Saeed Akhter, an undergraduate computer science major at the U of M, was destined for a career in computer science at an early age. While still in high school, he and some friends taught themselves C so that they could program their own video games. These games were of the "shoot-em-up" variety with rather primitive graphics. He also learned how to do Z80 programming on graphing calculators giving further evidence of his early interest in computers. Despite this indication of talent in computer science, he started his academic career at the U majoring in physics. However he soon realized that physics was not for him and decided to change his major to computer science.

For the past year and a half, Saeed has worked at Internet Exposure, a company that creates business web sites. He has been responsible for examining new technologies and for training new people, an important job as the company has grown rapidly. He has also been finding ways to organize the code so that it can be reused. This will help the company develop web sites more quickly.

When asked about his views on coursework in computer science Saeed said that students need the theoretical classes but also need to play with systems to get that hands-on experience. One of the most useful classes he has taken was a compiler class, because it introduced a lot of concepts he would never have thought about otherwise. Saeed says that you have to love what you do. He is amazed at some computer science students who aren't engaged with the subject and just seem to be majoring in computer science because of job opportunities.

The future includes an undergraduate research experience with Dr. John Riedl. Preliminary plans involve studying the use of SVG, scalable vector graphics, being considered as a future standard in XML by WC3, the World Wide Web Consortium. One advantage of SVG is that the file sent does not contain the image, the standard method for supplying graphics on the WWW, but commands for generating the image. The image is rendered on the client side. Thus the file sent over the Internet can be much smaller. He is also interested in using an open source tool Enhydra, discovered during researching new technologies at work, to dynamically generate the SVG and send it to the client.

Saeed's enthusiasm for computers and the Internet may lead him to graduate school after completion of his B.S. next year. There is so much more to learn.

-Bobbie Othmer