Wrapping these series of posts up about the past decade, I looked through my various calendars and journals and thought about the major events and accomplishments of the past ten years.
Professionally, this decade will be hard to top. I received tenure and then was promoted to the rank of Professor. I ramped up my rate of publishing and received an NSF grant. I developed new courses in game design, eye tracking methods, gender and technology, and artificial intelligence. I supervised student research projects in nine different areas, including sentiment analysis, biometric identification, the accuracy of fitness tracking devices, and eye tracking to understand cross-racial face perception. I co-edited a book with amazing colleagues and contributors. And I got to lead curriculum revision projects at both the department and college-wide level.
This decade, I tried to push myself outside my comfort zone and say yes to opportunities. I joined the Pittsburgh Knit the Bridge group and helped create the world’s biggest yarn bombing. I got more involved in the SIGCSE community. I joined a gym and learned to do proper push-ups. I ran a Game Jam and coached a programming competition team.
This decade, I accepted my age. I started watching my diet. I got bifocals. I decided that however much grey hair starts coming in, I’m not going to dye it. I still stay up too late playing video games sometimes.
This decade, I helped my grandmother celebrate her 100th birthday. A couple of years later, I sat with her as she passed away.
This decade, I attended the defense of my first undergraduate advisee to go on to receive a PhD in computer science. I attended weddings of former students and congratulated them on their new babies. I celebrated their professional accomplishments with them.
At the opening of this decade, I found myself the only one of my siblings in the Pittsburgh area after my post-graduate school return and their subsequent departures. As the decade draws to a close, they have moved back and I find myself living near my entire immediate family for while I am endlessly thankful.
Brava! A decade well lived!!