The following was circulated on the LAN of IIT Kanpur in honor of Rajeev Motwani. Some people are very familiar without ever having met them. He was one of those few to me.
Remembering Rajeev Motwani, 1962-2009
IIT Kanpur deeply mourns the tragic and untimely demise of one of its most illustrious alumni: Rajeev Motwani. Rajeev did BTech in Computer Science and Engineering in 1983 from IIT Kanpur, after which he went to the University of California, Berkeley to do his PhD which he completed in 1988 under the supervision of Professor Richard Karp. Rajeev then joined the faculty of the department of Computer Science at Stanford University. He was awarded the IITK Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2006.
Rajeev was a brilliant researcher who made fundamental contributions to many areas: randomized algorithms, computational complexity, approximation algorithms, data mining, mathematical modelling of the world-wide web etc. Rajeev was one of the group of five researchers who gave the world the PCP theorem, one of the most stunningly beautiful and immensely deep results of the modern era. It is this contribution for which Rajeev was awarded the prestigious Godel Prize in 2001. Rajeev was a great teacher too; he has co-authored two books, one on randomized algorithms and another on theory of computation which have taught these two subjects to students all over the world.
Those in IIT Kanpur who knew Rajeev as an undergraduate, remember him not only for his academic brilliance but also for the good cheer that he always exuded. He was a very friendly person, and remained so all through his life. His office door at Stanford was ever open – to students, to young entrepreneurs, to academicians from all across the world, and to his friends from IIT Kanpur. Rajeev was also closely involved with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Kanpur as a mentor in its research program. He was on the board of Research I Foundation of the department since 2003.
Rajeev possessed the rare genius of using the most abstract of theories to solve practical problems impacting society at large. For example, he made use of his expertise in randomized algorithms in building a drug design system for Pfizer. Rajeev was an early “unofficial mentor” of Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page. He helped them through the initial years when the basic page ranking algorithms were implemented and continued hand-holding the young company when they went in search of venture capitalists. Google founder, Brin, described Rajeev as his “friend and teacher” and said that “... his legacy and personality lives on in the students, projects, and companies he has touched. Today, whenever you use a piece of technology, there is a good chance a little bit of Rajeev Motwani is behind it.”
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Anything but what I should be doing
I was sure I was not the only one who always wanted to do any- and every-thing other than what I was supposed to be doing, but never really understood why, until it suddenly dawned on me. It's the professionalism that every damn activity has reached in this world today. You would not be doing something unless you were a pro, or were in the process of becoming one. Were it otherwise, you would surely be paying an opportunity cost because everybody else in the world would be making better use of their time. (Comment: the learning process itself is a well-defined activity too, and you would be doing it only if you had the pro-level learning aptitude).
The problem then is that you don't allow your mind to breathe. You don't let it run free and land somewhere. You beat and mold it into what you "should" be doing now. You kill down all scope of creativity. You take out the element of choice. While you should have been the master, you become a slave. If you're lucky, you may still be doing what you wanted, but at any rate, it's no longer "you" doing it. The effect is that when do finally get down to doing it, it demands the very professionalism you were trying to escape when it was that "other" thing you wanted to do. That's not how it was when I was a child.
I beg. I beg to be free. Let me free. Please, let me free. Let me choose. Let me soar. Let my mind breathe. Let my heart and actions be one. Let my life be mine, and yours yours. Once again.
The problem then is that you don't allow your mind to breathe. You don't let it run free and land somewhere. You beat and mold it into what you "should" be doing now. You kill down all scope of creativity. You take out the element of choice. While you should have been the master, you become a slave. If you're lucky, you may still be doing what you wanted, but at any rate, it's no longer "you" doing it. The effect is that when do finally get down to doing it, it demands the very professionalism you were trying to escape when it was that "other" thing you wanted to do. That's not how it was when I was a child.
I beg. I beg to be free. Let me free. Please, let me free. Let me choose. Let me soar. Let my mind breathe. Let my heart and actions be one. Let my life be mine, and yours yours. Once again.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Obsession is bliss.
You learn about life as you live, and the other way round. Learning and living are in bijection. One doesn't beat the other. Living probably stays a step ahead most of the times, but not always. This figment is one such case in my perpetual discussion on life and its purpose.
