Looking through the donut: A donutview with prof. Michael Bender
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DA: What goals have you set for yourself?
MB: Doing very good research.  I love teaching.  Doing a good job teaching.
    Have a good time during the whole thing.  

DA: What do you expect from your students?
MB: I expect my students to work hard and not to B.S.  I want students to be
    enthusiastic.  I want them to think hard realistically.  And I want
    students to be academically honest.

DA: What do you do when you are not doing computer science?
MB: Many students know that I like to eat.  I will eat almost anything that
    flies, crawls or slithers.  I like languages.  I like to travel.  I like
    to have a good time.  I like good movies.  I like mountains.  I like
    hiking.  I like reading.  Being in academia means that one should be
    very broad and should be learned in a lot of areas.

DA: What would you have been if you have not been a computer scientist or
    in academia?
MB: I guess it depends at what point in my life.  When I was in 8th grade I
    wanted to be a 17th century baroque composer.  But I think that I
    missed this mark by a couple of years.  Later on I wanted to do
    architecture.  When I took my basic courses I sort of had an epiphany
    with computer science.

DA: Introduce us to your wife.
MB: Tamara.  That's her name.  Tamara Koss.  Most of the people in the
    department have seen her around.  She is now a medical intern which means
    that she works incredibly hard at ridiculous hours.  She works in Long
    Island Jewish.  She is going to be a dermatologist which is a
    interestingly exciting field with a very good life style for a doctor.
    Although still a crappy lifestyle for, you know, an academic.

DA: You like to travel.  Tell us about some great place you visited.
MB: We had our honeymoon at an island called the Virgin Gorda, the British
    Virgin Islands and we spent the whole week snorkeling, Scooba dived
    for the first time.  I could spend my life there and it wouldn't be a bad
    life.

DA: Last question.  What is your favourite food?
MB: Deep fried duck with anis which my parents make, which is wonderful.
    I love South Indian food in general.  I love Indian food in general.
    I love all cuisines French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese.

DA: Thanks.

(This donutview was recorded in September 1999.)