: my parents, Ted Sjoerdsma, Ray Ford, Doris Lidtke, Bill Bynum, Steve Park, Paul Stockmeyer, Deborah Johnson, Ted Mims, Donald Knuth (did you know he wrote for MAD Magazine?), David Parnas, Jeff Voas -- all sorts of people have taught me and helped me, more than they probably realized.
What I do to mentor those who work for me: I try to communicate the excitement of learning and the excitement of computer science.
How a negative event changed my life in a positive way: I was never a very good athlete. I think I realized early that I was more likely to succeed with my brain than my brawn.
One event or decision in my life I wish I could go back and change: Starting to fill out this survey.
What inspires, motivates, or gets me excited about my job on a daily basis: There's always something new to learn. People are endlessly fascinating. There are objective truths to uncover and explain.
Biography:
There is a photo at: http://www.uis.edu/~miller/
My professional vita is at: http://www.uis.edu/~miller/keith.html
Software engineering (especially software testing) and computer ethics are
my two research areas.
The most cited paper I was involved with is "S. Park and K. Miller. Random
number generators: good ones are hard to find. Communications of the ACM,
Vol. 31, No. 10 (October, 1988), 1192-1201."
I helped write a code of ethics for software engineers that was recently
adopted by both the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society.
I plan to mount a campaign for a universal, minimal standard of testing for
commercial software.
I want to help computer science profs to incorporate computer ethics into
their teaching.
I hope to do better at grading my students' homework more quickly.
Last Modified:
Location: www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/bios/keith_miller.html