In tenth or eleventh grade one week, Mr Weeks brought a blue box, about the size of a bread box, into our Advanced Functions class. The front of it had several switches and blinking lights. He taught us how to enter a series of numbers into it with the switches, and make the lights flash certain ways such as in a moving pattern, or displaying the results of a calculation. It was of course a very basic computer, and we were doing our first computer programming. I don't think that was part of the normal curriculum, and I think it was very forward-looking of him to expose us to it. I know at least one other person in that class (Sue Barwick) went on to become a computer programmer.

Dave went from CCHS to Dawson CEGEP, but wasn't sure what he wanted to do, and was getting rather bored with school. He left by the second term to take a break and worked for a few months at Electric Switchgear down on St Denis, doing wiring of electric power control equipment. He was very interested in electronic music, building and playing synthesizers, while his friends were putting their hard-earned cash into mini bikes and motorcycles. He decided to go to Ryerson Polytechnical for electronics and a career working with electronic music equipment. But near the end, he took digital logic and computer programming classes and was captivated, finding it easy and fascinating. On top of that, it was pretty obvious which career choice would pay better! Music could always be a hobby.

Dave's first job was at Control Data Corporation, one of the original mainframe and supercomputer companies, at their Mississauga, Ontario branch. In his eleven years there working on various teams he learned all aspects of computer design, earning technical excellence awards along the way and moving from an entry level technician to a senior engineering position. This provided a great foundation for what was to follow.

In 1989 Control Data was downsizing and closing their Canadian branch, and was about to move Dave to company headquarters in Minneapolis when he was offered a job in Austin, Texas with Advanced Micro Devices, a maker of microprocessor chips. Dave had the choice of sticking with an old computer company headed downhill plus Minnesota winters, or designing the computer chips of the future in sunny Texas. It was a pretty easy decision!

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets. Its main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and embedded systems applications. Now at AMD for 22 years and counting, Dave has made major contributions to most of their microprocessor chips. Anyone around the world who uses Google, Facebook, does email, or uses an AMD-powered computer at home or at work is making use of chips Dave has helped design and things he has invented. (Which Dave admits is pretty neat.)

Dave has been inventor or co-inventor on over 50 US and many international patents, and is currently one of a handful of Senior Fellows at the top of AMD's engineering ranks, providing guidance to design teams and working in the Research group to figure out what future microprocessors will be capable of doing as they become more and more pervasive in everyone's lives. He also takes part in research conferences, serving on program committees to review and select submitted papers, or as conference chair, including a High-Performance Computer Architecture conference in New Orleans in 2012. His work has at times involved collaborations with academic research programs at University of Illinois, University of Texas and Georgia Tech, where he helps bridge the gap between industry and academia. He has given a lecture at University of Texas on advanced computer design. But most of his work is on developing new products. It's always hard to describe to the average person just what I do, other than “design computer chips”, because it's so abstract -- most people just can't relate to it.

The aforementioned patents resulted in a Prolific Inventor award (AMD company award), plus a Corporate Technical Achievement award for co-inventing a major feature of modern x86 microprocessors (64-bit operation) that Intel, the originator of the x86 architecture and the Goliath to AMD's David, was forced to adopt. Dave found beating the 800 lb gorilla at its own game to be particularly satisfying.

One of the Dave's most memorable career moments came while interviewing a very senior job candidate from Intel. He knew the fellow had attended McGill, and so was probably Canadian like him. The line of questioning ended up going like, “Oh, you grew up in Montreal? What part? South Shore? What city? Wow, what school? Really -- what years?” The candidate, Andy Glew, had attended CCHS, starting the year after Dave graduated. Dave was floored – two kids from CCHS, separately rising to top engineering positions in two leading computer chip companies, helping design the chips that have powered most of desktop computing and the internet – who'd have thought? And then becoming colleagues on top of that. Dave thinks the small size of CCHS, and the great faculty and close-knit student body that tend to go with a school that size, did (and he is sure still does) a lot to give smart, creative people (i.e. all CCHS students of course) a good foundation for success, however one defines it.

Unlike his early years in Boston, Dave has managed not to acquire a Texas accent -- aside from the occasional "y'all", which is apparently mandatory down there. In fact he still occasionally gets called on his "oots and aboots". (We can hear it now -- "Y'all come oot and see me!") Dave and Martha miss the snow but not the slush, and love Austin, a city that's "just the right size, not too big with lots to do". If things go as planned they expect to eventually retire there.

I met Martha Kayler at Ryerson, in ballroom dancing class (I know, how cliché). She's worked some in graphics arts management, more in fashion consulting, and mostly as a wife and mother, keeping me and the kids in line and the household in working order. We have three great kids, Edward, Laura and Jonathan, all now in their 20s and still winding their way through school (apparently with a greater tolerance for it than I had!). And all Canadians! The youngest was born less than three months before we moved to Texas.