tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83036707660073822412012-01-01T15:52:55.503-08:00maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.comBlogger981100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-30114849824321873922011-02-01T12:05:00.000-08:002011-02-01T12:06:31.878-08:00

As an undergrad, I looked up to so many graduate students in the Computation and Neural Systems department and wanted to be just like them. They taught me a ton about the brain and math and how to do research. Every now and again I look on Google to see what my heros are up to...today I was curious about Sam and unfortunately Google brings me sad news. I remember his enthusiasm, his feedback

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-19675072096887958932010-11-02T01:07:00.000-07:002010-11-02T01:09:09.515-07:00

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The following post is based on some reminiscences I shared during a memorial event held at the University of Toronto on January 22, 2010, and is recreated from my speaking notes. It’s been too easy to be “unable” to summon the energy/courage/right frame of mind to put these remarks in the form of a post, leading to many months of delay. - ceb I’d like to say a few

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-80596108342000736332010-07-27T04:44:00.000-07:002010-07-27T04:57:06.146-07:00

Dear Roweis family, friends, and colleagues,The breadth and spread of Sam Roweis' scientific legacy are just at their beginning. There are many people like myself out there who have just started to know him through his immense scientific work. As a newcomer to the field of dimensionality reduction, I eagerly read Sam’s paper on sensible PCA a couple of years ago and listed him, Zoubin Ghahramani,

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-57714832296758947992010-04-15T11:52:00.000-07:002010-04-15T11:56:41.793-07:00

The last two times I saw Sam were, I believe, very important moments in his life. Sam and Meredith came to our house in May, 2008. Sam had told me nothing beforehand by email, so I was very pleasantly surprised to see the characteristic shape of Meredith's tummy which could only mean one thing! “We're pregnant” as Sam liked to say, “with identical twin girls” added Meredith. From those

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-62142695268206089742010-04-10T16:39:00.000-07:002010-04-10T16:44:40.072-07:00

Sam went on to do many great things, in research, engineering, California, London, Toronto, New York, Google. But for me, Sam was my old schoolmate from university. Sam was one of the University of Toronto Engineering Science class of 9T4. Sam was also a member of the New College residence, where I met him. Sam was in engineering science, and I was in computer engineering, so we didn't share

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-60647636323634871402010-04-06T06:04:00.000-07:002010-04-06T06:20:15.338-07:00

To the family of Sam Roweis, you have my sincerest condolences. Please be gentle with yourselves as you heal this loss and grieve and mourn the fact that we are all bereft of a wonderful person.I was a fellow Shad-ite in exactly the same program as Sam (Waterloo 1989). I was shocked and saddened to learn of his unexpected passing through the Shad Valley website.I have wonderful memories of Sam

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-75192271073849679972010-02-07T23:09:00.000-08:002010-03-24T13:31:18.825-07:00

I am an avid listener of Professor Roweis' lectures posted on videolectures.net. It is such a good experience listening to him and watching his effortless style to explain stuff in such an interesting manner. It was one such lecture that I was watching about half an hour back that prompted me to write to him and congratulate him on his wonderful lecture. When I googled "Sam Toronto" as he had so

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-49599294739481652262010-02-05T11:39:00.000-08:002010-02-05T14:01:30.398-08:00

This obituary was written for the NYU webpages. The version that appeared there was modified.Sam Roweis (1972-2010)Scientist and EngineerThe Department of Computer Science, the Courant Institute, and New York University mourn the untimely death of Professor Sam T. Roweis, who took his own life on January 12, 2010. Sam was a brilliant scientist and engineer whose work deeply influenced the fields

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-56774505124200543432010-02-05T11:33:00.000-08:002010-02-05T11:34:05.354-08:00

Like so many others, I was deeply saddened to hear of Sam’s passing. I had known Meredith a little before she and Sam moved to San Francisco, and was lucky to become friends with them while they were in the Bay Area. Spending time with the two of them was always uplifting. I knew Sam as a delightful, warm, caring, and energetic friend. He was the kind of person who asked questions and listened

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-20211227606091595152010-02-03T06:58:00.001-08:002010-02-03T07:00:00.857-08:00

I only shared time with Sam on a few occasions but they generated wonderful memories. The first was during his job search---boy did I want to hire him at MIT! I was so impressed by his work and the tremendous clarity with which he presented it to people outside his area. We had occasional conversations later, but my singular memory is of day during his time at MIT, when we spent a few hours

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-31692691941206970252010-02-01T23:35:00.000-08:002010-02-01T23:36:22.518-08:00

I met Sam a few times around the turn of the millennium. I particularly remember attending one of his lectures at UCL on HMMs and their generalisations; despite having worked with them myself for 15 years or more by then. I expected to learn nothing and attended just to say “hi”. How wrong I was! His enthusiasm for teaching and his joy of knowledge shone through the whole lecture and reminded me

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-50550045587263816502010-01-31T11:37:00.000-08:002010-01-31T11:39:20.781-08:00

I am writing this shortly after the commemoration event for Sam held at the Gatsby on Jan 25th. It was very good to get together to remember him, and to hear stories of his personal as well as intellectual qualities.I remember Sam for his boundless energy, infectious enthusiasm, and generosity. One of my favourite memories of him is of several discussion sessions at the whiteboards in the tearoom

