by 2010 BU\/CS Distinguished Alumnus<\/em><\/p>\n Graduates, parents and family, faculty, staff, and honored \tguests, I want to thank Professors Bestavros and Sclaroff for this \thonor, and extend my sincere thanks to the selection committee for this \taward. I also should thank my parents and my wife Jenny, who are all here \ttoday, for everything that they’ve done to support me over the years in one \tpursuit after another. I feel incredibly lucky to be here today. I’ve never \tbeen someone who aspired to give an address at a graduation ceremony. I’ve \talways just followed my passions, spent time on those things that interested \tme most, and tried along the way to do what was right and to give back to \tthe community that has supported me so strongly. This recognition made me \trealize that in most cases we don’t achieve through a grand gesture or giant \tleap, but rather through small decisions made every day that lead us to \tgreat places.<\/p>\n When I first received the message that I’d been selected, I was \tquite surprised, certainly grateful, but also anxious about delivering an \taddress to you graduates – the brilliant and talented twenty ten class of \tthe Computer Science department. Hopefully what I’ll do today is offer some \tadvice and a few lessons I’ve learned in the last eleven years, and most \timportantly, celebrate your achievement of a significant milestone in your \tlives. <\/p>\n This milestone is historically and traditionally called \t“commencement.” <\/p>\n I don’t know about you, but I always sort of bristled at that \tword. Here you all are, having successfully navigated years of extremely \tdifficult study, having achieved a fantastic accomplishment, and the very \tword that is used to name the day on which you celebrate that is a synonym \tfor “beginning.” I think it appropriate to reflect on something of an \tending, as well. Chances are a lot of you have studied music – studies have \tshown that students who excel at mathematics tend to be musically inclined – \tso for this moment here, let’s consider this a fermata. A brief pause \tbetween one phrase, held as long as the conductor thinks is appropriate, \tbefore the beginning of the next. <\/p>\n We are here to celebrate your completion of studies in an \tincredibly detailed, increasingly important yet sadly misunderstood field. \tIn a lot of ways Computer Science has pervaded popular culture, and the \toperation of a computer – and in many cases, the programming of a computer – \tis something undertaken by people of any background. I find the study of \tComputer Science is similar to the study of the English language – we are \tall, more or less familiar with the basic concepts, but most of us never \ttake the time to learn all the nuances behind the every day tasks and uses. \tThe fact that you know those details is a fantastic skill, one that makes \tyou effectively an ambassador between the everyday world and the digital \tworld. <\/p>\n Consider that in your four years, you’ve probably learned more \tlanguages than any international relations student. And yes, I realize that \tthey are programming languages, and I realize that you’re not supposed to \tactually *speak* Java or Perl, but that’s never stopped you from doing it, \thas it? <\/p>\n Learning how to communicate with a computer in its own \tlanguages makes you that much more capable to talk to other people about \tcomputers, which is a very valuable skill. Like any spoken or written \tlanguage, programming languages are nothing more than constructs through \twhich to express ideas, and learning multiple languages has trained you to \tthink of programs from different perspectives. I was able to build a career \tat Accenture, a large consulting company, based on this ability. I started \tas a developer and moved up into architecture, then design, then product \tmanagement, and finally product strategy. Along the way the training and \tunderstanding I gained here about how code works, and what technology can \tand can’t do, and how to translate between a functional need and a technical \tsolution have stayed with me, and helped me work with business users to \tsolve key problems. <\/p>\n This, when you get right down to it, is what a computer \tscientist does. Even pure research is done with a focus of solving a \tproblem, just a specific theoretical one. <\/p>\n In my case, I sit between a user and a developer and translate \tintent into a real product. You all have this experience from your studies, \ttaking high-level requirements or problem statements and developing a \tsolution from scratch. You’ve done it in Professor Sclaroff’s graphics \tclass, shining imaginary lights on imaginary teapots, and you’ve done it in \tProfessor Beyer’s networking class, recreating the fabric of the Internet \tfrom the ground up, and in each case you’ve been given little more than a \tsheet of paper outlining the desired outcomes. <\/p>\n The other key component of your training, in my view, is that \tyou learned from the ground up. You may not have liked building a compiler \tand linker, or making your own TCP server, but doing so gave you volumes of \texperience in how systems and applications that are usually taken for \tgranted really work. Many programmers and developers use shortcuts like \tvisual editing tools and development environments that generate code. Many \tmore use prewritten API to build applications, as a child might build a LEGO \tcastle with pre-fabricated pieces. There’s nothing inherently wrong with \tthis; any field of study grows by encouraging each generation to stand on \tthe shoulders of the generations that came before, and to make discoveries \tbased on previous discoveries. Your understanding of how it all works, \tthough, top to bottom, lets you go deeper and make more interesting, better \tperforming solutions. <\/p>\n As an example, one of my first projects was working on a \tcontent management system responsible for publishing web pages for local \ttelevision stations. The