Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 00:50:57 -0400
From: Olin Shivers <shivers@lambda.ai.mit.edu>
To: xxx@eecs.mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <9604252058.AA12478@heinlein.MIT.EDU> (xxx@eecs.mit.edu)
Subject: Re: Undergraduate Advising
Reply-To: shivers@ai.mit.edu

    I need from you a few paragraphs describing your personal interests,
    advising style or philosophy, background and professional interests.
    ... I'm preparing a document to give the freshman for them to use to
    select an advisor.  I need to receive your info by early next week.

I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, majored in mathematics and Computer
Science at Yale University, and I got my PhD in Computer Science at CMU. I've
lived in Paris, Hong Kong, Peking, and New Jersey.

I tend to look for weak, uncertain students and feed off of their
insecurities; by preying on their poor self-images, I manage to temporarily
assuage my own feelings of inadequacy and failure. I've also found
undergraduate advising to be a terrific vehicle for venting a lot
of my own pent-up rage and frustration. 

I'm not sure if this counts as a philosophy, but it's the closest thing I've
got to an "advising style."

    Thanks again for volunteering to advise!

My pleasure.
    -Olin