Earlier days
Hailing from just outside of New Haven, Conn., Kaplan didn't have far to travel as an undergraduate. Kaplan's reasons for coming to the College are fairly typical, including the small size and impressive student to faculty ratios. When he visited, Kaplan was also struck by the fact that everyone seemed to sincerely care about what they were doing, regardless of what it was.
Kaplan's decision to major in Computer Science was largely due to his comfort and experience with computers and the fact that he found the problems posed by the subject material very compelling. Although he made his choice of major early and deviated very little in his course selections, he still wishes he had taken more classes in the philosophy department. Kaplan's hallmate on the third floor of Stearns dormitory freshman year and his roommate for their subsequent three years, Jesse Lydle '95, remembers the introductory course in philosophy that they both took as first-year students. "He was always asking questions. The rest of the timid freshmen tried to hide behind their books, but Scott couldn't get enough. He has a terrific analytical, probing mind. He wants to process everything and to have it all make sense to him," said Lydle. Kaplan's interests ranged into other disciplines as well. "I would have liked to dabble in chemistry and biology," Kaplan said.
When he came to Amherst, Kaplan was a swimmer plagued by a hurt shoulder that often prevented him from competing. After sophomore year, he left the swim team and joined the squash team. "He started low down on the team," said coach Peter Robson. "There was some enjoyment in being terrible-I never counted, but that was okay," said Kaplan. He kept in touch with Robson during his years in graduate school.
"He's tremendous as an alum," said Robson. Kaplan now helps Robson and the men's squash team in the position of assistant coach. "It's a lot of fun, and now I'm not so hideously incompetent," said Kaplan. Robson loves having Kaplan back. "He is invaluable to me as an assistant coach," said Robson. There are many advantages to Kaplan's helping with the team. "I like getting to know the students in a different way, outside of the classroom," said Kaplan. "He knows what he wants out of students, and he knows what they need to be successful," said Robson. "He is also a great liaison between academics and athletics," said Robson.
From student to teacher
After graduating from the College, Kaplan went on to earn a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Texas. It was during these years that Kaplan decided he wanted to be a professor. He instructed a computer science class for undergraduate students without being overseen by anyone and enjoyed the experience. "I especially liked the challenges of teaching: describing things in a way every student could understand and also responding to questions," said Kaplan.
Kaplan's experience teaching at the University of Texas was not perfect, however. He thought that there were too many students in his class, and knew that there were even larger classes in his department. He did not know the students as personally as he would have liked and he also did not know each student's level of strength and comfort with the course material. For these reasons, he decided that he would prefer to teach in a small college. "It's much harder to teach and conduct research in a small college, but that's what I expected. For me, teaching comes first, and each summer is like a mini-sabbatical," said Kaplan.
Many students enjoy complaining that Amherst is not very high on the list of most-wired colleges, but Kaplan sees other areas of computing as more important. "A good computer science department doesn't imply heavy use of technology. The nature of computational problems is more important, not the gadgets. Someone once said that computer science has as much to do with computers as astronomy has to do with telescopes. Computers are a tool," said Kaplan.
When Kaplan heard that a position was available at the College, he immediately applied. He had no idea what his chances were of getting the job and did not expect the fact that he was a graduate of Amherst to make much of a difference. "We actually considered that a negative when we hired him, because we were worried about what you might call academic inbreeding," said Professor of Computer Science John Rager, one of Kaplan's senior thesis advisors.
Kaplan got the job nevertheless, and the fact that he is an alumnus of the College seems to make less difference than might be expected. "I never think about Scott as a former student. This may be because the computer science group is small; the three computer scientists who were here before Scott all arrived within a two-year span, and there has never really been any hierarchical feel to the department," said Rager. "Scott just seems like a colleague and a friend."
According to all accounts, Kaplan is a strong addition to the computer science department. One of his advisees, Crystal Kahn '04, describes Kaplan as easy to talk to and someone with insight into the life of a student. "He is an excellent teacher-he is prepared and organized for lectures, and clear and precise when making explanations," said Kahn. "He sounds like the scientist on 'The Simpsons,' Professor Frink, but he talks on a normal level," she said. Kaplan is extremely energetic, despite the fact that "he has given up caffeine," Kahn added. "He's just great: he makes time for students, and his door is always open."
Kaplan has proven himself to be a fair but tough teacher. According to Lydle, this is a change from the Kaplan he knew in college. "He was extremely gullible. He's outgrown it now though-he's much harder to fool," said Lydle. Lydle told the story of a promise of World Series tickets to Kaplan in 1992 if a certain team won. His friends convinced him to wear his underwear on his head for luck as he listened to the game. Kaplan's good-naturedness also resulted in his hosting the end-of-interterm swim team party once, something he and his roommates regretted afterwards.
His colleagues also appreciate Kaplan as an educator. "As a professor he's enthusiastic and hardworking. He has brought us expertise in computer systems, of which we didn't have enough," said Rager. "He has built an active research program in the years he has been here, including collaborations with both professors at other schools and researchers in industry. It's also clear that he really likes teaching, and he likes talking about teaching. Computer Science has recently changed its thesis process in order to try to encourage more people to write theses. Scott was instrumental in designing the new program and getting it going. It's good to get fresh blood, different ideas, different views in a program." Kaplan even tries to dress the part of a computer science professor. "I will merely mention his odd predilection for wearing bow ties," said Rager.
Some things never change
Lydle, who still knows Kaplan very well, believes that Kaplan has found his calling. "He's a perfect fit for a professor. He embodies a liberal arts education. There's nobody better to help deliver and education-he's intellectual, committed to the community and to a healthy lifestyle," he said.
Many changes have accompanied Kaplan's transition from student to professor. "As a student, your tasks are brief and well-defined. The endpoint for everything is never any more than four months in the future. But also as a student, it can be hard to remember your focus. It's really easy to get caught up with too many things to do," said Kaplan. "As a professor, the teaching part is like being a student. There is a definite stopping point for each course. Research, on the other hand, is open-ended and scary. It's easy to put off the research because of the immediate teaching need. It's important not to make too many extra commitments right away-I've gotten a lot of good advice from my department," said Kaplan.
Kaplan also really likes the Five-College area, a feeling that is stronger now than it was when he was a student. Kaplan noted that most of the changes on campus are physical. His old dormitories are still here now-Stearns, Stone, Davis, and Moore-but his freshman home will be torn down soon. "The campus has changed, but it seems to change at a normal rate. Individual changes are subtle, and the overall feeling of the College transitions smoothly. The real feel of the College is dependent on the individual personalities here at any given time," he said.
Kaplan's current goal is to make significant advances in his research. He is studying virtual memory management at the moment and is now approaching the problem of a limited amount of RAM economically, trying to reconcile scarce resources with greater demand. Any advances that Kaplan makes in this area would have significant implications for computer design since this problem plagues all operating systems. According to Kaplan, no one else is currently working on this exact problem.
Eventually, Kaplan wants to become a tenured professor at the College. He hopes to sustain and strengthen the relationship between his department and the computer science department at the University of Massachusetts. Kaplan would also like to implement changes in his courses, but that will take time. If Kaplan stays on the same track, however, there will be plenty of time for him to leave his mark on the computer science department here at the College.