system needed to perform well under heavy load that \tcould be generated by significant news events, as informing the public in \tthe midst of a crisis was what the local sites were for, after all. Because \tI knew how code should work, I was able to review the product’s own \tinternals, and find some very big performance-draining bugs, when even the \tproduct’s own vendor couldn’t. <\/p>\n Besides being an ambassador of sorts between the regular world \tand the technological realm, you have also become budding psychologists. \tSeriously — think about the last time you had to do a peer code review, or \tgrade another student’s programming project. Within the first five minutes, \tdidn’t you find yourself saying, “what in the hell was this person \tthinking?” <\/p>\n As frustrating as this experience may have been, I hope you \tfind it liberating knowing that the whole field of study, as complex as it \tcan be, can usually be traced back to some person’s intent, and is nearly \talways predictable and repeatable. <\/p>\n I’ll tell you a short story: I started out as a biochemistry \tmajor here at BU, and in my first year I had an inorganic chemistry class \tthat came with eight hours a week of lab time: four hours each Tuesday and \tThursday. This was the last class I took toward that major for two main \treasons. First, testing a chemistry experiment can be like trying to \trecreate a car crash. It takes hours to set up, you get one run at a result, \tand the slightest immeasurable change in the environment blows up the \toutcome. One lab we ran required drying crystals in a kiln to remove the \twater — this turned them from blue to white — then we used those crystals \tin a reaction where the presence of water would ruin the result. As my \tstation was on the other side of the room from the kiln, by the time I \tremoved my crucible and walked back across the dank basement lab, flecks of \tblue kept creeping into my sample, indicating contamination by the water \tvapor in the air, and I never did get the result we wanted. <\/p>\n A computer science project, on the other hand, does exactly \twhat you ask of it, even – and especially – when you’re not completely clear \ton what you’re asking it to do. The computing environment is consistent, and \tany changes – like time of day, or available memory – change predictably. <\/p>\n The second reason I changed majors, and perhaps the more \timportant one, was that the answer to any natural science question is \tessentially, “because.” Natural scientists reach a point where understanding \tbreaks down eventually, and they have to explain it away using immeasurable \tor unprovable concepts, or simply ignore the question, and say “we just \tdon’t know yet.” Computer science, on the other hand, reduces every question \tto “because someone made it that way.” I find it’s liberating to know that \tthere’s an answer — and an answer understandable to a human brain — behind \teach question. Depending on the question, It can take eons to get to that \tanswer, or test all the possible outcomes, as I’m sure Professor Levin can \ttell you, but once you’ve found it you *know* it’s right. Unlike any other \tfield of scientific study, computer science is built entirely upon our own \tcreations, bounded only by our imagination and the processing power of the \tlatest machines. Studying and understanding creations of computer scientists \tis an act of psychology, trying to get inside the original programmer’s \tintent. It’s for all these reasons that I believe CS to be one of the most \tcreative fields of study there is. <\/p>\n So you’ve all learned quite a bit in these last few years, \tlikely more than you realize today, and have achieved a status that many \tpeople will never achieve. You are ambassadors, psychologists, and wizards \tand magicians, really, since as Arthur C. Clarke said, “Any sufficiently \tadvanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” And as such, I \tcongratulate you for this amazing accomplishment, and on the years to come \thelping your grandparents set up their Facebook accounts.<\/p>\n That said, this is “commencement”, you do have a beginning here \ton your hands as well as an ending, and I’m sure that many of you are \twondering what comes next. Well, here I have a little secret for you, one \tthat might sound a little frightening at first.<\/p>\n You will never stop being a student. Ever. <\/p>\n My parents are here, and they were probably the first people to \tever ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. It’s a question I ask them \tnow, too, because I realized a while ago that we never really stop growing, \tand therefore, never really “grow up.” Life is a learning experience, each \tand every minute of it. I imagine myself some hundred or so years from now \tin a hospital bed, and just as I’m about to expire I roll over and bump into \ta button, raising the bed under my legs. Just as I exhale my last breath, \tthe last thought of my life will be “Oh, so that’s what that button is for.”<\/p>\n One of the things I liked most about my job as a consultant was \tthat every three to six months I got a completely new role with completely \tnew problems to solve. I would go from a project at a telephone company, \trunning a billing conversion, to a television station, designing systems \tthat manage the flow of new content. This was a thrilling concept to me, in \tthat it meant I got to confront new challenges, and develop new solutions to \tthose challenges, on a frequent and regular basis. I’ve had the luxury of \tbeing encouraged and even required to learn each and every day, even if the \tlesson I learn isn’t immediately applicable to the task at hand.<\/p>\n Being a continuous learner is a critical need for any computer \tscientist. For example, I’m sure some of you have downloaded the development \tkits that Apple provides for making iPhone applications, and maybe have even \tcreated a few. Consider for a moment that this device did not exist when you \tstarted your coursework here. What is the next device, the next platform, \tthe next big thing that will require you to commit hours of your free time \tto study and learn it? And just as importantly, how will you choose which to \tstudy, and which to let go by the wayside?