What university did you graduate from and with what major?

KPI, Control Systems Faculty.

How long have you been teaching at KPI?

Since 1977.

What courses do you teach?

“Computer Networks,” “Complex Systems Modeling,” “Foundations of Scientific Research and Organization of Science,” “Computer-Aided Systems Design.”

What academic degree have you got?

PhD.

What hobbies have you got?

I consider working with students to be my hobby. I take the most pride in my pupils. In my spare time, I work.

If all the books disappeared off the face of the Earth, which one would you try to rescue?

It is hard to imagine such a terrible situation! I love modern writers, for instance, Lina Kostenko.

If you caught a goldfish, what wishes would you make?

I’ve got plenty of those fishes. I believe all my students are the goldfishes.

“It is never too late to learn.” What have you learnt/discovered recently?

This is the way of thinking essential for the modern human.

What did you want to become when you were a child?

I was growing up in the family of teachers, so I think my dream has come true.

What was your student life like?

It was much less rich but much more interesting than the modern one. There was no Internet, the ears were not closed with headphones, and people were more sociable. “Before we took off our hat when we met other people, but now we remove our headphones.”

Do you have favorites among students you teach?

I fatherly love all of my students. Especially I would like to mention such graduates as Mykola Kozlenko, Pavlo Lissov (successfully defended his thesis and was employed in Austria), Andrii and Serhii Vozniuk (PhD students in Switzerland), Mykola Kurutin (works in Silicon Valley), Oleksandr Maistrenko (was employed at IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich, successfully defended his thesis), Andrii Riabushenko (having brilliantly defended his thesis, he introduced obtained results at the UBS bank in London), Pavlo Yuriichuk (used to be a programmer in New York), Serhii Prysiazhnyi (was first in Ukraine to develop protected FreeBSD-based operating system), and many others.

Do you regret expelling students?

Over the last forty years I have initiated expelling only one student because of his unacceptable behavior.

Do you agree with the statement that earlier students were better than nowadays? Is it true that the quality of school education is steadily going down?

Unfortunately, quality of upbringing at kindergartens, teaching at schools, and training at universities has been actually decreasing. Nevertheless, it is rather notable that about 20% of all the undergraduates are utterly capable students. This indicates that a great many Ukrainian children are born quite gifted but require a wise mentor. Generally speaking, degradation of the education is a national problem whose solution depends on the society’s attitude towards its future.