Episode 2: Nenad Medvidovic

Interview with: Nenad Medvidovic
IEEE Fellow, Professor of Computer Science at USC, 
Immigrant from Yugoslavia

Episode Guide

In this Episode with Nenad Medvidovic: His Origins and his Immigration Journey. A high school exchange student in the US; Military service in Yugoslav army; Dealing remotely with family being in the midst of the 1990s Yugoslav wars; Taking Leaps of Faith; It’s OK to fail; And a lot more!

• mm.ss: Segment Info (Index)
• 1.42: Biography.
• Chapter 1: 3.29-13.33: Yugoslavia and Early Schooling in 1960s/1970s/1980s.
  • 3.29: Childhood and Schooling Ethos in Yugoslavia, Trade School vs. Gymnasium, and the “Failed” “2+2” Experiment.
  • 9.24: Parents were not thrilled he picked programming at a young age, First Computer and Programming Language in Yugoslavia.
• Chapter 2: 13.33-31.18: First visit to the US – a teen and high school exchange student, in 1986.
  • 13.33: First Immigration as an Exchange Student in 1986 to the US in High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Adapting, while not knowing English, to Culture Shock and Educational System shock.
  • 23.02: Learning Computer Science and Programming as an Exchange student in the US.
  • 24.50: In the US School System, comparing STEM/CS classes vs. classes on Literature and Government.
  • 27.00: US vs. Yugoslav Schooling System: The Clash of Cultures–Socialism, Communism, Capitalism.
• Chapter 3: 31.18-39.21: One Year Military Service in Yugoslavia, in 1987.
  • 31.18: Right after returning from the US stint as an exchange student
  • 37.30: Yugoslav Wars in the background.
• Chapter 4: 39.21-54.17: (Re-)Immigrating to the US, BS at ASU, in 1988.
  • 39.21: Re-immigrating to the US, this time for Bachelors program.
  • 41.17: Was second immigration easier? Paying expensive tuition in a US University for his BS degree.
  • 46.07: Taking courageous leaps of faith.
  • 48.38: An Undergrad in Arizona State University (ASU) during 1988-1992, Receiving News in the US from Yugoslav/Balkan Wars. 
  • 52.10: Doing an independent study in ASU as an undergrad; Going back to Yugoslavia was not an option.
• Chapter 5: 54.17-1.18.55: Mentors, PhD Research Perspectives during 1992-1998, Retrospectives.
  • 54.17: Mentors and Role Models: Mom, Dad, Host Parents, Yugoslav Math teacher.
  • 58.07: Starting PhD at UC Irvine in 1992; Getting started with a research program as a PhD student.
  • 1.02.05: Dealing with Rejections and Impostor Syndrome.
  • 1.04.45: The time period from 1999 to 2002 – the Toughest Years: war reaching its peak, NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. starts, defending PhD in 1998, going on the job market, having a baby boy, starting a faculty job at University of Southern California.
  • 1.08.06: Perspectives on Montenegro and Yugoslavia.
  • 1.09.56: Speculative Questions – Had he gone through the US schooling system, would his career have been different? And the joy of being in Academia (vs. Industry).
  • 1.14.03: Thoughts on Diversity and Inclusion in Computer Science.
• Chapter 6: 1.18.55-1.21.36: Closing Thoughts
  • 1.18.55: Advice! The Best Advice Nenad received from John King (U. Michigan); Leaps of faith; And for immigrants It’s ok to fail.

About the Narrator in this Episode

• Nenad Medvidovic, Professor of Computer Science at USC.
• IEEE Fellow and ACM Distinguished Scientist.
• Research Areas: Leader in the Software Engineering research community, especially in premier International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE). Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.
• Nenad Medvidovic’s Immigration Journey
  • 1970s & 1980s: Middle/High schooling in Yugoslavia.
  • 1986-1987: Exchange student to a US high school in Scottsdale, Arizona.
  • 1987-1988: Return to Yugoslavia for a year of Mandatory military service.
  • 1988-1992: (Re-)Immigrated back to the US, for BS in Computer Science and Engineering in Arizona State University.
  • 1992-1998: MS and PhD in Information and Computer Science at University of California, Irvine (UCI), USA.
  • 1998-Present: Faculty of Computer Science, University of Southern California (USC), USA.

Links

• US Department of State page on Yugoslavia
• US Department of State page on Serbia
• Wikipedia page on Yugoslavia
• Wikipedia page on Yugoslav Wars

Upcoming Episodes

This was the second episode in a four-episode segment featuring prominent and distinguished Computer Scientists all of whom immigrated from a country that no longer exists, Yugoslavia.

Look for our next two episodes, featuring the full oral history interviews with these narrators: Jelena Mirkovic (Episode 3), and Dejan Milojicic (Episode 4).

We also recommend you listen to the Lead Episode for Yugoslavia (Episode 1).

• Credits
  • Music Credits for Podcast
  • The caption picture at top of page is the Novi Sad Artists Enclave (Petrovaradin) beside the Danube River, in Vojvodina region of Yugoslavia (present Serbia). Pic taken by Indy Gupta.

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