Every so often, we highlight the importance of student scholarships by introducing you to the very students they help to succeed. Today, we’re featuring Jonathon Brewster ‘15, computer science, who is an Alumni Association Scholarship recipient.

Name: Jonathon Brewster
Major: Computer Science
Extra Curricular Activities: Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 355
Scholarship received: Alumni Association Scholarship

Q: Why did you decide to attend UMBC?
I decided to attend UMBC because of UMBC’s reputation for having one of the best STEM programs. I had discovered this because my brother, who also attended UMBC, had told me about these programs and how UMBC would be a great school for me to attend.

Q: What’s been the most amazing discovery you’ve made so far as a student here?
Computer programming and what I can do with it.

Q: Tell us about a class or club that has really opened your mind.
Introduction to Computer Science for beginners (CMSC 104) changed my life. Before that class I did not know what I was going to do with my life, and I had no major. Then Mr. John Park, professor of CMSC 104, showed me many great ideas with programming a computer. After completing this course, I now have a major and a dream to be the best programmer I can be.

Q: How important is it to you as a student to get scholarship support?
It is very important. Students don’t have a lot of money, and it’s hard to pay for college when you have little time for a job from all the classes you are taking. With scholarship support, I am able to keep paying my way to a better job through quality education.

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing in your time at UMBC?
Finding my career path and getting good grades.

Q: What would you say to the people who provided your scholarship?
I would like to say thank you for helping support my future and keeping my dreams of being a great programmer alive.

Q: What do you hope to do after graduation?
I hope to go to graduate school to get my Master of Science degree in Computer Science. After completing my masters degree, I would like to work for Google to help with projects like the Google car.

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Every so often, we’ll chat with an alum about what they do and how they got there. Today we’re talking with software engineer Akshay Java M.S. ‘03, computer science, Ph.D. ‘08, computer science, about his career and work for Google.

Name: Akshay Java
Job Title: Software Engineer for Google
Grad year: M.S. ‘03, computer science, Ph.D. ‘08, computer science

Q: Why was UMBC your university of choice?
UMBC has an excellent CSEE program that emphasizes on both research and core curriculum. During my undergraduate studies I had a keen interest in artificial intelligence and information retrieval. The opportunity to learn from the very best minds in the field is what made UMBC my top choice.

Q: What did you like most about UMBC during your time studying here?
During almost seven years at UMBC, I always felt a part of the close knit community. It is where I found close friendships that have lasted through the years and made strong connections both personally and professionally. The sense of community and the support system that UMBC provides to all its students, faculty, and staff is truly what makes it unique.

Q: Was there a professor or specific class that sticks out in your mind as particularly influential?
The classes that had been the most challenging are also the ones that I learned the most from. The very first semester at UMBC, I took artificial intelligence with Dr. Marie desJardins, operating systems with Dr. Anupam Joshi, and data mining with Dr. Hillol Kargupta. It was a combination that kept me busy juggling between assignments, mid-terms, and project deadlines. All three professors pushed us to really learn the core concepts and to this day I find myself going back to these fundamental topics. The first semester was really the foundation for the later courses and help me significantly.

My advisor, Dr. Tim Finin, has been the most influential figure in my education. Working with ebiquity research group at UMBC, I had the opportunity to focus on cutting-edge research topics and collaborated with several professors in the department. Dr. Finin always encouraged us to think out of the box and pursue challenging computer science problems with an eye for practical application.

Q: How did you create your startup?
I started Percept Labs with my co-founder Amir Padovitz, who was also my colleague at Microsoft. We started our company with the goal of building something that we felt is missing in our experience. Both of us are travel junkies and data enthusiasts, so we figured that we could combine the two and build something that would harness the power of the web and wisdom of the crowd to help us discover new travel content. Using large-scale data mining and machine learning techniques we built the technology that provides a personalized travel discovery engine.

Q: Did UMBC provide you with any tools that helped you pursue your own startup?
There were two key resources that UMBC provided and were the stepping stones to giving me the knowledge to pursue my own startup: First, I took an excellent class on entrepreneurship at the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and I would highly recommend this class to anyone planning to create or work at a startup in future. It is a great course that covers every aspect of business and brought in guest speakers and CEOs who shared their knowledge and experiences.

The second important resource was the research lab I worked at while pursuing my Ph.D. While at ebiquity research group, faculty members encouraged us to think of practical application our research. We often collaborated with industry leaders like Microsoft, Google, IBM, and many others. Through various academic publications, grant applications, internships, fellowships, etc. we were given the skills necessary to learn how to present and communicate our work to others. This comes in handy in every phase of your professional life, be it in the industry or pitching to a venture capitalist or an angel investor.

Q: What led to your startup being acquired by Google?
Once we had launched a beta version of our product, we shared it with a close circle of friends for their feedback. In time, interest grew and we had more sign ups and our user base expanded. Throughout the process we iterated based on the feedback and suggestions we received from our users. We also actively engaged with industry experts and investors for advice and funding and were receiving interest from different companies on different aspects of the technology and experience we built. During this time, we were connected with Google and after a few discussions with them we strongly felt that this was a right fit.