You are born innocent and ignorant, though programmed with some "fore-knowledge". Then comes your first acquisition of worldly knowledge in the form or material perception. You learn about a few "things" and, unknowingly, obsess with some. In the next stage, you learn about "obsession" as an article itself, along with another multitude of non-materials. That's exciting, and you also know you're "excited". You're probably an adolescent now. You spend the next couple of years tearing the hair from all metaphysics and, in varying choices, teach yourself to master some of these meta-articles. Desire was definitely one such for me.
I taught myself, or so I think, to make my desires voluntary, and to be indifferent. Voluntary, I said. That is the demon in hiding. When you finally do encounter it, things begin to fall apart like never before. You doubt all that learning and principles you developed on your first meet with the meta-world. You doubt the very foundation of it. And if you happen to read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" somewhere around this time, things only get worse.
You don't know anymore why "reason" should be superior to "feel". You're not sure why you wanted that control over your desires really. The control is not the bother. It's what to do with it. There isn't a straight direction to take. In fact, I don't know if there is any objective to life at all on which to base your decisions with that sacred control you so worshiped. And you think, think and think but it gives you no lead. All you wish now is to be that innocent and ignorant self again, governed by involuntary nature-programmed emotions; to be no longer holding that leash to yourself. And be obsessed once again, without reason. And to live in it than the void.
You are born innocent and ignorant, though programmed with some "fore-knowledge". Then comes your first acquisition of worldly knowledge in the form or material perception. You learn about a few "things" and, unknowingly, obsess with some. In the next stage, you learn about "obsession" as an article itself, along with another multitude of non-materials. That's exciting, and you also know you're "excited". You're probably an adolescent now. You spend the next couple of years tearing the hair from all metaphysics and, in varying choices, teach yourself to master some of these meta-articles. Desire was definitely one such for me.
I taught myself, or so I think, to make my desires voluntary, and to be indifferent. Voluntary, I said. That is the demon in hiding. When you finally do encounter it, things begin to fall apart like never before. You doubt all that learning and principles you developed on your first meet with the meta-world. You doubt the very foundation of it. And if you happen to read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" somewhere around this time, things only get worse.
You don't know anymore why "reason" should be superior to "feel". You're not sure why you wanted that control over your desires really. The control is not the bother. It's what to do with it. There isn't a straight direction to take. In fact, I don't know if there is any objective to life at all on which to base your decisions with that sacred control you so worshiped. And you think, think and think but it gives you no lead. All you wish now is to be that innocent and ignorant self again, governed by involuntary nature-programmed emotions; to be no longer holding that leash to yourself. And be obsessed once again, without reason. And to live in it than the void.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
I "rode" the MINI!
The one we drove today is called Cooper MINI. It's bio-data looks something like:
owned by BMW
manufactured in the UK
1.6L 16-valve engine
112bhp at 6000rpm
0-60mph in 9s
37mpg on highway, 28 in the city
starts at just $18.5k!
As if that wasn't enough, the real deal comes when you rev it on the road in the sports mode. There are cars to your left and cars to your right, but one kick to that pedal and right after the intersection, your rear view mirror is spotless. All you see is some blonds and some brunettes, their necks turned and craned (even men, for ye girls driving). The MINI is like sex. It can only be experienced, not explained.
Note: The car likes to run comfortably at 1700rpm, but in sports mode, it doesn't want to run below 3200 ever. Like it just took the pill.
It's one bomb! Oh MINI....
owned by BMW
manufactured in the UK
1.6L 16-valve engine
112bhp at 6000rpm
0-60mph in 9s
37mpg on highway, 28 in the city
starts at just $18.5k!
As if that wasn't enough, the real deal comes when you rev it on the road in the sports mode. There are cars to your left and cars to your right, but one kick to that pedal and right after the intersection, your rear view mirror is spotless. All you see is some blonds and some brunettes, their necks turned and craned (even men, for ye girls driving). The MINI is like sex. It can only be experienced, not explained.
Note: The car likes to run comfortably at 1700rpm, but in sports mode, it doesn't want to run below 3200 ever. Like it just took the pill.
