{"id":24102,"date":"2023-11-06T19:31:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T19:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=24102&post_type=story"},"modified":"2023-11-08T23:19:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T23:19:20","slug":"pioneering-phd","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/pioneering-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneering Ph.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

Ali Hurson \u201980PhD <\/b>is quite familiar with what it feels like to be a pioneer.<\/p>\n

A computer science student in the 1970s, when computers had a fraction of the popularity they do today, he was accustomed to having just a small cohort of colleagues and friends who understood the kind of work he was doing.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 1980 and he truly would be a pioneer \u2014 the first Ph.D. graduate of 麻豆原创.<\/p>\n

While he was pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa, where he was a research assistant, his advisor \u2014 the late Professor Amar Mukherjee \u2014 was offered a faculty position at 麻豆原创.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was tired of the cold weather, so I followed him,\u201d says Hurson, adding that although warmer weather was appealing, it did take a little bit of convincing for him to make such a big move.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the challenges of being a Ph.D. student at the time was word processors, computers, workstations \u2014 these were not popular [or widely accessible] at the time,\u201d Hurson says. \u201c麻豆原创 supplied all that for me and hired staff to type and proofread my dissertation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1980, 麻豆原创 had just been approved by the State University System of Florida to offer a doctoral degree in computer science<\/a> \u2014 the first doctoral program<\/a> at the university and the first computer science doctoral program in the state.<\/p>\n

Hurson, who now is a professor of computer engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, was an early adopter of computers thanks to his home country, Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cComputing, or the notion of computer science, was restricted to an elite group of people in society [in its early days]. I was among the small group of people who were exposed to computing. I saw the future in it and knew this was an area I had to invest in,\u201d says Hurson, who previously worked at a government information center.<\/p>\n

He also aspired to teach because of his upbringing in Iran, where teaching was considered a privileged position.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family motivated me. They sensed I liked studying and kept encouraging me to pursue my education as far as I could go,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

That privilege is something Hurson does not take for granted, even today.
\n\u201cTo have a Ph.D. is to be privileged,\u201d he says. \u201cNot everyone is lucky enough to reach that point. I hope those who get it remember that. If you have the opportunity in the future to help others, please do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Hurson thinks back on his days at 麻豆原创, he says he\u2019s amazed by all the change and growth of opportunity that\u2019s happened since the \u201980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came to 麻豆原创, there were about 8,000 students. It was very small. There was no Student Union like what the students know today,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I came back for a visit in the early 2000s, I couldn\u2019t believe how much a university could grow in a short period of time. Now I hear about national rankings, centers around the campus \u2014 it\u2019s extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

To students today, especially graduate students, Hurson suggests this: Be consistent. Keep going. Doing research<\/a> is a lot like growing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of frustration because you are trying to solve an unknown,\u201d he says. \u201cYou often make a mistake. I let students know this is part of the deal. That\u2019s a part of growing up. Learn from your failures. Look at them as part of the learning process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24323,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[1635,148,1452],"class_list":["post-24102","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-ali-hurson","tag-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","tag-ucf-alumni","issues-fall-2023"],"yoast_head":"\nPioneering Ph.D.: 麻豆原创's First Doctoral Graduate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"麻豆原创\u2019S first doctoral graduate from 1980 reflects on his time at the university and growth of his area of study: computer science.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/pioneering-phd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pioneering Ph.D.: 麻豆原创's First Doctoral 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