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-82002854319670107832010-01-31T05:42:00.000-08:002010-01-31T05:43:39.685-08:00

I've known Sam since he visited Bell Labs in the late 90's while doing his PhD. From these early interactions I had already been impressed by his intelligence, his warmth, and his outstanding ability to generously communicate and clarify ideas for others. Unsurprisingly, he quickly became a rising star in our field. He was one of the persons that made my trip to a meeting or conference

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-54999472396664647132010-01-25T16:18:00.001-08:002010-01-25T16:23:09.435-08:00

I went to the memorial for Sam on Friday (Jan. 22nd) here at the University of Toronto. It was a very emotional and intense event, attended by ~200 people, mostly his friends and colleagues from the university, and his high school here in Toronto. In addition to Sam's father, and two long-time friends from his high-school days, some of Sam's closest friends in the computer science department

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-25717283064156204882010-01-23T19:06:00.000-08:002010-01-23T19:13:15.819-08:00

Sam was my cousin on my mother’s side. We were seven cousins: six boys and myself; Sam was the youngest by roughly 15 to 20 years. The age difference meant we did not grow up with Sam. A further limit to our contact with him was the fact that we were living in different parts of the globe when Sam was born and during the early years of his childhood. Several of those who have contributed to

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-1863939815470272602010-01-21T09:02:00.000-08:002010-01-21T09:14:15.745-08:00

Dear Meredith, Aya, Orli, Shoukry, family, friends, and colleagues. Sam was a stupendous researcher and a remarkable scientist. I would like to focus on Sam the mensch, Sam the man, the spouse, the father, the son, the friend of many people, young and old, the lighthouse to an incredible number of colleagues.Meredith, Sam loved you with his entire huge heart, often calling you Mer with a sparkle

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-7552202440468246692010-01-21T01:59:00.000-08:002010-01-21T02:00:14.410-08:00

I've tried to write this several times now, but the words somehow never seem right nor do they quite live up to the memory of Sam. He was awesomely warm, generous, kind, funny, brilliant; he had a really rare and amazing energy about him. Interactions with Sam so often left me feeling inspired -- to do more and become better -- both as a scientist and on a personal level. I feel very fortunate

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-72773305769883719312010-01-20T09:50:00.000-08:002010-01-20T10:20:54.912-08:00

I have been trying to remember the first time I met Sam, and I think it must be when he and Aaron came roller skating past my front door just after they’d arrived at Caltech. They were on a mission either/both to map the topology of the graduate student apartment pathways and to make friends. Or maybe it was to find out where all the single women lived, they were pretty cagey about their

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-83142143029741899952010-01-20T04:07:00.001-08:002010-01-20T04:08:36.850-08:00

I am very saddened by Sam's death.I interacted with Sam a lot while he was a graduate student at CalTech and I was an Assistant Professor at UCLA. He was an 'honorary' member of my group, attending group meetings and classes, and was always in his lively, happy, and energetic mood. Everyone looked forward to his visits and provocative questions! He was an incredibly bright and kind person, and

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-2957381320156539562010-01-19T21:13:00.001-08:002010-01-19T23:52:37.259-08:00

Damn it, Sam - I still can't get used to the idea that I'm never going to run into you again, at the top of the stairs in B43. With that glint in your eyes and the smile that tells everyone that the universe has let you in on a beautiful cosmic joke, and you've just gotten the punchline.All of us - we know that smile, and the enthusiasm with which you shared that joy. Damn. I keep looking down

Aaron Batistahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395136777781652206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-89799468586454677922010-01-19T16:37:00.000-08:002010-01-19T16:38:18.047-08:00

I hardly know where to start. Sam was a wonderful colleague and a dear friend. I had the privilege to work closely with him over a period of several years. I am terrible with details: I cannot remember exactly where or when we met, or even how we started collaborating. We were never in the same department and rarely in the same time zone. Indeed, at the peak of our collaboration, we were

m2noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-78620002592053695242010-01-19T13:59:00.000-08:002010-01-19T14:00:32.841-08:00

I met Sam in Toronto, and later knew him in London. A few memories: Sam explaining an algorithm using sandwiched, rotating overhead slides; Friendly teasing about my Canadian accent after a talk ("I'll tell you all a-boot it"); his incredible enthusiasm for everything that he did, professional and personal; telling a funny-yet-harrowing story about almost having his bike stolen while stopping to

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-21212155159184802692010-01-19T09:00:00.000-08:002010-01-19T09:01:45.822-08:00

I worked as the Financial Officer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto in 2001 when Sam Roweis joined the department. In that capacity, I would communicate with new faculty on a financial level (payroll, research grants etc.). I contacted Sam while he was still in London preparing for his move to Toronto. On the first few email exchange, my salutations to Sam was "

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-16388523012994162862010-01-19T02:00:00.000-08:002010-01-19T02:03:44.977-08:00

I knew Sam for many years as a central figure at NIPS, and had only just begun to know him as a collaborator and friend when he moved to NYU. Sam was a gem - as a thinker, as a colleague, and as a teacher. His first talk here, last September, was presented in a room overflowing with multi-disciplinary colleagues from departments throughout the university. Many of us sat on the floor, or stood

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-8327922756165377572010-01-18T20:57:00.001-08:002010-01-18T20:57:20.755-08:00

