{"610021":{"#nid":"610021","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Oh, the Places They\u0027ll Go: Professor Gregory Abowd Looks Back on 30 Ph.D. Graduates","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIf you go outside School of Interactive Computing Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EGregory Abowd\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026rsquo;s office, you might find a rather odd collection of keepsakes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA wooden toilet seat sits on a table in the front right corner of his lab space, a metal toilet paper holder not far away. A bobblehead sits behind that, unmistakably the bearded figure of the longtime College of Computing faculty resting his left foot on the top of a miniature toilet. The smallest of these trinkets is simply just a carving of a toilet, and behind it all, yes, the blue plastic door of a portable toilet you might see at a concert or other outdoor venue.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEach item was given to Abowd by his students, curious selections without the proper context. They might indicate underlying animosity if not for the bright smile they bring to Abowd\u0026rsquo;s face as he describes the origin of each.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne man\u0026rsquo;s chamber pot, he might say, is another man\u0026rsquo;s reminder of where\u0026rsquo;s he\u0026rsquo;s been and where his students have gone. Earlier this year, he graduated his 30\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E Ph.D. student and, among his impressive list of accomplishments, that\u0026rsquo;s the one he cites as the most important.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA unique tradition\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe story goes like this:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen Abowd was a graduate student at the University of Oxford, his supervisor described his thesis research as \u0026ldquo;a beautiful porcelain pot\u0026rdquo; that he had forgotten to \u0026ndash; we\u0026rsquo;ll just say, \u0026ldquo;fill.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;These rather disparaging words have since had a profoundly positive influence on me,\u0026rdquo; stated a posted explanation of the bathroom fixtures around his lab space. \u0026ldquo;Shortly after successfully defending my thesis, a good friend, who knew how deflating my supervisor\u0026rsquo;s words were, gave me a little figurine of a toilet and asked me to keep it nearby in order to preserve my humility throughout my career.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESince then, it has become tradition to continue to keep Abowd humble throughout each accomplishment of his career \u0026ndash; being awarded tenure, a promotion to full professor, distinguished professor, regents\u0026rsquo; professor, and J.Z. Liang Chair.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe remembers each of his 30 Ph.D. grads like family. Comparing them to his own 11 brothers and sisters, whom he can understandably recite in order, he shows an uncanny ability to do the same with his students. Prompted with an easy one \u0026ndash; his first Ph.D. graduate \u0026ndash; Abowd didn\u0026rsquo;t hesitate.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Oh, \u003Cstrong\u003EKurt Stirewalt\u003C\/strong\u003E,\u0026rdquo; Abowd immediately said, as if stunned to receive such a softball question. \u0026ldquo;He went to Michigan State, but he\u0026rsquo;s no longer there.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIndeed, Stirewalt graduated in 1997, earned an NSF CAREER Award in 2000, and reached the level of associate professor with tenure at Michigan State. Since then, he has gone on to become vice president of application architecture at LogicBox.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOk, a tougher one then: Ph.D. graduate No. 17. A slight hesitation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;That would be \u003Cstrong\u003ETracy Westeyn\u003C\/strong\u003E, right?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERight. He advised her with Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EThad Starner\u003C\/strong\u003E through her graduation in 2010. She has since gone on to a career in Washington, D.C.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne more: No. 9. A long pause.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Would that be Lonnie?\u0026rdquo; Abowd asked. He\u0026rsquo;s one off. \u003Cstrong\u003ELonnie Harvel\u003C\/strong\u003E was No. 8 and graduated in 2005. \u0026ldquo;So, the one right after. That would be \u003Cstrong\u003EGiovanni\u003C\/strong\u003E (\u003Cstrong\u003EIachello\u003C\/strong\u003E).\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERight again. Iachello graduated in 2006 and is now the head of international and new markets at LinkedIn.