It's one bomb! Oh MINI....
"Multi-core" car engine
The Green Multi-core
I was talking to my roommate who is a Mechanical Engg major. I learned that the car's combustion engine, say of 1600cc combustion capacity, does not have all this volume in one chamber. It has multiple "cylinders", each with two valves, which share this capacity equally. So if the engine is label V8, it has 4 cylinders, each of 400cc volume. Each of these cylinders also has a dedicated spark plug which ignites it's fuel injection, and is, in turn, connected to the crankshaft through a piston.
I know that sometimes the car seems less powerful (and may drive slightly bumpy) because a cylinder went down (the spark plug, usually). If the car can still operate almost fine with a cylinder down, why cannot the engine be designed to operate in dual (or multiple) modes where different number of cylinders are active in the two modes, say half and all. The all-mode can be the regular, full power mode while the half-mode can be the less powerful but more fuel-efficient mode, analogous to a multi-core processor chip.
I have not tried to do a technology/literature survey. Such a design may already be underway. I would be happy to learn about it.
The Green Hybrid
Some time back, while in India, I had the idea of a car that could operate in both the fuel-mode and the electric-mode, so that at traffic crossings and jams, it would operate in the pollution-free electric-mode and in sparser outskirts with higher speeds, would automatically switch to the regular fuel-mode. While I was discussing this with a Mechanical Engg friend, I came to the US, only to see hybrid cars already on the streets. Rest is just implementing a speed-mode transition policy, which will eventually happen as the need becomes more prominent here. (The need is surely more prominent in India, where pollution is more severe. A low-cost implementation would thrive as a business in one of the biggest markets of the world.)
The Green Recycler
It's interesting how I have "Green" in all three parts of this post. For two of these, that was not a part of the original idea at all. I was just trying to design something more efficient and economical. It's rewarding to see Green and Economical rhyme. Or maybe not. One could as well ask why Green is the most important of our economic problems today. It's a punishment to one and all. But I would like to stick with the reward-view, since that's future and hope.
The Green Recycler goes like this. Every time we take pickup from the engine, we burn fuel, generate energy and pump it into the car. Some of it is lost as heat, but a major portion is used to accelerate the vehicle. Why then, when we brake, do we not recover that energy, only to reuse to pickup again? All we need is to apply brakes electromagnetically instead of mechanically, using magnetic force to brake instead of friction. The reverse current thus generated can be stored and reused. The answer again came from my roommate, who told me that the MagLev train in Japan does exactly this. Perhaps it's not yet economical enough to do this for vehicles. But yeah, the idea is already there, and will make it's way as we develop. It seems we (our generation, that is) are now educated enough so that our ideas are at par with or leading the state of the art/development. We are ready to contribute.
I was talking to my roommate who is a Mechanical Engg major. I learned that the car's combustion engine, say of 1600cc combustion capacity, does not have all this volume in one chamber. It has multiple "cylinders", each with two valves, which share this capacity equally. So if the engine is label V8, it has 4 cylinders, each of 400cc volume. Each of these cylinders also has a dedicated spark plug which ignites it's fuel injection, and is, in turn, connected to the crankshaft through a piston.
I know that sometimes the car seems less powerful (and may drive slightly bumpy) because a cylinder went down (the spark plug, usually). If the car can still operate almost fine with a cylinder down, why cannot the engine be designed to operate in dual (or multiple) modes where different number of cylinders are active in the two modes, say half and all. The all-mode can be the regular, full power mode while the half-mode can be the less powerful but more fuel-efficient mode, analogous to a multi-core processor chip.
I have not tried to do a technology/literature survey. Such a design may already be underway. I would be happy to learn about it.
The Green Hybrid
Some time back, while in India, I had the idea of a car that could operate in both the fuel-mode and the electric-mode, so that at traffic crossings and jams, it would operate in the pollution-free electric-mode and in sparser outskirts with higher speeds, would automatically switch to the regular fuel-mode. While I was discussing this with a Mechanical Engg friend, I came to the US, only to see hybrid cars already on the streets. Rest is just implementing a speed-mode transition policy, which will eventually happen as the need becomes more prominent here. (The need is surely more prominent in India, where pollution is more severe. A low-cost implementation would thrive as a business in one of the biggest markets of the world.)