I never really considered Sam a peer – more of a hero, to be honest. I suppose, in general, that that kind of undisguised admiration could get in the way of a friendship, but Sam treated it, like more or less everything else, with grace and tact.I first met Sam in '99; I was a new Ph.D. student in Pittsburgh but spending my summers at the recently launched Gatsby unit. Sam, as has been said here

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-68404332755770506062010-01-18T20:12:00.000-08:002010-01-18T20:13:08.535-08:00

Sam and I were in the same high school class at the University of Toronto Schools. Words simply can not express the immense respect that I have for Sam, who remains to this day the single most brilliant and caring person I have ever had the good fortune to meet. Perhaps my esteem for him can best be expressed by the fact that even though we hadn't seen each other in nearly 20 years, his tragic

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-35089848749920663342010-01-18T19:52:00.000-08:002010-01-18T19:53:41.724-08:00

There's no way to really digest this news about Sam and hard to believe he is not alive. This was a guy whowas so alive to you every time you met him. He had me off in whirl of ideas within seconds of meeting him 13 yearsago, and even the last thing I ever heard him say: "I feel like an email input-output node" seemed to capture something else perfectly. I'll miss that guy.

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-71952521205286699302010-01-18T19:47:00.000-08:002010-01-18T19:49:46.347-08:00

The day Sam joined our department at the University of Toronto back in 2001 was a very special one for me, and during this tragedy I'm only now beginning to understand how special that day really was. I clearly recall how excited we were after his interview talk, and at the prospect of his joining us. When he arrived, his impact was immediate. Just being in the same room with him seemed to

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-47893017449841215592010-01-18T12:18:00.000-08:002010-01-18T12:20:42.411-08:00

I've tried several times to sit down and write a few words about Sam but each time my head starts spinning and I've stopped.Some recent memories of Sam include him and Meredith on the terrace of my house in Berkeley---it was a party for my research group but somehow it felt natural to invite Sam as well---and a long run on beach in San Diego---we ran for what seemed like forever to me and then I

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-23652489472402661052010-01-18T11:08:00.001-08:002010-01-18T11:10:31.531-08:00

Even though I only knew Sam through conference interactions, and then through his stay at MIT, I always felt he was a special friend. I loved to talk with him; he was always upbeat. He would cheer me up, if I wasn't, and get me excited about some new thing that he was excited about. We collaborated on one paper, the result of one such conversation.His lectures were delightful; he was informal,

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-66290463405675494082010-01-18T09:45:00.000-08:002010-01-18T09:46:48.169-08:00

I have just returned from the incredibly moving memorial for Sam Roweis that was held this afternoon [17 January] in New York. Everyone who spoke, including Sam's wife and his father, was amazingly warm, coherent, thoughtful and sincere and there could not have been many dry eyes in the room. We in the CS department at NYU are devastated by this shocking loss, and our hearts go out to his family

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-76664759924657169222010-01-18T06:59:00.000-08:002010-01-18T11:49:54.661-08:00

I attended University of Toronto Schools with Sam for six years, from ages twelve through eighteen. Sam was a superstar, known and liked by all, and everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. It seemed effortless, although I'm sure quite a bit of effort went into it. In a nutshell, to me he was like one of the Muppets. He wore these long sleeved, striped polo-neck jerseys, that nobody should

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-69095292467175934722010-01-18T06:10:00.000-08:002010-01-18T06:11:06.457-08:00

My memories of Sam all cluster around a sound, "HA ha ha!": that shouted burst of laughter he let out when he saw the humour in something in this world, as he so often did. I can't believe that this sound has been silenced. We'll miss you, Sam.

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-44871684501770466172010-01-18T03:41:00.000-08:002010-01-18T03:42:17.540-08:00

I came back from the memorial service for Sam at NYU moved and touched by the memories of so many of his closest friends and family. Everything was an adventure for Sam, one to be shared with his ever growing band of brothers and sisters. Whether it was machine learning research, rock climbing, snowboarding, or partying, he was always ready to try a new trick and to give a hand to a novice like

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-43386517839112618292010-01-18T02:25:00.001-08:002010-01-18T02:25:57.084-08:00

In 2008 there took place a six-months research programme at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge, organised by David Banks, Peter Bickel, Iain Johnstone and myself. One of our main objectives was to stimulate interaction between people who would call themselves statisticians and people would be more used to referring to their activity as machine learning. Sam Roweis

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-89781281889231677562010-01-18T02:22:00.000-08:002010-01-18T02:23:34.847-08:00

My first memory of Sam is from a workshop in Toronto. He came up to me after my talk, which I wasn't sure was successful as I saw eyes glazing over 15 minutes in, and said, emphatically and excitedly, it. Kicked. A**! This from a complete stranger immediately brightened things up. His own talk, and his other ones I attended since, were for me masterful tutorials in the art of presentation, both

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-81564561247187994802010-01-17T16:42:00.000-08:002010-01-17T16:45:12.057-08:00

Sam was just larger than life in every respect, and a hero to so many of us. In addition to his brilliant scientific achievements,what really strikes me most about him is his thoughtfulness, generosity and abundance of life. Sam inspires my faith in humanity when the world sometimes seems like a crazy place.I first got to know Sam when we were both at Gatsby around 1999-2001. Afterwards Sam,

