Benjamin Rossman found his way to complexity theory after studying mathematical logic as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently as an intern with Yuri Gurevich at Microsoft Research. He received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010, under the supervision of Madhu Sudan and under the distraction of the ballroom dance team.

Srikanth Srinivasan got his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, where his interest in the theory side of CS was piqued under the tutelage of N. S. Narayanswamy. Subsequently, he obtained his Ph.D. from The Institute of Mathematical Sciences in 2011, where his advisor was V. Arvind. His research interests span all of TCS (in theory), but in practice are limited to circuit complexity, derandomization, and related areas of mathematics. He looks back fondly at the days when he enjoyed running and pretending to play badminton.