Dr. Tim Diller
Professor Emeritus

Tim and his wife, Lucy, in Alaska

Academic Credentials

PhD, UCLA, 1971
MA, UCLA, 1967
MDiv, Fuller Theological Seminary, 1965
BA, Taylor University, 1962

Specialty Area

Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, Knowledge Based Systems, Programming, Computer Vision, Basic Systems, Machine Learning, Modeling and Simulation, Problem Solving Methodologies

Research Interests

Econometric modeling and Artificial Intelligence (vision, speech, fuzzy logic, neural nets, and genetic algorithms).

Professional Activities

Dr. Diller initiated the Artificial Intelligence track and secured its NSF funding.

Questionnaire

Most famous person you have ever met?

I had tea with Madam Chiang Kai-shek in Taipei, Taiwan.

Favorite part about your job?

Grading papers - NOT! Ubiquitous access to the internet is required!

First computer you had or used?

On the job - IBM 360 mainframe; at home - Apple IIe

First program you wrote? In what language?

First "real" program was a parser for English text in LISP; Toy programs while learning programming were in COBOL!

What is your preferred programming language?

I dabble a lot. Newest language of use is Perl.

If you were a bit, would you be a 1 or a 0?

Definitely a 1. I prefer to be "on".

How does your relationship with God affect the way you use computers?

I view God as a gracious provider of an infinitely complex creation and I view a computer as a useful tool that can provide insights into that creation - hence data mining, modeling and simulation, neural networks and other AI techniques are all fascinating to me.

Favorite quote?

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten all he learned in school." Albert Einstein

Are you a cat or a dog person?

Both are OK, so long as they stay out doors and don't consider me something to jump up on or rub against.

Who do you admire in the industry?

Donald Knuth for his contributions to computer science and his unabashed, thoughtful, attractive expression of his Christian faith.

Favorite type of cheese?

In my mouth:

• soft = Brie
• semi-hard = Baby Swiss
• hard = Gouda
• extra-hard = Parmesan

Favorite place to visit?

Any place my grandchildren are.

Favorite author?

Currently Gilbert Morris.

Favorite smell?

Fresh baked bread.

Puns: good or bad?

"Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?" or "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."