<\/p>\n Let’s face it – this is a burden that comes with your chosen \tfield, and while other scientists and engineers need to keep up with new \tdevelopments or techniques, few see the pace of change that computer \tscientists do. This is a very good thing for you. Because you’ve trained \tyour minds to be ever more absorbent, to take in more and more information, \tyou can use that skill for fields other than just technology.<\/p>\n A couple weeks ago, at Senior Breakfast, they took an \tunscientific poll of the students in attendance. Just fewer than half said \tthey had a job lined up after graduation, about one quarter said they were \tgoing on to graduate studies, and the rest – more than one fourth of the \tgraduating class, simply didn’t know. Now, I realize your parents are here \tand I don’t want to start a fight or anything, but I envy those of you \twithout a plan right now.<\/p>\n Hopefully you’ll be thinking about travel, something I’ve \trecently become an enormous fan of doing, because when done right it is a \ttotal immersion program in “things to learn.” The first time I went to a \tcountry where I didn’t speak the language I was bewildered, unsure of where \tto go and how to navigate, but as I got my bearings I started to see the \tpeople and the cultures behind the languages, and to see more of what was \tsimilar – and different – from my own experiences.<\/p>\n My wife Jenny started a charity called ProjectExplorer in 2003, \tand from its beginning I’ve been using the skills I learned here at BU to \thelp other people find those kinds of discoveries. Travel is a fantastic way \tto learn more about the world around you, but more importantly it’s a \tfantastic way to learn more about yourself. We at ProjectExplorer try to \thelp people, students in particular, who wouldn’t have had the chance to \ttravel, to find that experience on their own. We do this by posting videos \tto the site that let people see these experiences first hand, and provide \tall the research they’d need alongside to understand the background and \thistory of a place, in addition to the visual.<\/p>\n So yes, if you have the chance to travel, take it. But even if \tyou don’t, and even if you have a job lined up starting on Monday, you will \thave hundreds of chances to feel the way you may have first felt when you \tlanded on an unfamiliar shore. I hope you take advantage of these \topportunities.<\/p>\n It’s a common theme in commencement remarks to encourage people \tto go out in the world and find themselves. This always struck me as a \tlittle passive: as though your true calling was a lost umbrella, and if you \tjust hunted enough you might find it. The truth of the matter is that you, \tnow, have the opportunity to *create* yourself. You’ve gathered the tools \tyou need here to do nearly anything, and you’re at a point when you have \tnothing but time ahead of you to explore. <\/p>\n Try some things out. Play in a band. Write a novel. Join a \tkickball team. Learn to bake. You never know what you’re going to find that \tyou like to do. And this goes both ways – you may discover something you \talways thought you’d love, but end up finding hopelessly boring. This is \twhere the best part of being a computer scientist comes into play: the \tskills you’ve learned can be applied to almost any field. All you need to do \tnow is find what excites you most, and use your skills to support it, and \tmake it better.<\/p>\n These discoveries can come randomly as well. Opportunities to \tgrow will present themselves, and you probably won’t even realize at the \ttime. You’ll be invited to lunch with someone, or out for a drink, and \tsuddenly you’ll find yourself in a fascinating conversation on a topic you \tdidn’t even realize interested you. You’ll be at a party, one that you \tdidn’t really even want to attend, and see someone across the room who will \tchange your life in a million ways. You’ll be doing your job, same as every \tday, when someone will come to you with a new task, and before you know it \tyou’re publishing a white paper on your experiences, and giving interviews \tto the international press. <\/p>\n Each of these has happened to me in the short time since I \tgraduated here, and many more as well. And for as fascinated as I am about \thow lucky I have been, to have had these chances at life, I wonder just as \tmuch about those roads not taken, those invitations not accepted. Who knows \twhere they might have led?<\/p>\n For this reason, graduates, I encourage you to say yes. Say yes \twhenever you can afford it, and occasionally even if you can’t, because you \tnever know which meeting, which lunch, which party, is going to be the one \tthat changes your life forever.<\/p>\n Take the chances that come to you, and remember – while we call \ttoday “Commencement” it’s really neither the beginning of anything, or the \tending of anything either. You’re a life long learner, and today is simply \tone more lesson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One More Lesson by 2010 BU\/CS Distinguished Alumnus Matthew Boggie BU\/CS CAS’99 Graduates, parents and family, faculty, staff, and honored guests, I want to thank Professors Bestavros and Sclaroff for this honor, and extend my sincere thanks to the selection committee for this award. I also should thank my parents and my wife Jenny, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4378,"featured_media":0,"parent":169,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4378"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10662,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/199\/revisions\/10662"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Matthew Boggie BU\/CS CAS’99<\/h3>\n