He has supervised 30 current and former Ph.D. students – a large number, even for a long and distinguished career. Many of them went on to become professors themselves, including Whitehead, chair of computer science at UC Santa Cruz; Nenad Medvidović, M.S. ’95, Ph.D. ’99, associate chair of computer science at USC; Ken Anderson ’90, M.S. ’92, Ph.D. ’97, associate chair of computer science at the University of Colorado; and Michal Young, M.S. ’85, Ph.D. ’89, former chair of computer & information science at the University of Oregon.

Well known for his hands-off approach with advisees, Taylor says: “I always tell prospective students who want to work for me that I don’t micromanage. If you need me to watch over you on a daily basis to keep you on track, then I’m not your guy.”

“He gives doctoral students an enormous amount of rope with which to hang themselves,” jokes Gorlick, now a Ph.D. candidate who plans to defend his dissertation later this year. “And because he does that, he’s gotten some incredible work, some groundbreaking research results.”

“Dick’s greatest role has been to collaborate with a wide range of students on the cutting edge of research, as well as to unselfishly promote our work,” Fielding says. “He has changed the world in so many ways – far more than any one person could have done alone.”

Any number cited of how many PhDs have been granted to his students' students?