From Romania

Immigrant Computer Scientists

Episode 31: Two distinguished technologists share their experiences of growing up in Communist Romania in the 1960s-1990s, of the 1989 Romanian Revolution, and of immigrating reluctantly to the US. Featuring: Ion Stoica (Prof at UC Berkeley and founder of Databricks, Anyscale, and Conviva, Inventor of Apache Spark, Mesos, and Ray), and Rada Mihalcea (Prof at U. Michigan, AAAI Fellow, Creator of Romanian PECASE Program). Topics include: Growing up in Communist Romania under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in the 1970s and 80s; Schooling and education system in Romania during 1970s, 80s, and 90s; Romania during and after the 1989 Romanian Revolution; Our guests' Immigration to the US (in 1994 and 1997 respectively); and Perspectives. This is the Lead Episode for the Immigrant Computer Scientists Podcast's segment on Romania (first of 3 episodes on Romania.)

Fejezetek

1. From Romania (00:00:00)

2. Act 0 – Introduction, Guests, and Romania Background (00:02:03)

3. Act 1 – Communism and Government in Romania, 1970s, 80s (00:07:04)

4. Ion Stoica: "Communism was an Open Lie" (00:07:05)

5. Rada Mihalcea: Growing up Poor in Communist Romania (00:12:30)

6. Act 2 – Money, or Lack Thereof, 1970s and 80s (00:15:45)

7. Ion Stoica: Jobs and Salaries in Communist Romania (00:15:46)

8. Rada Mihalcea: Lack of Money, and Family treasure hunt to find money for food and essentials. And a Collective Bank among Parents’ Colleagues (00:16:46)

9. Ion Stoica: Centralized assignment of jobs in Communist Romania (00:19:49)

10. Act 3 – Communist Dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and The “Folders”, 1960s, 70s, and 80s (00:22:17)

11. Ion Stoica: Choosing Physics vs. Computer Science (00:22:18)

12. Rada Mihalcea: "The Government blacklisted many members of my family" (00:23:38)

13. Ion Stoica: "The Communist Party tried to recruit me" (00:26:40)

14. Act 4 – Exams, Exams, Exams, 1960s-90s (00:28:48)

15. Ion Stoica on the Exam system (00:28:49)

16. Rada Mihalcea on the Exam system (00:31:53)

17. Act 5 – Studying in School and College, 1970s, 80s, and 90s (00:33:56)

18. Rada Mihalcea: Studying at home in candlelight (00:33:57)

19. Ion Stoica: MIlitary service and colleges (00:35:12)

20. Rada Mihalcea: Entrance Exams into Universities, 1990s (00:37:04)

21. Rada Mihalcea: Girls and Women in STEM, 1980s and 90s (00:40:42)

22. Act 6 – Romanian Revolution, 1989 (00:42:29)

23. Ion Stoica: The beginnings of discontent in Romania (00:42:30)

24. Rada Mihalcea: Revolution was a long time coming (00:43:12)

25. Ion Stoica: Life, and Tech Industry, after the 1989 Revolution (00:45:31)

26. Rada Mihalcea: Life after the 1989 Revolution (00:47:26)

27. Act 7 – First Encounters with Technology, 1970s-90s (00:51:34)

28. Rada Mihalcea: Pen and Paper Computer Science (00:51:35)

29. Ion Stoica: Punched cards disappeared quickly (00:53:55)

30. Act 8 – Languages, 1960s-90s (00:56:03)

31. Rada Mihalcea: Languages in School, Street, Home (00:56:04)

32. Ion Stoica: Languages in School, Street, Home (00:57:45)

33. Act 9 – Immigrant to the US, mid-1990s (00:59:03)

34. Ion Stoica: Immigrating in 1994 for a PhD at Old Dominion University (00:59:04)

35. Rada Mihalcea: “A mistake”, a chance sequence of events that led her to apply to the US. (00:59:34)

36. Act 10 – Links to Homeland Romania today (01:03:05)

37. Ion Stoica: Giving back (01:03:06)

38. Rada Mihalcea: Giving back more to Romania from the US. Working with Romanian government to create the Romanian equivalent of the US PECASE Award (01:04:47)