A student makes his professor proud

Trevis Rothwell spoke about developing software for the iPhone at a meeting of the Cedar Rapids Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers on June 20, 2010. His presentation drew a large audience. Some of our colleagues in Minnesota also listened to his talk and viewed his slides through an electronic link that we established for them. Mr. Rothwell’s talk was clear, concise, and organized. He presented the material at a level that I believe all were able to understand.

My daughter, who is not a programmer, accompanied to this meeting. Fascination showed on her face. She smiled and laughed at the description of the Almond Emulator, a silly application that Mr. Rothwell wrote for the purpose of learning how to write applications for the smart phone. He used his throw-away effort to test the market. It drew unexpected interest from consumers and reviewers.

Mr. Rothwell stimulated our interest too. At the end of the evening, we knew what tools we needed and what steps we must take to produce and market an application for Apple’s iPhone. We left with an increased knowledge of the market for these applications, the costs and technical challenges, and the opportunities open to us.

He impressed me when he was my student at Cornell College. I am proud of what he has done since we graduated him.

“Well done, Trevis!”