My Relationship with Schedules

Please look at the following, which can help you understand how I (and many other people like me) view scheduling:

• Paul Graham's Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule (I'm a maker)
• If you prefer it in quick, cartoon form, see Forrest Brazeal's Calendars (too many of my days can easily become “where did today go”; instead, I want them to be “deep work”)

Many of the inquiries I get can usually be handled by email; in fact, sometimes email is a much better way to handle them. Therefore, I recommend you contact me by email first, unless you believe email is going to be inappropriate or ineffective for what you want to discuss. See here.

Office Hours at Conferences

I'm not a fan of conferences. We say our conferences are meant to encourage discussion, but they're not really designed for it. People talk about the value of the “hallway track”, but little is designed to enable it. As a result, I have barely attended any conferences in over a dozen years. In the process, though, I feel like I'm not giving back to my community.

Therefore, I want to try something new. At PLDI 2026 and ECOOP 2026, I'm going to hold “Office Hours”.

People said that asking folks to sign up might be intimidating, so there won't be any signup. Rather, anyone can join: all you need to do is show up! I'm especially looking forward to talking to younger folks: students, postdocs, junior faculty. Tell me about your research, get feedback on an idea, get advice on applying, ask me about postdocs, whatever. It's your time!

In terms of mechanics: I have created a public calendar in which I will list my availability. I don't know the lay of the land yet. Instead, just before the slot begins, I'll find a public place, then update the calendar entry to indicate where I am. Check the calendar to find me, and come on over!

At PLDI, I will have slots on June 17 and 18: evening-only on the 17th, evening of the 18th, and probably also some during the day of the 18th (check on 17th night). They will be at the conference hotel (Limelight Boulder). Once I test it out at PLDI, I'll update this page for ECOOP.

Office Hours at Brown

I am on sabbatical during Spring 2026. I will next have regular office hours in Fall 2026.

In the meanwhile I am available by appointment only. Please be aware I am unlikely to agree to most appointments because I'd like to preserve my time to work on projects that take advantage of the sabbatical.

If you want to request an appointment:

Please pick times between 9am and 1pm. Depending on the day I may want to meet on Zoom, so if it's important that we meet in person, please indicate that in your message. Do always give multiple suggestions, since I may have constraints that are not visible in my calendar.

Please try to avoid asking for times in the evenings or weekends, unless absolutely necessary. Professors have families and other obligations.

Travel Schedule (Unavailable on These Days)

My Calendar

Note: due to the vagaries of Google Calendar, please:

• click on the Week view (should be the default), since the others seem to drop some entries!
• click on the actual entries to see how long they last (some are several hours long)