"That’s an interesting convolution of events; or a “configuration of events” is a better way to put it. What happened was I was working in this R&D laboratory, working with chemicals that were labeled “known or suspected carcinogen” on a daily basis – fumoids, of course, and the like, as well, too. And I loved the joy of discovery of chemistry, which was one of the beautiful things about chemistry, a heavily plowed field. But I also recognized, “Maybe there’s not a future for me if I keep doing this.” And there were accidents occurring in the plant that I was working at, because we took it from research bench, all the way out into process in the plant. And I kind of said, drawing on, “Yes, I was a hippie.” I actually had long hair at one point in time. And so we decided to move up to New Hampshire, my wife and I, who’ve been married for 41 years now, to investigate what kind of work we had. I had bought 50 acres of land up there prior, on a previous visit, so moved up and took a job at a small college which is now defunct. It was called Hawthorne College, in Antrim, New Hampshire; taught there for, I think, close to 10 years, with only my master’s degree in chemistry. A series of events occurred where the Florida Institute of Technology came up and bought the college as a campus for them, because they had a flight program, and it was boring to fly in Florida, and we had interesting terrain up there. And since it was an Institute of Technology, they were interested in starting up computer science, and as I had some background from applied mathematics, I volunteered to set up the program. I served as department chair, and after a while I started thinking maybe I should get my PhD, if I’m going to be a department chair. And so the school was very accommodating, let me go take the time off – not completely. I was still teaching, and the like, at a – it was a teaching school – and went and got my degree. First, I went to the University of Lowell, and I took a robotics course there because it fit my schedule, not because of any deep-seated commitment for robotics. Then I found – and I was disturbed because I had to take the GRE, even there. And I said, “I’m a chair of a computer science department. Why do I have to take a GRE?” Well, I took it, and they give you a couple of places to apply to, and I – UMass Lowell was actually – UMass – excuse me – Amherst was further away, but it was faster because it was freeway. I didn’t know that at the time, so I gave my score. I was accepted because I applied there, and when I was interviewed there, they assumed I was going to be a roboticist because they saw I took a robotics course at the University of Lowell, and they lined me up with all these folks at UMass – Wendy Leonard and others, as well, too, in the AI group – and it stuck. So... it wasn’t a conscious choice, and I would say I’m fairly unique in the field for two reasons. One is the serendipitous aspect of being led. I kind of feel like Jonah being vomited up on the shores of robotics, from a calling from God, if you will, perhaps. So that was one of the reasons, and the other is my scientific background. I have formal training – extensive formal training – in the scientific method, and I think that’s something that, in the computer science area in which I am housed within, not as many of our colleagues have that kind of basis for a deep scientific exploration and understanding that they – as they should. And so, again, those two things, I think, distinguish me from some of my colleagues."