Jeff Erickson

Associate Professor of Computer Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Grr
My most presigious award ever.

I have been on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since August 1998, with tenure since August 2004. I've been in the department longer than 80% of the faculty. I guess that makes me old. I am also an affiliate of the Computational Science and Engineering program, a member of the steering committee for the Applied Mathematics Program, and a member of the Center for Process Simulation and Design at UIUC.

I'm a computational geometer/topologist. I was the PC chair for SOCG 2007. I'm the area chair of the CS department's algorithms group. I teach theory classes. I'm a faculty senator. I apply mathematics. I talk to myself. Im in ur graffs, dulizing yr homaloogy. I like pancakes.

I was affiliated with six other universities before I came to UIUC. In previous non-academic lives, I wrote Macintosh and Apple //gs software, spun records at a college radio station, and taught knot tying at Boy Scout summer camp. I still dislike Microsoft, I still listen to weird music, and I still tie my shoes faster than most people. I have the lowest undergraduate GPA (2.4/4.0) of any professor I've ever met, but some of my colleagues came close. I really shouldn't be proud of that.

I am not an assistant professor in the School of Labor and Employee Relations. I'm not the senior editor and cofounder of RotoWire.com. I'm not a multimedia artist and UNV Reno Professor. I've never been a student at the University of Washington, although I do own a 30GB iPod. I haven't played the saxophone since I was 12. I don't play golf or fish or curl or quilt. I've never been the lead guitarist for 10000 Maniacs. I've been known to drink 12 beers in one sitting, but I've never ordered them all at once. I have been a radio DJ, but not at a country music station in Minnesota. I'm not a dentist, a professional photographer, or master auto technician. I've never been the president of a bank, the president of an insurance company, the owner of a construction company, the CEO of a marketing and advertising agency, or the president of an airline. I am not a skateboard designer, stay-at-home dad, substitute high school teacher, laundromat owner and new Scappoose City Councilman. I've never raced a bicycle from Paris to Brest and back. I've never been a basketball coach or a soccer coach, and I can't surf. I've never inherited an 18th century German book on Martin Luther. I have never been a former marine and cop who became a Chicago bank robber , shot himself after killing two cops, and was later played by both Bruce Campbell and Luke Perry. Finally, and most disappointingly, I am not a member of Captain Smartypants.

It must be possible to replace in all geometric statements the words point, line, plane by table, chair, beer mug.
- David Hilbert, on the axiomatic method in mathematics

I believe in the third dimension, but not the other two.

Jeff Erickson (jeffe@cs.uiuc.edu) 05 Nov 2009