The Green Recycler
It's interesting how I have "Green" in all three parts of this post. For two of these, that was not a part of the original idea at all. I was just trying to design something more efficient and economical. It's rewarding to see Green and Economical rhyme. Or maybe not. One could as well ask why Green is the most important of our economic problems today. It's a punishment to one and all. But I would like to stick with the reward-view, since that's future and hope.
The Green Recycler goes like this. Every time we take pickup from the engine, we burn fuel, generate energy and pump it into the car. Some of it is lost as heat, but a major portion is used to accelerate the vehicle. Why then, when we brake, do we not recover that energy, only to reuse to pickup again? All we need is to apply brakes electromagnetically instead of mechanically, using magnetic force to brake instead of friction. The reverse current thus generated can be stored and reused. The answer again came from my roommate, who told me that the MagLev train in Japan does exactly this. Perhaps it's not yet economical enough to do this for vehicles. But yeah, the idea is already there, and will make it's way as we develop. It seems we (our generation, that is) are now educated enough so that our ideas are at par with or leading the state of the art/development. We are ready to contribute.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tar stains on the carpet?
It'll give you nightmares, I'm sure. It's not charcoal or juice stains. It's tar. The thing used to seal plugs in your roof, or to pave the road. It's supposed to stick. Stick strong and hard. And this time it chose your carpet.
I was trying to save six hundred dollars to pay my landlord to clean the carpet when I would vacate my place, only till I read on a forum that WD-40 dissolves tar. And, lo and behold, it did! WD-40 is that bluish bottle of lubricant with the characteristic yellow tubular folding nozzle attached to it's spray mouth. You can find it on any hardware store for $6-7, and it will leave your tarred-patches spotless. Literally.
Sleep well tonight.
I was trying to save six hundred dollars to pay my landlord to clean the carpet when I would vacate my place, only till I read on a forum that WD-40 dissolves tar. And, lo and behold, it did! WD-40 is that bluish bottle of lubricant with the characteristic yellow tubular folding nozzle attached to it's spray mouth. You can find it on any hardware store for $6-7, and it will leave your tarred-patches spotless. Literally.
Sleep well tonight.
Friday, April 3, 2009
New grad students to US
The second part of this post talks about housing and such, once you have decided to join UCLA.
Here is an FAQ for new admits to graduate school in the US, especially those from India. Some parts may be specific to UCLA/LA. Feel free to discuss and contribute. Also, a lot of these issues could be very subjective, depending on your background, your disposition and your goals. What I write here is just my opinion.
Q. I saw approximation of the fee on the UCLA site and the i20 is 44k. However, what does the actual fee turn out to be? They say that MS CS is a 5 quarter course...so is the fee / quarter. In the nut shell, how much will the tuition come to for the entire MS?
UCLA fees and tuition amount to about 24k/year for the MS program. That is for three quarters a year, excluding summer, therefore about 8k/quarter. Living costs included in the calculation are estimated to be about 2k/month, adding another 20k for I-20. Tuition + fees alone are, therefore, 24k/year. MS program usually will take 5 quarters of university. (The spread will be 6 quarters because it will include a quarter of summer). It is not hard to finish in 4 quarters if you plan out your curriculum well.
Q. What is the approximate duration of the course? Is it 1.5 years or 2 years?
1.5 years, as explained above.
Q. What does your monthly expenditure come to, staying in LA + misc..
Obviously, that subjective, but LA, especially Westwood (the area where UCLA is located) is one of the most expensive areas in the US. If you live close to the university campus and share bedroom, you will pay about $600/month for house rent (including utilities). A personal bedroom would be anywhere from $900-$1100. Assuming you share, $1000/month is a moderate, comfortable expenditure, but even the stringent estimate would be atleast $850/month.
Q. How is the aid situation? How easy is an RA/TA? I haven't been offered any aid as of now... So, do MS-CS grad students get something at least by the 2nd quarter or so, or there is absolutely no aid?