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-62190534501921741432010-01-17T10:32:00.000-08:002010-01-17T10:35:48.097-08:00

In addition to his academic brilliance, I will remember Sam for his genuine human warmth and his contagious energy.Apart the usual NIPS parties, I remember this time with Sam when he was sitting in the back of our practical machine learning class taught at UC Berkeley in early 2008. Not surprisingly, he could easily blend with the other graduate students -- he was so accessible. We chatted a bit

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-25587236558560467882010-01-17T07:48:00.001-08:002010-01-17T07:48:48.152-08:00

Sam embodied some of the best traits of the research field of machine learning. He was open, inclusive, and had a wonderful energy, enthusiasm and excitement for ideas and research developments. He was articulate and clear, with a gift for inspiring people about ideas that he thought were cool -- not just his own.When he visited CMU a while back, Sam suggested having a joint CMU/Toronto machine

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-11704802051929236472010-01-17T04:11:00.000-08:002010-01-17T04:13:39.556-08:00

I think I am one of perhaps hundreds of people who has not spent a great deal of time with Sam, yet considered him a friend, because of his warmth, humor, and infectious enthusiasm. I vividly remember the time he came up to me after a talk I'd given at UAI in Acapulco in 2003. I was flattered that he'd enjoyed the talk despite it being on topics distant from his own, and then impressed by the

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-76002666332165431842010-01-17T04:09:00.000-08:002010-01-17T04:10:16.593-08:00

I met Sam in the 1990's at NIPS. I was relatively new to the community, and a little overwhelmed by its size and scope. The gregarious and well-connected Sam took me under his wing and made a point to invite me to lunch with a group. Although he was younger than me, I often thought of Sam as a mentor---so many of us wanted to be more like him: he was brilliant, creative, warm, funny and the

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-45639289872812910742010-01-17T04:03:00.001-08:002010-01-17T07:25:25.699-08:00

I first knew Sam when he was a student at Caltech. He already had all the ingredients that make him loved and admired by so many people today. Brilliance and ambition are not rare in our circles, but with Sam they came with genuine kindness and an unfailing positive attitude. I am so sad that the life trials he faced were severe, and that I could not detect the pain he was in and maybe show him

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-16830256070800277332010-01-17T01:54:00.000-08:002010-01-17T02:55:17.429-08:00

One of many joyful memories of Sam is the tradition he invented of giving presentations in the style of a cinema. He would precede "The Feature Presentation" (which was, say, 45 minutes long) by a 5-minute "Short" on a different topic, for example some neat algorithm he had picked up recently and wanted to pass on. Sam also initiated a tradition of entertaining the community, usually at

David MacKay FRShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08023079754784119955noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-17345832279913153742010-01-16T23:15:00.000-08:002010-01-16T23:51:21.783-08:00

Like for so many of the people posting here, Sam was an inspiration to me. Someone who knew what it meant to be a good person - in heart and in mind - and had the will to do it. I miss him so much.I met Sam in graduate school, when we were both in John Hopfield's group. It was an amazing time. We were all young, learning what it was to be a scientist. Sam delighted in the process, and

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-22522008696433521512010-01-16T21:17:00.000-08:002010-01-17T07:16:21.891-08:00

How do we measure a lifetime? And its loss? Sam was a refreshing change to the doldrums of my last year of Princeton. We met, I recall, in the lounge of Guyot/Moffett, one afternoon after one of his clearly infamous catnaps, when I introduced myself to this new guy hanging around. From what I gather from other people's writings, that might have been the one time someone preempted him on an

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-72779910029921513942010-01-16T21:11:00.000-08:002010-01-16T21:12:44.442-08:00

When Sam started at Google in early 2007, I was assigned to be his mentor. It didn't take long to figure out who the real mentor was! I remember telling people that Sam right away understood anything I explained to him better than I did myself. One evening after work, Sam and I were talking about some technical topic while I waited for my bus home. I don't remember the details now, but at the

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-91481411828648379532010-01-16T14:15:00.000-08:002010-01-16T14:16:06.114-08:00

In these last few days, my most vivid memory of Sam was a bike ride we took in Pittsburgh on a humid night in 2001. We stopped and sat on a bridge---Pittsburgh has many---watching the crowds and lights of a baseball game at the stadium across the river. It was a simple and insulated moment, the kind that Sam appreciated and showed his friends how to appreciate.The writings here are testament to

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-25406286550006158272010-01-16T13:13:00.000-08:002010-01-16T13:14:13.971-08:00

I still remember the first day I met Sam. It was in the August of 1990 and I had attended an Engineering Science “get together” and information session with my best friend for all new frosh that were going to be starting their undergrad in September. Sam was also one of those Frosh. His winning smile, easy-going nature and infectious personality were a quick hit with us and, after the meeting,

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-38511289662229091042010-01-16T13:10:00.001-08:002010-01-16T13:10:56.882-08:00

You know the way they say that postdocs are the lifeblood of a research group: they have the skills, but they also have the time that professors don't have, and you'll learn so much from them. That was the case when I met Sam, he a prized postdoc at the start of Gatsby and me and Sham the first students there, eager to learn. I'll never forget the way at tea-talks Sam used to sit close in and

m2noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-20789700509436222432010-01-16T10:58:00.000-08:002010-01-16T10:59:01.332-08:00

Sam was one of the most creative researchers in machine learning. He was an exceptional lecturer. He was dedicated body-and-soul to deeper understanding and to teaching other people. He had a warm, generous and engaging personality. During his Caltech years he organized an applied mathematics boot camp for incoming CNS students. If there are angels, Sam is one of them.

