Sometimes computers can be extremely frustrating and difficult to use. We've all had trouble finding an obscure menu or clicking on a tiny button. Does it have to be this way? No! This workshop will investigate the way that humans and computers interact with each other. Using a few basic principles, we will learn to design programs that are both powerful and easy to use.

Faculty/Instructor

Kylan  Robinson,

Hometown: Tacoma, WA
City: Pullman, WA
University attended, graduation date and degree: -WSU, BS Computer Engineering, May 2007 -WSU, MS Computer Engineering, May 2009
WSU Department you are in: School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering and Architecture
Your research/teaching area of interest: -medium-grain reconfigurable computer hardware -fault tolerance -high-performance computing systems
Any plans before CQ begins: -continue working at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories as a software engineer -finish my Master's thesis and graduate
Interests/Hobbies: -rooting for WSU athletics (Go Cougs!) -website design -photography -running -racquetball -watching movies
Favorite summer memory: Last summer I got married. The ceremony was in Illinois and our honeymoon was on the gulf coast of Florida. The wedding was an unforgettable event and it was fun to travel with my new wife.
Your life goal: Someday I want to start a company that uses technology to address problems facing Third World countries. I think that custom software and hardware devices can help bring developing countries up to par with the developed world.
Link: http://eecs.wsu.edu/~krobinso
About Me: I'm probably one of the biggest Cougar fans on the planet. While I was an undergraduate at WSU, I spent four years playing trumpet in the Cougar Marching Band. I went to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl in 2003, and I've traveled to watch the Cougs play in a number of recent Pac-10 Basketball Tournaments in Los Angeles. Even though our football team wasn't very good this year, I went to every home game to cheer them on. In my book, it was still a successful season because of our come-from-behind victory in the Apple Cup. Once again, our men's basketball team should have a good season this year. You can expect to see me in the crowd for those games, too.

The best summer job I ever had was at a sawmill in Tacoma. I was the guy who went around shoveling and sweeping sawdust that had accumulated under the conveyer belts. It was very hard (and sometimes dangerous!) work, but I enjoyed it a lot. By the end of the summer, my duties had expanded to include manning the truck scales and pressure washing the excavators.

I drive a 1991 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. It was a graduation present from my grandpa. It's kind of funny to see me drive around in an old man's car, but it's actually a really comfortable vehicle.

In high school, I ran cross country and played soccer. In college, I discovered ultimate frisbee, flag football, and racquetball. WSU has an extensive intramural sports program, and I took full advantage of it.

During the summer of 2006, I participated in an internship in the African country of Rwanda. It was a WSU program that sent three students to establish an Internet cafe in a rural part of the country. Coffee farmers in the area needed a way to communicate with the European and American buyers, and this was the perfect way for them to do it. My team and I were responsible for setting up the hardware, educating the locals about how computers, writing a business plan, interviewing and hiring employees, and launching the cafe.

After going to Rwanda, I helped write an academic case study about our experiences. It was accepted as part of a conference in India, so the team traveled there to present our findings. I really like exploring different parts of the world, so this was a huge treat for me. The best part of that trip was visiting the Taj Mahal, one of the most majestic buildings on the face of the earth.

I'm not the biggest television fan, but I do enjoy watching The Office and How I Met Your Mother. Those shows are really funny.

One of my favorite restaurants is The Old European in Pullman. They have the best breakfast menu I've ever seen! If you get a chance to go there while you're in town, try out the Scandinavian Cake Plate or the Hungarian Goulash. Yum!