Computer Vision News - July 2018

[ smiles ] Yes! Most of the attendees at this conference have never been to Bulgaria. Can you share something about Bulgaria that most people don’t know? Don’t tell me food, it’s too easy! [ laughs ] I was going to say that, and I realized that’s too boring! [ both laugh ] I guess this applies to Bulgaria as a whole, but we have great nature. The Bulgarians that I hung out with while I was still living there, mostly my friends from high school, were very open to ideas. Our favorite thing to do was to hang out in the park, discuss philosophical ideas, and drink wine. Which was the best part? All of them! That’s how I remember Bulgaria, the combination of intellectual pursuits and just being Bohemian, I guess, and enjoying nature at the same time. Can you recommend a place to visit in Bulgaria? Despite what I said about possibly being more American, I’ve given several of my servers Bulgarian names. One is called Sozopol, which is a beach town where there is an annual culture festival with jazz and theater and all that. It’s a great place to go in the summer. Do you ever think that you did things better when you were a student? Or are students doing better things now? Do you see any remarkable difference? I’ve seen both. I can comment on both of these. Please do! I think some of my students, many of them, are more productive and more focused than I was when I was in grad school. That’s amazing! What is the reason for that? I don’t know! I think they just are more driven than I was. Maybe I was exploring this space, and they always knew they wanted to do this in particular. Did you become more driven with time? I became more driven with time. That’s why I am an Assistant Professor, but I think they are better than I was when I was in grad school. The second part is what they do that I don’t think I would have done. I think I was a little bit more open to feedback and suggestions in terms of things like writing. I trusted my advisor all the time. Let’s go back to your drive. It has increased over time, and you are very much attracted to media and communications, which you even studied in college. You love to teach. You certainly love to learn and make research. Actually, research is a major component of your life. How many drives can you have? If you are not as driven as your students are now, to me you sound overdriven! [ both laugh ] I am by no means overdriven. I do take on more tasks than I should, which ends up not always being a good idea. In a sense, this drive is because our community has changed in ways that I sometimes dislike, but also in ways that I like. I think there are more diverse ideas being pursued, which I like. I have 36 Thursday Adriana Kovashka