________ Though a computer engineering major , I took Dr . Saltman ’ s Bio 1 series simply because bio was my favorite course and was taught by my favorite teacher back in high school . After the first midterm , Dr . Saltman asked several of us to stay after class to meet with him . It turned out he made answer keys from the best of the student answers rather than his or the TA ’ s answers . He explained this and then asked our names and majors . It was a litany of bio-this-and-that , then my turn : “ computer engineering .” He was taken aback , but I suspect he thought anyone could get lucky once with a good answer .
It happened again on every exam in Bio 1 and again in Bio 2 . At that point , Dr . Saltman started leaning on me to switch majors before I was “ in too deep .” When Bio 3 started , Dr . Saltman offered me employment in his lab , so I could give up my well-paid offcampus job .
Looking back over the past 40 years , I know I made the right choice to stick with computer engineering , but that little voice in my head still wonders who I could have become under Dr . Paul Saltman ’ s tutelage . No other professor ever took such a personal interest in me or tried to shape my career . In fact , his work on cellular metabolism , and his mantra of “ structure-function relationships ,” shaped my subsequent career in realtime embedded systems , both at the system architecture level and at the software level .
Soon after I graduated , the engineering department started fundraising by selling engraved pavers . I bought several , one each for the professors who most influenced me . Dr . Ken Bowles was one , but the first was for Dr . Paul Saltman . I felt it totally appropriate that a paver in the engineering complex be for such an outstanding and gifted biology professor .
When he died in 1999 , it felt like a punch in the gut — the light of a world-class researcher who also loved teaching and shaping undergrads had left our world . I still go visit my pavers whenever I get the chance , to reminisce and be thankful . They are a wonderful place to record great memories , and even greater gifts . — Bob Cunningham ’ 86 Muir College , Computer Engineering
32 TRITON | WINTER 2022