Dr. John Gustafson is a professor of computer science, now at The National University of Singapore. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied mathematics from Iowa State University and also specializes in high performance (supercomputer) computing. (HPC). He’s worked at Sun Labs, Clearspeed Technology, Massively Parallel Technology, Intel, and AMD. At an early age, he was fascinated by chemistry and also had a good sized electronics lab in his basement (thanks to indulgent parents). But by the time he started his undergraduate degree at Cal Tech, he’d settled on applied mathematics with physics as a second major. It was at Cal Tech where he met and was influenced by the Nobel Prize winning physicist, Dr. Richard Feynman. John, describes his career arc, and at the end has some great advice for young scientists just getting started.

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Jim Tanous is the founder of the TekRevue website. That’s where you’ll find a wealth of technical articles and reviews for Apple, PC and Linux products. He’s also a regular contributor and editor here at The Mac Observer. Jim was always interested in computer technology, even from age seven. There was no computer at home when he was growing up, but his elementary school had Apple IIs, and he learned the BASIC language. However, Jim’s father was an attorney, and Jim thought, all the way into his second year of law school, that he would become an attorney also. Then one day, he realized that he wasn’t enjoying himself. That, in turn led, by his account, to becoming an Apple Genius. Tune in to find out how he made that grand leap.

[Background Mode will return on July 10.]

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