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-84844773477379234332010-01-16T10:47:00.001-08:002010-01-16T10:47:17.260-08:00

How do I remember Sam Roweis? I remember the way he joined my group, quietly, self-effacingly. He found that the other student members of the group were people whom he particularly enjoyed interacting with He didn’t push himself forward, but was simply around. One day my secretary, Laura Rodriguez, said to me ‘I think that Sam would like to be part of the group. Isn’t there a desk in the corner

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-46869351164105600062010-01-16T08:54:00.000-08:002010-01-16T08:55:14.286-08:00

I first met Sam at the University of Toronto when he was visiting from Caltech. I was just starting out in my PhD while he was already far along on his own. He had come specifically to see Zoubin and flesh out an idea for a paper on linear Gaussian models. They worked tirelessly for the time that he was there. It seemed gruelling to me, but Sam was really excited about the way that Zoubin, in

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-45336474136911091502010-01-16T03:26:00.000-08:002010-01-16T03:41:50.427-08:00

I wrote this [in a] letter of reference for Sam in 1995:"I have known Mr Roweis since January 1993; he attended my third-year course on Signals and Systems."Although my contact with him has been via just one course, in fact I believe I know him quite well. The reason for this is that his class participation was so extraordinary: He attended every lecture, answered at least half the questions I

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-70562725639636541642010-01-16T03:07:00.000-08:002010-01-16T03:09:08.140-08:00

The loss of Sam continues to be unreal and I am still hoping to wake up from a bad dream. To so many of us, Sam was a role model both as a scientist and as a human being. In our scientific field, he was a rising star. What set him aside from so many others was his ability to engage, be thoughtful, and think out of the box when facing challenging problems. As a person, he was nothing short of

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-10723456174795675242010-01-16T00:40:00.000-08:002010-01-16T00:41:08.307-08:00

I first encountered Sam at a Statistical meeting a few years back, when I attended a talk that he was giving. He really bowled me over. I was just amazed by his energy and the clarity of his presentation. I came away thinking: now that's how you give a seminar! He really inspired me to try to improve my own presentations. Last year I visited him at Google and he was generous and brimming full

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-40726203957412056962010-01-15T23:43:00.000-08:002010-01-15T23:44:33.145-08:00

I was fortunate enough to meet Sam during my senior year of college, at which time he was a first year grad student. I remember being scared at the prospect of going to grad school, feeling so overwhelmed at the deep and difficult subject matter I would need to absorb in the coming years. In the midst of this Sam and I became friends and instantly I felt comfortable sharing my fears with him,

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-12865107378280384062010-01-15T22:54:00.000-08:002010-01-15T22:56:30.678-08:00

Sam was a close friend, a mentor, and an inspiration. I owe many good things in my life to Sam's timely, and often selfless, advice.I first met Sam on my graduate school interview at Caltech in 1996 though I already knew of him because Geoff Hinton had told me to look him up. Sam had done his undergraduate thesis with Geoff and, as you might expect, greatly impressed him. Though, as we later

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-57994402165590693482010-01-15T19:47:00.001-08:002010-01-15T19:47:49.445-08:00

I remember Sam on a long-ago hike, before we were all parents and professors, cavorting down the hillside with a band friends in his wake; posing as king at the crest of the fell; carefree and lolling on the Manor lawn on a golden English afternoon. I remember Sam as funny, sweet, charming and brilliant. I will remember Sam well, with laughter through tears, and hope that that will be enough.

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-4989134314238311072010-01-15T19:44:00.000-08:002010-01-15T19:45:15.734-08:00

Towards the end of my time in Princeton when I chose to postdoc in London a friend mentioned that I should meet Sam, who was finishing up his PhD with the new guy from CalTech (unlike the rest of the people who have posted here I had no clue who John Hopfield was and now only know he was lucky enough to have trained Sam), as Sam was headed to London too. It was a totally unremarkable conversation

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-68792008774770129072010-01-15T15:50:00.000-08:002010-01-19T05:44:44.889-08:00

I was a graduate student in John Hopfield's group at Caltech when an enthusiastic new student started hanging out in the group. He always carried an enormous blue backpack that seemed to hang down almost to the back of his knees. I never figured out why he needed that huge thing, for the important things that Sam really carried with him were enormous, vibrant enthusiasm, a wickedly charming smile

Carlos Brodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17828587129050749110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-40799752027794820402010-01-15T14:22:00.000-08:002010-01-15T22:46:42.853-08:00

I went to high school with Sam for six years at our tiny school in Toronto, where everybody knew everybody else like family. And because my last name is "Rubel," I was always right beside Sam anytime anything alphabetical happened. This was very good fortune for me; Sam was arguably the smartest guy at a school that purported to be packed with geniuses, and his locker being beside mine enabled

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-14259976731433778702010-01-15T13:43:00.000-08:002010-01-15T13:47:27.998-08:00

I met Sam for the first time when he was visiting Gatsby in 2005. I remember the first email he sent me at the time was a link to some streaming radio station of progressive trance techno music that he was listening to while coding for his NIPS paper. I had never done any machine learning before, but he is the one who made it sound like so much fun that I ended up getting all excited and landing

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-50950609972672714772010-01-15T13:23:00.001-08:002010-01-15T13:23:51.378-08:00

I have known Sam since his Caltech days. He was brilliant, enthusiastic, and engaging.He visited UCI not so long ago, it seems like yesterday, and gave a beautiful talk on how to make the sky searchable.We had dinner afterwards, discussing stars, Second Life, and so many other topics.He charmed my children with his warmth and sense of humor. He will be missed and remembered.

