Meet Prof. Talvitie
- Email:
erin@cs.hmc.edu
Hi there! I was on sabbatical last year, so I will be meeting most of you for the first time. I'm excited to get back into the classroom! I grew up calling my teachers by their first names, but I find that many students default to last name. I'm perfectly happy with either Prof. Erin or Prof. Talvitie (TAL-vih-tee).
I live in Claremont with my partner and (nearly) 12-year old son. I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I went to Oberlin College in Ohio (where I met my partner in a juggling club called Oberlin Skilled Hands in Training...I won't spell the acronym but I think you get it). I did my PhD at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. My first faculty job took us back to Pennsylvania: Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA (a fairly sizable city surrounded by Amish farms). We moved to California and I joined the Mudd faculty in 2019.
I like video games and board games. I play the ukulele and sing. In my youth I did a lot of studio art and theater but these days I mostly apply those skills to my teaching.
Sometimes I have depression and anxiety. Sometimes I feel unfocused and exhaused. Sometimes I feel panicked and overwhelmed!
I have a lot of support around me, which I gratefully lean on. I try to get enough exercise, outside time, and sleep every day. Various forms of therapy and medication have really helped me a lot. I've learned the hard way that ignoring or trying to power through my feelings just makes things worse. Listening to how I'm feeling and taking care of my needs makes me stronger!
My research is in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Specifically, I study artificial agents that learn how their world works and then make plans based on that understanding. A lot of the time I use video games as challenge problems (Atari 2600 games, in particular).
I actually often code in C++ in my research, so I have long had a love-hate relationship with the language, a feeling you may learn to share!
At my previous institution I was the creator and main instructor of the third semester CS course, which was much like CS 70. At Mudd I've taught CS 70 many times. So I've been teaching this stuff for almost 15 years! I love this moment in the curriculum because we get to pull back the curtain and see what makes the "magic" happen.
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