Q: What is your favorite part about your job at Google?
I think the best part of my job is the opportunity to work with amazing people. The culture at Google is to think about how everything you do can make things 10 times better. From day one, everyone on your team and in the company supports you in working towards this goal. Collaborating with some of the best folks in the industry and working on hard technical problems is what makes every day fun and exciting.

Q: Are there any tips you might give to a person considering creating their own startup?
The most important factor is the team. Work with the best people you can find and the teamwork will keep you motivated when things are tough and help you face any challenge – be it technical or business related. The team also includes your advisors, lawyers, and business partners. The right team members will challenge you and support you in this incredible adventure.

With the right team in place, focus on the users with relentless dedication. Make sure your product addresses a real need and help people do something in a way that is better than anything else that exists out there. A differentiating product that provides value to a user is ultimately what will define your startup’s success.

Doing a startup will be a roller coaster ride – but remember to enjoy it! There will be days that will be exciting and others where you will feel like nothing is working out. No matter what remember to enjoy this incredible journey as it will be one that you will not forget for a long time to come.

Finally, a startup comes to life not just through your individual efforts but from a collective belief in your vision and passion. Your family, investors, advisors, and friends are all cheering for your success. Value and thank their contributions and support.

Q: Are there any words of caution you might give?
Don’t eat too many pizzas.

British writer and scientist Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

And for many of us, that’s exactly how the beeps and pings and connecting dings that keep our schedules, steer our cars to the right destination, and even maintain our bonds with family and friends over great distances seem to work. Like magic.

But to the humans behind the technologies – including Silicon Valley-based UMBC alumni at Apple and Google – it’s anything but abracadabra. It’s a combination of hard work, entrepreneurial drive and visionary imagination at its geekish best.

Let’s meet some of the minds behind the magic of our technologies.

by Jenny O’Grady
Photos by Gabriela Hasbun

Stroll down the yellow brick walkway that leads to Building 43, and a trio of girls on colorful bikes rides by, dinging their handlebar bells and singing “Hello!”

Take a right, and you’re in a garden of busts that depict everyone from Lloyd Bridges to Jacques Cousteau. Beyond that, a T-Rex skeleton feasts on helpless plastic pink flamingos. There’s a delicious savory breeze – does it come from one of the free cafeterias or the employee-run herb garden? – and a burst of laughter from a group of young engineers playing beach volleyball nearby.

Oh, right: and today’s free haircut day. That’s life in the Googleplex for you.

Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, is often depicted as a Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory of high-tech geekdom. It’s frequently listed on Top 10 lists of amazing workplaces. But what’s it really like to work at a company with a product so popular that it’s become a verb?

“It is very good to foster a culture where people are engaged, want to be at work, and that allows you to concentrate your time on what you’re trying to do in the day,” says Jeffrey Burgan ’83, computer science, director of network engineering for Google Access, which delivers high speed internet. “People work very hard here, so if the place can take the burden off in other areas – like get an oil change or a haircut, or to have washers and driers so people can do their laundry – it definitely helps.”

Google is known as much for the sheer difficulty of its confounding job interviews as it is for the replica of SpaceShipOne in its lobby. The secret to the company’s success seems to lie in its careful balance of work and play, and other UMBC alumni at Google agree that its unique culture pushes them to be more creative and constructive.

Jeetendra M. Soneja M.S. ’04, computer science, is the tech lead for Google Analytics API. He works in an outlying office, but finds the company culture persists across Google’s many campuses.

“One thing that is common across all the Google offices all over the world is the friendly and helpful nature of the fellow Googlers,” he says. “This leads to a very healthy working environment and is one of the best things why I love working here. The work environment is also fun and relaxing, and yet focused and one that promotes and rewards innovation.”

Robert Banz ’95, computer science, has worked as a site reliability engineer at Google for four years. (“We make sure Google is ‘always on,’” he says.) Before that, he worked at UMBC, which gives him a bit of special perspective about what’s extra cool about working at the Mountain View campus.

“Everyone says it’s the free food options, so I’ll go with something else. I’d say I was surprised how much it felt like a university campus,” he said.

Banz also believes the atmosphere of Silicon Valley is a significant influence on the famed Google culture. “Silicon Valley and San Francisco, but really the entire Bay Area, has this amazing critical mass of passionate creative, scientific, and engineering talent,” he says. “These groups mix socially; mutual curiosity leads to unique ideas. I think that’s the secret to the creative engine, and the source of very engaging and entertaining conversation.”

Sandor Dornbush M.S. ’06, computer science, sometimes runs to work with his black lab, Coltrane. Other times, he takes the free Google shuttle. Today, he wheels his bike into a meeting room playfully covered in a soft padded material. Photos of the Burning Man festival hang nearby.

“Despite all the games, and the food and everything, I honestly don’t think I’ve played a single game of pool in my six years here,” says Dornbush, an engineer for Google Play, who knows his work ultimately comes first.

“People talk about the Google 15 (because of the free food), but I’ve actually found the opposite,” Dornbush says. “For the first time, many people have access to really good food, and they have access to the gym, and they see people around them taking care of themselves, and they start to drop pounds. So despite the fact that there’s all this free stuff, people work really hard. And it’s a culture that encourages that.”