As of April 2009, the economy's downturn has affected everyone. The aid situation is bad. Even PhD students don't feel secure. Aid for MS students is yet harder to find. In my batch, a few have found TA positions are in the third quarter, but new students without aid should not count on finding one. RA positions are similarly hard to find due to very reduced funding to professors. Apart from RA and TA, there are some "reader" positions that include grading homeworks, and pay about $1000/quarter at best. Usually, you can hold more than one reader positions but, again, don't count on it.
Q. How easy do campus jobs come by, and what do they pay like? I am really hoping that cali should be better than elsewhere...
Campus jobs don't pay enough to buy tuition - best jobs will pay about $15-20/hour (usually coding jobs). Campus jobs like working in stores/restaurants etc will pay about $7-10/hour. Given your work restrictions and available time anyway, this is all peanuts, especially since you're also paying NRT.
Q. How is the internship / job scene there? Is UCLA CS as affected as other colleges?
Quite affected. Some students are deliberately extending their stay in the program because they didn't find a job of their liking.
Q. And right after your admit, did you write to professors, and if so, did it help? I wrote to a few profs before the admit, no response....do u think that wriiting now can possibly help for RA/TA?
I wrote after my admit and got no response. Professors are very busy, so it's no surprise they don't respond. You shouldn't read anything into it. Since the funding scene is pretty bad, there are a lot of students roaming around for funding, so perhaps it's not that much personal/individual attention to student funding right now. My best advice to try find a funding is to arrive early - say 2-3 weeks earlier than most students would, and approach a professor immediately. That's what I did, and it worked. Chances of finding a yet-vacant TA position also improve if you come early. But again, no guarantees.
Q. I know if I should be taking such a heavy loan...so, do you think, taking the job + internship situation there, that UCLA CS will be worth the money I pump in?
Always entirely your call. From my personal experience and exposure, I'd say that the research scene and culture in US is significantly different than in India. This is not to compare professors, students or the quality of work, whatever is being done in either India or US. I'm only comparing the environment, culture and the working of things. If you aim to make research a career, the US experience would be very valuable. As for loan, try to imagine yourself 10 years down the line on either path, and weigh loan today against your place in 10 years, rather than weighing against your/your family's current situation. That should be a more appropriate basis for decision. But, like I said, it's entirely your call.
Q. I have an admit from Cornell MEngg. CS as well now, so I have to choose between UCLA CS and Cornell MEngg. What is your opinion?
That's exactly the situation I was in. The Cornell MEngg program is a rapid 9-month two-semester program with 5 courses each quarter. It is not a research program, be design. It's more of a terminal degree for students looking to enter the industry. MS, on the other hand, is a degree that prepares you for a research career through PhD. MS also allows you more opportunity to do research. It was mainly this that led me to choose UCLA MSCS over Cornell MEngg, because I was sure on continuing for a PhD (either at UCLA or another university). Another factor was that UCLA MSCS to PhD transition is internal to the department and therefore, easy if you perform well enough in the MS, while at Cornell, switch from MEngg to PhD would go through a full central application procedure and is much less common (to the best of my knowledge).
Q. How do you think are the job prospects from UCLA for an MS CS grad...And if they have deteriorated sharply in the past couple of falls, were they great before that? And how do you thing it compares with Cornell job-wise?
I'm not very aware of the job prospect comparison of the two programs.
Here is an FAQ for new admits to graduate school in the US, especially those from India. Some parts may be specific to UCLA/LA. Feel free to discuss and contribute. Also, a lot of these issues could be very subjective, depending on your background, your disposition and your goals. What I write here is just my opinion.
Q. I saw approximation of the fee on the UCLA site and the i20 is 44k. However, what does the actual fee turn out to be? They say that MS CS is a 5 quarter course...so is the fee / quarter. In the nut shell, how much will the tuition come to for the entire MS?
UCLA fees and tuition amount to about 24k/year for the MS program. That is for three quarters a year, excluding summer, therefore about 8k/quarter. Living costs included in the calculation are estimated to be about 2k/month, adding another 20k for I-20. Tuition + fees alone are, therefore, 24k/year. MS program usually will take 5 quarters of university. (The spread will be 6 quarters because it will include a quarter of summer). It is not hard to finish in 4 quarters if you plan out your curriculum well.