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-52141174338870112642010-01-15T12:45:00.000-08:002010-01-15T12:46:30.387-08:00

Although Sam and I did not quite overlap at Gatsby it has always felt to me like we did. This is because Sam was such a central part of the extended Gatsby-Toronto research family, and because of the way he selflessly gave so much of himself, his time and his ideas to everyone he met.Without fail, whenever I met Sam he would be incredibly excited to tell me and others about a new computational

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-80252515530206647782010-01-15T11:27:00.000-08:002010-01-15T11:28:30.913-08:00

Dear Sam,I find myself rechecking whether it is not all a dream after all. Your passing comes as an incredible shock. I will miss you: your person, your talks and your papers.On 9/23/09 we had a brief email exchange where I asked about your current situation. Among other things you wrote back:"Hopefully in a few years things will be more stable and we can try to put our lives back together. But I

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-82194036394991963692010-01-15T11:15:00.000-08:002010-01-15T11:17:52.484-08:00

I met Sam when he arrived at Gatsby in early 1999. I remember him bounding around the unit at all hours, eager to talk about his latest ideas, and to hear what everyone else was working on. In those days I was the lone experimentalist in the unit, and I always appreciated his willingness to run in experiments or check out my latest demos. At the time we were doing very different things, but he

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-72317669110240905822010-01-15T10:30:00.000-08:002010-01-15T13:24:15.960-08:00

Sam was a brilliant and intense. He lived his life for others. When we would go to dinner parties, he would bring the host a paperback off his shelf, or we would stop in at the local used bookstore on the way, instead of a bottle of wine. He would inscribe the books with a personal note. Here is what he wrote in the copy of Enders Game he gave me:“Aaron - This book is emblematic of the kind of

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-5874592580571147032010-01-15T10:27:00.000-08:002010-01-15T10:28:01.451-08:00

I met Sam in the late 90's and was amazed by his enthusiasm, his intuitions, and his intellect. Sam had a unique ability to ask the right question or find the right metaphor. He could make a complicated topic feel like child's play by giving you the right frame of mind to approach it.Sam's generosity and friendship will be missed. I remember how helpful he was when I was finishing my PhD and

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-13360544148019530012010-01-15T10:22:00.000-08:002010-01-15T10:26:51.614-08:00

Sam and I were close friends in high school and kept in touch through undergrad. Sadly, less so since. From afar, I was pleased and proud that he seemed to be doing so well personally and professionally. I was lucky enough to have Sam write me some letters, which I’ve kept. I can’t reproduce the diagrams or asides, but I thought I’d share some highlights:One complete letter:Some real simple stuff

m2noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-34676414518633320822010-01-15T10:16:00.001-08:002010-01-15T10:16:28.321-08:00

My favorite memory of Sam is his entrance to our Halloween party, at our upstairs apartment in LA. Sam wore a long black cloak and walked on stilts he had fashioned out of tall tomato juice cans strapped to his feet. He made it across the parking lot and up the stairs, but as he stepped in the door and onto the thick carpet, he fell headlong into the crowd, sending drinks and grad students flying

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-21085092915266107342010-01-15T10:09:00.000-08:002010-01-15T10:11:06.239-08:00

Many have commented on his contagious enthusiasm, and that is not an overstatement. From the day I met Sam - when he first arrived at Caltech as a graduate student - what struck me was his instant affability. The photos you see posted around are nice, but they do not portray of the sparkle in his eyes, that betrayed his intellectual curiosity, his eagerness to communicate, understand and explain.

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-37310305180794501472010-01-15T10:03:00.000-08:002010-01-15T10:06:18.527-08:00

I posted some pictures of Sam with his wide, immutable, and contagious smile that I gathered over the years at Snowbird, NIPS and CIfAR workshops.This is the Sam Roweis I will always remember.As a close collaborator, colleague, and office neighbor of Sam's, I'm too devastated to write more than a few words right now.

m2noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-60209660796602846742010-01-15T06:57:00.001-08:002010-01-15T06:57:58.070-08:00

The last time I saw Sam was during his stay at the Newton Institute in Cambridge in the summer of 2008. It was one of those rare warm, still, green, beautiful English afternoons and I felt the urge to go jogging. Sam's office door was always open so I decided to see if I could winkle him out of it. It didn't take much to convince him. With his usual bouncy enthusiasm, he agreed to come along,

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-21246774843525435672010-01-15T06:40:00.003-08:002010-01-15T06:52:55.364-08:00

I have not interacted with Sam as much as others here, but he still managed to make a strong impression on me.The first time I talked to him was during the reception of ICML 2006 in Pittsburgh. As he met others during that event, he couldn't help but talk enthusiastically about some neat algebraic trick he had just learned. Right there I realized that taking pleasure in sharing was typical of him

