Daniel Graf, doctoral student
Switzerland
If you could do your PhD at any university in the world, would you still choose ETH above other institutions? Why or why not?
Yes, I think so. During my Bachelor and Master degrees that I also did here at ETH, I very much enjoyed both the breadth and depth of its Computer Science Department. The many lectures especially in theoretical computer science that I attended over the last five years always deepened my interest and fostered my curiosity. The course on "algorithms, probability and computing" at the end of the Bachelor's curriculum gives a great overview of what is offered on the Master's level. These courses then cover topics like "algorithmic game theory", "randomized algorithms", "satisfiability of boolean formulas" or "complexity theory" in great detail. The lecturers invest a lot of time to present the matter in an appealing and understandable way. In these courses there are often only a dozen students and so the classes were quite interactive and there was always enough time for questions. Many theory courses have graded homework consisting of very challenging tasks. I often had to think about them for a day or two before I got to an answer. Working with my colleagues to crack these puzzles was a lot of fun and helped me to understand the core ideas behind all the theorems and lemmas in these courses. Producing a nice write-up of the solutions and presenting them to the teaching assistants was also a great preparation for the Master's thesis.
Further, I have wide interests and so it is great that students have the chance to pick from ETH's entire course catalogue. I mostly took courses in computer science and was easily able to find twice as many courses that looked interesting than I was actually able to take. Some are more applied and project-based, like the courses in computer graphics and machine learning, while others, like the algorithms and theory courses, are more formal and require mostly pen-and-paper work. I also took a few courses from the Department of Mathematics and a few lessons in Russian. Hence, I am very happy to stay here for another while in this environment that I enjoy so much.
How would you describe your life as a PhD student up to now? What do you like most about it? What has been particularly memorable?
So far, it has been pretty much what I had expected: a nice mix of thinking about research problems, discussions with colleagues, preparing and teaching classes and attending talks and lectures. I enjoy the flexibility and diversity of my daily schedule. At the beginning of a typical week, there are only a few fixed time slots in my agenda, marking group meetings, lectures and teaching obligations.On most of the days, I can decide freely how I want to spend my day. Between reading, writing and thinking there is always time to attend talks or for spontaneous discussions. It can get hectic before exams or deadlines of course, but overall I am very happy with my schedule.
World-renowned experts in the field frequently visit the department, thus generating an atmosphere of continuous learning and critical thinking. Most memorable so far has been the teaching. I was given the chance to teach some full 90-minute lectures in front of roughly 100 students. I had been teaching exercise classes already before, but now I had to select and prepare the exercises and the course material myself. This was a very instructive experience and I probably learned just as much doing it as the students themselves. When preparing for an exercise class or an informatics olympiad lecture, I always try to do the following: I take a blank sheet of paper and outline everything that I want to say and write on the blackboard. I think it is crucial to see and work through interesting examples in order to understand an algorithmic idea. Therefore I always try to find good examples for the current topic that also cover the corner cases and give you a feeling of what "is going on".
If you were given the opportunity to change one thing at ETH, what would it be?
I think in terms of academic and logistic infrastructure there is nothing more I could wish for. But sometimes I think that the area here at ETH Zentrum is a bit cool and formal. Around the buildings there are mostly high-traffic streets and no places where you would want to just sit down and stay for a while. I would love if there were a park with a fountain and a nice view of the mountains. Even though I know that this is hardly possible here in the city center, I sometimes envy the Irchelpark or Hönggerberg a little bit.
Based on your role as president of the Swiss Olympiad in Informatics and the different countries and universities you have experienced through your journeys, what would your ideal university for PhD studies look like?
I love the atmosphere at these olympiads where young students from all over the world meet and are united in their common interest in solving challenging puzzles and thinking about hard problems including their implementation and applications. Despite the various cultural backgrounds, you can walk up to everyone and immediately start discussing their latest projects, their ideas for the future and so on. So my ideal university for PhD studies would have the same international, open and interactive spirit - and I think ETH is pretty close to it.
Assuming after the successful completion of your PhD, you decide to remain in Switzerland. What are your personal and professional aspirations in this country?
I can imagine leaving Switzerland for a while, for instance to do a Postdoc or to collect some more experience in industry. But I enjoy living in Switzerland immensely and so I think I would return eventually. As the academic and industrial options are good both here and abroad, my aspirations are pretty country-independent: I want to continue doing what I am most interested in and do that well. I am glad that the field of computer science allows such flexible and open goals.