Michael Robertson, UCSD '90, was a cognitive science major. He is CEO of San Diego-based MP3.com, an Internet music service.

"I was there for the 25th anniversary of UCSD. It was a very big deal. I recently had dinner with the chancellor and it made me feel like a real old timer. Those of us who were there then are now pushing 40.

"I studied in a brand new field called cognitive science. It was an interesting blend of computer science, human-computer interaction and a little artificial intelligence. Don Norman was the big driver of the program. He has since gone on to be a fellow at Apple, H-P and Disney.

"I started out as a political science major but got disillusioned by the liberal leanings of the staff so I decided it wasn’t for me. I went on a little exploration for what did interest me. Cognitive science wasn’t a department then. They were borrowing classes from psychology, computer science and neurosciences. A little later on the department was created, but they started out just patching it together.

"They went through an incredible metamorphosis while I was there. During my five years it went from a little bastard program to its own building, its own classes, and its own staff. The whole time it was growing.

"The 'Hump' was the center of things when I was at UCSD. Outside the old gym was a big grassy hill. That used to be the center of campus. The Price Center didn’t exist. The hub of student life were those small wooden buildings nearby. Every Friday we actually had kegs of beer if you were 21 or over. There were concerts for the TGIFs. We had the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I guess those were the good old days. It was a real student center, not the commercialized Price Center we know today. ...

"I think seeds for an entrepreneur are planted long before you get to college. At least they were in my case. I will say that . . . the brutal quarter system which UCSD uses dumps new materials on students quickly and forces them to absorb and apply them in short order. That skill set helps me every day as the CEO of MP3.com."