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-35464039440734474812010-01-15T04:55:00.000-08:002010-01-15T04:56:32.895-08:00

Sam was a truly amazing person. He had an incredible social generosity, which meant that everyone around him felt like a member of a big family. He was extremely generous with his ideas, always pointing to the contributions of others. He had an infectious enthusiasm of amazing breadth.I first met Sam when I was a TA for the neural networks course in Toronto in 93/94, and later we we're both at

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-56744956671120352082010-01-15T01:01:00.000-08:002010-01-15T01:02:54.706-08:00

I'd like to reinforce two themes that have come up in the previous messages: Sam's generosity and his enthusiasm.I remember that sometime around 1998 I received email from researchers at CalTech who were interested in my results on loopy belief propagation. They were well outside my area and I was surprised they had even heard of what I was doing. I soon learned that Sam was responsible, and over

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-70345152726817858552010-01-15T00:07:00.000-08:002010-01-15T00:10:32.059-08:00

I knew Sam from our time together in grad school at Caltech, and then more briefly at Bell Labs. He was an exuberant character that you would never forget. Smart, insightful, real.In the intervening years, our paths diverged. But when he joined NYU, where I am now, I thought, What a stroke of luck. Who would have thought we would be colleagues? It was exciting.The NYU community is close-knit

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-962766827079404952010-01-14T23:15:00.000-08:002010-01-14T23:16:55.523-08:00

I first met Sam as a second year grad student at NIPS 2004, when by happenstance I got the chance to eat lunch with him. He was already a professor, and already famous at the time, and I remember him talking to me as an equal. He told me about the problems he thought were important in machine learning and even took a genuine interest in my ideas. Later, I was happy and lucky to have him as an

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-41825706763076239072010-01-14T22:57:00.000-08:002010-01-14T23:13:01.371-08:00

I first met Sam properly when he visited Gatsby in 2003. On the first day of his visit, I was due (with Ed Snelson) to present his LLE paper in our reading group. As a pretty new grad student desperate not to make a fool of myself, I prepared fervently. Of course it wasn't the stressful ordeal I had feared: Sam provided gentle guidance where necessary and stayed quiet when possible. He was also

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-70819267993517935522010-01-14T21:51:00.000-08:002010-01-21T12:13:54.794-08:00

Sam went to high school with me at University of Toronto Schools, a special small school where we were not just classmates, but family. In his teenage years, Sam was the kind of guy who was not necessarily every girl’s boyfriend but he was every girl’s good friend; we all thought he was our special friend. This is why I think we are all finding it so hard to believe he is gone.Sam was the guy

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-35314408841946380242010-01-14T19:33:00.001-08:002010-01-14T23:10:38.077-08:00

After reading so many eloquent essays about Sam, I feel my words will be at best inadequate, but I want to contribute my personal remembrances of him, my personal reflection on how my life, all of our lives, were made better by having been graced by Sam's presence.I first came upon Sam's work at Caltech in 1999, while doing a summer internship on spike sorting, and I was immensely impressed and

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-17429856147552637012010-01-14T19:21:00.000-08:002010-01-14T23:10:10.881-08:00

I first met Sam at ICML 2006. I was a graduate student at my first conference, intimidated by so many people whose names, but not faces, I recognized. I appreciated Sam taking time to offer his thoughts on my paper and taking me seriously when even I did not.A year later, I got to know Sam better during my internship at Google. I was surprised how generous Sam was with his time – I was learning

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-26267772784731611682010-01-14T19:18:00.000-08:002010-01-14T23:09:45.773-08:00

I was already enrolled in graduate school when Sam came to give his interview talk in Toronto. I was so completely impressed with him halfway through his talk that I decided then and there that if U of T would be so lucky as to get this guy, that I wanted him as my advisor. How lucky we were that he came to Toronto, and how honored I was that he took me on. Sam came naturally and easily to the

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-37392163742432457242010-01-14T19:08:00.001-08:002010-01-14T23:08:20.806-08:00

I met Sam when he was a graduate student, and worked for a summer at Whizbang Labs, where he impressed everyone, immediately - not only with his smarts and his creativity but with the enthusiasm he brought to everything. Subsequently I've followed his work, read his papers, heard his talks, talked to him at conferences, and worked with him on ICML 2008, where he did an outstanding job as

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-24973443228416519202010-01-14T19:05:00.001-08:002010-01-14T23:06:56.642-08:00

Sam's smiling face first was known to me when I met him at Caltech through my sister. I remember his energy, as if powered by the California sun, his hands moving as enthusiastically as his mouth when he talked.I remember Sam at Rusland Hall at my sister's wedding celebration, always friendly, always chatting, always finding something interesting in each conversation to explore. It was a joyous

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-13213607882015182462010-01-14T18:54:00.000-08:002010-01-14T23:05:58.642-08:00

For those of us in the Toronto climbing community, we are all collectively deeply saddened to lose someone who was so close to our hearts. With Sam, we shared the climbing gym with him a few nights a week, and for a tighter group of us - many climbing road trips.I cannot even begin to share with you how amazing it was as an experience to climb with Sam. Many people who know Sam, know him as one

