Samuel Rebelsky is a Professor of Computer Science at Grinnell College and the Tapia 2020 Scholarship Co-Chair. We spoke to Samuel about his career, the Tapia Conference and teaching online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tell me about your background.

I grew up in the Boston Area, the only child of first-generation Americans. My mother was a Professor of Psychology at Boston University and my father was an executive. My mother taught me all about the challenges that face women in the workplace, when she went to graduate school in the 60's she was asked "what guarantee will you give us that you won't waste your degree by having a child?" My father taught me that even without a degree you can move up in an organization if you are smart and work hard.

How did you become involved in Computer Science?

When I first went to college, I planned to get a PhD in mathematics. In my first year I realized I would never be a great mathematician. I took a computer science class and discovered what I really enjoyed was solving interesting problems and puzzles and being able to build things. Much more fun than writing proofs. I was at the University of Chicago and they had a new PhD program in CS where I was able to teach and I discovered I loved teaching. I was able to go straight from undergrad to grad school. My area of focus became Lazy Functional Programming. After I graduated, I went to Dartmouth University as a visiting professor. From there I went to Grinnell College which I felt was the perfect place for me, it was small enough for me to get to know all of the students. The students also had a strong sense of social justice and were very diverse - you could have someone be a Computer Science/Chinese double major. I still know it was the right place for me when during this COVID-19 crisis the first question the students asked was if all the workers were going to be paid and the College refunded all students' remaining room and board, with some receiving their refunds before leaving campus.

Christan Grant is an Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma and the Tapia 2020 Deputy Scholarship Chair. We spoke with Christan about his life in computer science and how he discovered the Tapia Conference.

Tell me about your background.

I was born in Miami, Florida and grew up in Broward County South Florida. My parents are from Jamaica, my Dad was a software engineer and my Mom worked for an insurance company. I watched them both worked really hard, raised three kids. They just made it to retirement this year, I'm really happy that they have the opportunity to relax and explore some new ventures.

Tell me how you became involved in Computer Science.

I always figured a software job was something I could do. On days I was sick, would go to work with my Dad and hang out under his desk and play on the extra computer in his office. Computers were always a part of my life. But, I got really excited about computer science from all the cartoon propaganda of the 80's and 90's. The Ninja Turtles, Transformers and Power Rangers all would have a leader, a comic relief, a fighter and someone who was the tech person. I wanted to be all of those things a so I worked on being a ninja anm inventor and a scientist. Growing up I was very active in Tae Kwon do and got my junior black belt, so I have my ninja card. I did an internship at IBM Almaden, I got was part of a patent, so I got my invention. And with my PhD, I am working as a scientist.