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Coursera: Learner Story: Daphne Koller remembers Jerry Vickers
Last week, I gave a talk at the Computer Science Department at the University of Washington in Seattle. I often give talks at partner universities, but this one was special. It was the inaugural talk in the Ben Taskar Memorial Lecture Series, a series honoring my former PhD student, Ben Taskar, who tragically passed away in 2013 at the age of 36. Ben was an incredibly talented researcher, who made hugely significant innovations in machine learning that still have impact today. At the same time, he was a kind, humble, and generous human being, always willing to help others. Ben left behind a wife and 2-year-old daughter, Aviv, who was born with spinal muscular atrophy - a severe disability that makes her unable to control the motion of her limbs. She now communicates (slowly) with the help of a tablet that tracks her gaze. Aviv’s story reminded me of the poignant story of one of our own Coursera learners. This is the story of Jerry Vickers. I first learned of Jerry’s sto…