Erik Winfreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02648033592777493814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-1617056763364615842010-01-14T15:51:00.001-08:002010-01-14T23:03:31.382-08:00

Sam was full of life, full of all of the best things about being alive. About the love of existence and the wonder and passion that comes with deep-seated curiosity about the world. He personified the idea that beauty is not destroyed but profoundly enhanced by understanding it. He had boundless energy and generosity.There are very, very few people who are like Sam. So exceedingly few that at

m2noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-739158347327563892010-01-14T15:07:00.001-08:002010-01-15T13:25:22.599-08:00

Sam was a very close friend and I miss him deeply and painfully. We worked closely for many years, we learned together, taught together and grew up academically together. He was a shining star and I wanted to claim to be a mentor but in truth I learned more from him than he did from me, and we were colleagues, almost brothers, curious to figure things out and share them with others. His joyful

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-45938424325463718642010-01-14T14:57:00.000-08:002010-01-14T14:58:26.926-08:00

Though I did not know Sam nearly as well as many others, I did have the pleasure and honor of talking with Sam numerous times and, through our many mutual friends, I've always felt quite close. Three recollections. To this day Sam's humorous, energetic, and brilliantly clear thesis defense presentation is one of the very best I've ever seen. Sam had a rare gift for being able to convey difficult

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-57342124881989746482010-01-14T14:41:00.000-08:002010-01-14T14:51:23.409-08:00

I first met Sam as an undergraduate at Caltech where he was TA for Hopfield’s class, and again when I visited Gatsby, when he invited me to visit Toronto, and at too many conferences to recount. His personality was a combination of enthusiastic and thoughtful, with a great ability to phrase a problem so it’s solution must be understood. With respect to my own work, Sam was the one who advised me

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-61951035483983702772010-01-14T14:25:00.000-08:002010-01-14T14:28:20.676-08:00

Sam was one of those people that made you feel proud to be doing machine learning, just because he was doing it too.Memories of Sam:Giving a talk at Gatsby when I was a PhD student ... so many questions from Sam and Zoubin (I think in those days I did almost think of them as brothers) that I was stuck on one slide for what felt like 15 minutes. Then flicking through the next 10 slides because

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-66319864319749271182010-01-14T13:51:00.000-08:002010-01-14T14:55:33.971-08:00

As I left the gym this morning, I learned that my friend and colleague Sam Roweis had died. I had a busy day of meetings ahead of me, which thankfully provided a pseudo-normalcy. In the gaps, we tried to console each other, we tried to think of useful things to do. I grieve deeply for him and the family he left behind.Sam was a wonderfully creative, perceptive, warm, funny scientist. I met Sam at

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-60277881294637079032010-01-14T13:40:00.000-08:002010-01-14T13:43:47.741-08:00

I will never forget the first lecture course I taught, back around 1995. The course was on pattern recognition. In the very first lecture, there was a very animated and enthusiastic student providing suggestions and comments throughout the lecture - it was almost as if there were two of us lecturing - I was glad for the helpful input. I wondered if the the student was perhaps a first-year

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-77266641761723221702010-01-14T13:04:00.000-08:002010-01-14T13:40:01.570-08:00

I met Sam as TA in John Hopfield’s AI/neuro course during my last undergrad year at Caltech. Due to Sam’s dedication to TAing, he was a big factor in me switching into machine learning, and, later, in me going the Gatsby unit. We overlapped in London for his postdoc where he was both a great colleague professionally and a close friend personally. His level of energy was fantastic — when we were

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-53008239879119879322010-01-14T12:23:00.000-08:002010-01-14T12:24:41.865-08:00

Of course all the things that I might want to say have already been said by people who knew Sam better. Still, I might as well say it again: Sam was a wonderful teacher, with a great ability to combine the practical, the theoretical, the serious, the funny, the ability to think around problems, and the ability to go straight through them. He was always a good person to have in the group meetings,

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-63914085178861368042010-01-14T12:19:00.000-08:002010-01-14T12:22:42.258-08:00

I wasn't as close to Sam as many others but I've known him for a very long time, and we had our moments:1. I remember being a grad student trying to convince him to come to MIT for his Phd, over dinner at a long-gone Chinese restaurant in Harvard Square. I had only just met him that morning, at MIT's interview day, but there I was, trying so hard to convince him to come and spend the next few

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-48916246995445097862010-01-14T06:02:00.000-08:002010-01-18T09:42:42.354-08:00

We first met Sam in graduate school at Caltech, where we were all in the Computation and Neural Systems PhD program. We remember: Sam bouncing across the grass of the Caltech campus with his characteristic springy step, full of energy and enthusiasm; Sam explaining difficult concepts to his classmates with incredibly simple, intuitive and amusing analogies; Sam as the life of the party at Sunday

Jennifer F Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792414954583010264noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303670766007382241.post-17874228771645965582010-01-14T01:55:00.001-08:002010-01-14T02:14:58.656-08:00

Sam Roweis died unexpectedly on January 12, 2010.He was a truly wonderful person; a beloved son, husband and father; and a treasured friend and colleague. This is a place for all of us who were lucky enough to know Sam to share our memories and to help celebrate his life.If you would like to add an article to this blog please contact samblog@linden-sahani.net. Or you may leave a comment to any

maneeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12551871125369783000noreply@blogger.com2