Q. What is the approximate duration of the course? Is it 1.5 years or 2 years?
1.5 years, as explained above.
Q. What does your monthly expenditure come to, staying in LA + misc..
Obviously, that subjective, but LA, especially Westwood (the area where UCLA is located) is one of the most expensive areas in the US. If you live close to the university campus and share bedroom, you will pay about $600/month for house rent (including utilities). A personal bedroom would be anywhere from $900-$1100. Assuming you share, $1000/month is a moderate, comfortable expenditure, but even the stringent estimate would be atleast $850/month.
Q. How is the aid situation? How easy is an RA/TA? I haven't been offered any aid as of now... So, do MS-CS grad students get something at least by the 2nd quarter or so, or there is absolutely no aid?
As of April 2009, the economy's downturn has affected everyone. The aid situation is bad. Even PhD students don't feel secure. Aid for MS students is yet harder to find. In my batch, a few have found TA positions are in the third quarter, but new students without aid should not count on finding one. RA positions are similarly hard to find due to very reduced funding to professors. Apart from RA and TA, there are some "reader" positions that include grading homeworks, and pay about $1000/quarter at best. Usually, you can hold more than one reader positions but, again, don't count on it.
Q. How easy do campus jobs come by, and what do they pay like? I am really hoping that cali should be better than elsewhere...
Campus jobs don't pay enough to buy tuition - best jobs will pay about $15-20/hour (usually coding jobs). Campus jobs like working in stores/restaurants etc will pay about $7-10/hour. Given your work restrictions and available time anyway, this is all peanuts, especially since you're also paying NRT.
Q. How is the internship / job scene there? Is UCLA CS as affected as other colleges?
Quite affected. Some students are deliberately extending their stay in the program because they didn't find a job of their liking.
Q. And right after your admit, did you write to professors, and if so, did it help? I wrote to a few profs before the admit, no response....do u think that wriiting now can possibly help for RA/TA?
I wrote after my admit and got no response. Professors are very busy, so it's no surprise they don't respond. You shouldn't read anything into it. Since the funding scene is pretty bad, there are a lot of students roaming around for funding, so perhaps it's not that much personal/individual attention to student funding right now. My best advice to try find a funding is to arrive early - say 2-3 weeks earlier than most students would, and approach a professor immediately. That's what I did, and it worked. Chances of finding a yet-vacant TA position also improve if you come early. But again, no guarantees.
Q. I know if I should be taking such a heavy loan...so, do you think, taking the job + internship situation there, that UCLA CS will be worth the money I pump in?
Always entirely your call. From my personal experience and exposure, I'd say that the research scene and culture in US is significantly different than in India. This is not to compare professors, students or the quality of work, whatever is being done in either India or US. I'm only comparing the environment, culture and the working of things. If you aim to make research a career, the US experience would be very valuable. As for loan, try to imagine yourself 10 years down the line on either path, and weigh loan today against your place in 10 years, rather than weighing against your/your family's current situation. That should be a more appropriate basis for decision. But, like I said, it's entirely your call.
Q. I have an admit from Cornell MEngg. CS as well now, so I have to choose between UCLA CS and Cornell MEngg. What is your opinion?
That's exactly the situation I was in. The Cornell MEngg program is a rapid 9-month two-semester program with 5 courses each quarter. It is not a research program, be design. It's more of a terminal degree for students looking to enter the industry. MS, on the other hand, is a degree that prepares you for a research career through PhD. MS also allows you more opportunity to do research. It was mainly this that led me to choose UCLA MSCS over Cornell MEngg, because I was sure on continuing for a PhD (either at UCLA or another university). Another factor was that UCLA MSCS to PhD transition is internal to the department and therefore, easy if you perform well enough in the MS, while at Cornell, switch from MEngg to PhD would go through a full central application procedure and is much less common (to the best of my knowledge).
Q. How do you think are the job prospects from UCLA for an MS CS grad...And if they have deteriorated sharply in the past couple of falls, were they great before that? And how do you thing it compares with Cornell job-wise?
I'm not very aware of the job prospect comparison of the two programs.
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