On Monday, the third of June as part of our ongoing series of talks “Professors in Person” we welcomed guest speaker Prof. Dr. Gordon Fraser so we might - with the assistance of a little cheat sheet - uncover the mysteries of his past together.

Sometime after popping into existence in Austria he successfully finished studying telematics in Graz before starting a doctorate in eTourism in Innsbruck, which he managed to endure two whole months. Afterwards his attention shifted to a “more interesting topic”, Software Testing, the field which he later also obtained his degree in.

In 2009 our brave tester ventured forth into the beautiful Saarland, where his responsibilities as postdoc included passing on his vast knowledge to the students during the lecture Testing & Debugging. Additionally, he decided to support the mythical beasts residing in its capital by buying annual tickets for the zoo of Saarbrücken.

Three years later fate had drawn our hero into the lands his father had walked before him. Biding his time as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Sheffield, his longing for his true home, Austria, grew ever stronger until his heart could bear such pain no more. But then fortune smiled upon our champion as he was appointed to the chair of Software Engineering II - here in Passau. Close enough.

Now one might ask: What qualifies Prof. Dr. Gordon Fraser for such an enormous task, aside from the above-average number of Scottish clans in his name? The answer is simple: His deeds as computer scientist, classical pianist and former village organist naturally provide him rich experience regarding keyboards and a man who received the Google Focused Research Award in 2011 is not someone you can just look down on. Likewise he is also the proud winner of the Microsoft Software Engineering Innovation Award and Facebook, too, did not miss out on the opportunity to honor him victorious in their Testing and Verification Challenge in the year 2018.

After the handwritten notes ran out Professor Fraser had to withstand the audience’s brutal questions and while answering them he even dropped some spicy personal details. But some secrets are best left untold…

The evening we spent with him was, all things considered, positively enjoyable and truly entertaining. We are profoundly delighted to have such a likeable professor with a rather unique English accent here at our university.