Episode 6: Rico Malvar

Interview with: Rico Malvar, Distinguished Engineer, Microsoft. 
Former Director of Microsoft Research. US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Member, IEEE Fellow, Former Professor in Brazil. 

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Episode Guide

In this Episode with Rico Malvar: 8-year old playing electronics; Using punch card machines; Professor after doing Masters degree; Living under Brazil military dictatorship; PhD at MIT and Grad student with family and kid; Work Culture differences between Brazil and US; Leaving Academia for Industry (Academia vs. Industry); Leaving East Coast for West Coast (East Coast vs. West Coast); First and Second Immigration.

• mm.ss: Segment Info (Index)
• 1.40: Biography.
• Chapter 1: 3.49-9.14: Childhood: Always a Nerd and Dabbling with Electronic Kits, in 1960s and 70s.
  • 5.17: As a kid, parents went to college and became professors
  • 6.03: Academic disagreements between parents 
  • 6.50: Science and Math education in school: Taking Vocational courses gave him an advantage.
• Chapter 2: 9.14-13.21: Early Programming and Punch Card Machines, 1975.
• Chapter 3: 13.21-17.18: School Education and First Tastes of Research, 1970s.
  • 15.30: Why Portuguese language classes were useful as a Computer Scientist.
• Chapter 4: 17.18-21.46: Bachelors (1974-77) and Masters (1978-79) in Brazil, The Tech Sector in Brazil in 1970s/80s: First experience of undergrad research, Was there a PhD program in Brazil universities in 1970s/1980s? Brazil Universities hired faculty with Masters degree.
• Chapter 5: 21.46-30.45: Government, Universities, Military Rule: Psychological effects, “Say something bad and you might disappear!”, Military Investment in Education,
• Chapter 6: 30.45-38.01: Immigrating to US for MIT PhD, 1982 : Managing family+kid while both he and wife were PhD students, The secret to finishing a PhD in just 4 years!
• Chapter 7: 38.01-43.00: Returning to Brazil Professorship after US PhD, 1986.
• Chapter 8: 43.00-46.23: Moving back from Brazil professorship to US industry, 1993.
• Chapter 9: 46.23-59.54: Leaving PictureTel (Cambridge MA) for Microsoft Research (Seattle), 1997.
  • 46.23: Brazil work culture vs. US work culture
  • 49.42: East coast vs. West coast work culture in the US. “People in west coast are more relaxed”
  • 51.09: Changing Roles at Microsoft – what drove it? The John Lennon quote. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”
  • 54.01: Should I be a manager? No… a Leader. Transitioning from a worker to leadership.
  • 56.53: His current work on helping users with disabilities
• Chapter 10: 59.54-1.14.09: Retrospective, Perspectives, Advice.
  • 1.00.05: Handling Rejections and Impostor Syndrome. The sports analogy.
  • 1.02.07: Would his career be different if you had stayed in Brazil?
  • 1.04.43: Involvement with diversity and inclusion: Dual parts of the brain, Benefit of diversity of experiences.
  • 1.09.40: Would his career be different if you grew up completely in the US?
  • 1.10.59: Advice to Computer Science Researchers.

About the Narrator in this Episode

Three prominent and distinguished computer scientists spanning academia and industry, and spanning decades of immigration history in the late 20th century.

• Henrique “Rico” S. Malvar, Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft.
• US National Academy of Engineering Member, and IEEE Fellow.
• Research Areas: Signal Processing, Director of Microsoft Research Labs, Chief Scientist at Microsoft Research, Disability Research (Leader, Enable Group).
• Known for developing: Lapped transform, Windows Media Audio codec, JPEG XR image codec.
• Rico Malvar’s Immigration Journey
  • 1960s and 70s: Middle/High schooling in Brazil.
  • 1974-77: BS in Electrical Engineering at Universidade de Brasilia.
  • 1978-79: MSc at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
  • 1979-82: Professor of Electrical Engineering, Universidade de Brasilia,
  • 1982-86: (First Immigration to US) MIT PhD (Simultaneously also Prof at Universidade de Brasilia, 1982-86).
  • 1986-93: (Return to Brazil) Professor of Electrical Engineering, Universidade de Brasilia,
  • 1993-97: (Second Immigration to US) PictureTel, Cambridge MA.
  • 1997-Present: (Move from East Coast to West Coast) Distinguished Engineer of Microsoft. Previous roles: Chief Scientist for Microsoft Research, Managing Director of Microsoft Research Redmond, and Partner Researcher and founder and manager of the Communications, Collaboration, and Signal Processing group at Microsoft Research.

Links

• Brazil Wikipedia Page
• New York Times’ A Brief History of Brazil
• Washington Post’s Brazil: A History of Political and Economic Turmoil
• BBC’s Brazil Profile – Timeline
• Stanford article on Technology Trends in Latin America

Upcoming Episodes

This is the first episode of a 4-episode segment featuring prominent and distinguished Computer Scientists all of whom immigrated from Brazil, and all of whom spent significant time in both industry and academia.

Look for our next two episodes, featuring the full interviews with each of these narrators: Dilma da Silva (Episode 7), and Rodrigo Fonseca (Episode 8).

We also recommend you listen to the Lead Episode for Brazil (Episode 5).

• Credits
  • Music Credits for Podcast
  • The caption picture at top of page is taken in Zion National Park. Pic taken by Indy Gupta.

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