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere they\u0026rsquo;ve gone\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe rest of \u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/views\/Abowds30PhDs\/Dashboard1?:embed=y\u0026amp;:display_count=yes\u0026amp;publish=yes\u0026amp;:showVizHome=no\u0022\u003EAbowd\u0026#39;s academic family\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;is an equally impressive reminder of the quality of the students that have come through his lab. One former student is at Google, another at Samsung Electronics. There\u0026rsquo;s one at Amazon Lab126 and one at Intel Labs. One has an ever-expanding list of patents, and a host of others have gone on to become academic faculty around the world \u0026ndash; Sweden, India, Korea, Texas, New York, Washington, and more.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAbowd hesitated when asked whether 30 Ph.D. graduates was a big number, then put it into context.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a big number when you think that most of them have gone on to academic positions,\u0026rdquo; Abowd said. \u0026ldquo;I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want to say that\u0026rsquo;s the best option for everyone, but it is something I\u0026rsquo;m proud of.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe impact is exponential. Many of his graduate students have gone on to have graduate students of their own. While his 30 students\u0026rsquo; destinations are relatively easy to map, the task gets significantly more challenging with second and third generations that number in the hundreds.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThey get together as often as possible, usually at conferences like the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems or Ubicomp. At CHI 2018, Abowd estimated about 50 or 60 former students, including masters and undergraduates, attended their get-together. Abowd has connected with these students in a profound way \u0026ndash; from one-on-one mentorship to \u0026ldquo;making music\u0026rdquo; together in a band (okay, they were just pretending).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s the proudest academic accomplishment for me,\u0026rdquo; Abowd said of his students. \u0026ldquo;The students and the quality of the students. We are teachers first, and you develop very close long-term relationships with them. Almost all of them, I am still in contact with, so it really is like your own children.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Gregory Abowd graduated his 30th Ph.D. student in the spring. They have each gone on to impressive careers in academia and industry."}],"uid":"33939","created_gmt":"2018-08-20 17:56:53","changed_gmt":"2018-08-24 21:05:38","author":"David Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-08-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-08-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"610020":{"id":"610020","type":"image","title":"Gregory Abowd 30 PhDs","body":null,"created":"1534787486","gmt_created":"2018-08-20 17:51:26","changed":"1534787486","gmt_changed":"2018-08-20 17:51:26","alt":"Gregory Abowd stands at his office door","file":{"fid":"232306","name":"Abowd Main.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Abowd%20Main.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Abowd%20Main.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":134951,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Abowd%20Main.jpg?itok=PR5Rj6i2"}},"610350":{"id":"610350","type":"image","title":"Where Are They Now? ","body":null,"created":"1535144557","gmt_created":"2018-08-24 21:02:37","changed":"1535144632","gmt_changed":"2018-08-24 21:03:52","alt":"","file":{"fid":"232415","name":"Abowd\u0027s 30 PhDs_Mercury.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Abowd%27s%2030%20PhDs_Mercury.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Abowd%27s%2030%20PhDs_Mercury.png","mime":"image\/png","size":614465,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Abowd%27s%2030%20PhDs_Mercury.png?itok=aU-lW1AB"}}},"media_ids":["610020","610350"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/views\/Abowds30PhDs\/Dashboard1?:embed=y\u0026:display_count=yes\u0026publish=yes\u0026:showVizHome=no","title":"Data Interactive - Abowd\u0027s Graduates Across the World"},{"url":"http:\/\/ubicomp.cc.gatech.edu\/index.html","title":"The Georgia Tech Ubicomp Group"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.ic.gatech.edu\/academics\/phd-programs","title":"School of Interactive Computing Ph.D. Programs"}],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1299","name":"GVU Center"},{"id":"576481","name":"ML@GT"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"11002","name":"Gregory Abowd"},{"id":"115361","name":"Ph.D"},{"id":"10353","name":"wearable computing"},{"id":"178784","name":"Kurt Stirewalt"},{"id":"178785","name":"Tracy Westeyn"},{"id":"1944","name":"Thad Starner"},{"id":"178786","name":"Lonnie Harvel"},{"id":"178787","name":"Giovanni Iachello"},{"id":"178788","name":"The School of Interactive Computing"},{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDavid Mitchell\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:david.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Edavid.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}