00:03:24Act 0 – Introduction to and Biography of, Rada Mihalcea
00:07:33Act 1 – Growing up in Communist Romania, Transylvania, 1970s-90s
00:07:34Growing up in Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania, amid “dark communism” and supportive family
00:14:39Money system in Romania in 1970s and 80s. Living paycheck to paycheck. Scrounging for money around the house, just to buy food.
00:19:40Effect of Nicolae Ceaușescu government policies on her family
00:23:01Romanian Revolution of 1989
00:25:58Act 2 - Early schooling in Romania, 1970s-90s
00:27:47Going to the National Math Olympiad in Romania, 1980s
00:29:36Languages she learnt at school, with friends, and at home
00:31:14Not really caring about diversity (or lack thereof)
00:33:09First Encounters with Tech
00:35:53Act 3 - After the 1989 Revolution, Life in early 1990s Romania
00:40:05Act 4 – Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 1997
00:46:00The advantage of having the same cohorts at Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
00:50:24Act 5 – The “Administrative Mistake” that Propelled Rada to apply to the US, 1997
00:53:29Women in Bachelors program at TU Cluj-Napoca CS
00:56:15Act 6 – Immigration to US, 1997. And MS and PhD at SMU, 1997-2001
00:56:16Biggest difficulties after coming to US: English, spoken and heard
00:59:36“I nearly failed my AI class!”
01:00:29Small inventions when she was a child
01:03:26Act 7 – Professional Career, 2001-Present
01:04:56The Romanian PECASE Award that Rada started (Collaboration with local government in Cluj-Napoca)
01:08:38Act 8 – Her second PhD, in Linguistics, from Oxford University, 2010
01:14:06Act 9 – Retrospectives and Perspectives
01:15:30Handling Failures and Rejections, or How Rada’s failures Rada shaped her career
01:18:32Handling Impostor Syndrome
01:19:55The benefits of being an introvert
01:21:14Alternate Realities
01:23:21Final thoughts
01:24:50Thank you and Ending
