Faculty Profile: David Harris

David Harris, the Harvey S. Mudd Professor of Engineering Design, has been at Harvey Mudd for 26 years. He teaches digital systems classes most often and has been part of many engineering Core courses, the CS60 team and AeroLab, and autonomous vehicles courses. He’s currently building an open-source RISC-V microprocessor named Wally. When asked to describe his work at the College, David says, “I get to learn with the most amazing set of students and colleagues I could hope to have.” Find out what David likes about his work, what he’d want for a superpower and more in this Q-and-A.

What is your favorite part about your job and why?

I love the people and the freedom. Mudd is one of the few places in the world with undergraduate students of this caliber where faculty get to spend most of our time working with the students. Mudders are so bright and motivated and excited about learning. I love how our faculty are all passionate about teaching, and each has their own special strengths, and how Mudd supports us plays to these strengths. We have an amazing team of staff at Mudd, and many take initiative far beyond the norm, creating incredible opportunities for our students.

Mudd has given me so much freedom over my career. We encourage and support writing books, not just research papers. I’ve had a chance to write seven textbooks during my time at Mudd, 11 SoCal hiking guidebooks and one of the first electronic guidebook apps. As a pilot, I discovered that building airplanes is a perfect fit to HMC’s hands-on education, and now my students and I are building our second plane. I got to found a company with a student to commercialize chip testers that we had developed in our research. My research developing open-source microprocessors for the past four years has been the most satisfying in my career.

HMC is so supportive integrating my whole life. The generous parental leave policies make a huge difference. My kids have been eating at Hoch since they were toddlers. My eldest helped build both airplanes and became an AeroLab proctor while still in high school. My kids have been coming with me for fieldwork on my hiking books, and the youngest has become an incredible hiker.

What is something people don’t understand about your job that you wish they did?

My wife often can’t tell whether I’m working or playing.

If you could swap jobs with any other HMC employee for a day, who would it be and why?

I got to swap teaching with a CS prof this fall. It was fun for each of us to learn something new and see how a different department teaches.

If you could add anything to campus to improve the employee experience, what would it be?

A time machine so we could all have a bit more time.

What’s your favorite food/dish in the Hoch-Shanahan Dining Hall?

Muddgolian BBQ dinner or Pho lunch or crepe night.

What HMC events have made you feel really connected to other HMC colleagues?

Being on teaching teams and committees where I’ve seen how we all have different approaches but share a common goal of creating a great experience for Mudders.

What is your favorite hobby, activity or creative outlet?

Hiking.

What is the best piece of advice someone has given you, either in life or at work?

“You are right. I was wrong. I love you.” –David Patterson

What is your most effective strategy for dealing with stress?

Tenure is great. I work hard, but I do it because I want to and not because somebody is looking over my shoulder. I also try hard to avoid short-term deadlines, which are the most stressful for me.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be and how would you use it at work?

Blink my eyes and the exams are all graded. Grading is the worst part of the job.

Are you studying or learning something new?

Spanish, to communicate better with my wife’s family.

What book or podcast are you enjoying right now?

The Rust Programming Language by Steve Klabnik and Carol Nichols.

What is the last concert you attended?

American Idiot with a deaf cast at the Mark Taper Theater.