Hi, my name is Vladimir Grbić, and I am a recent graduate of the University of Central Florida. Since 2015, I've lived in the United States, but I am originally from Serbia, a small country in Eastern Europe.
Currently, I work as a software engineer while focusing on furthering my education. I consider myself a lifelong scholar passionate about technology, logic, philosophy as well as a wide range of other smaller topics.
On this page, I wanted to share my journey so far while also mentioning my notable passions and plans for the near future.
Growing Up in Serbia
As I mentioned earlier, I was born and raised in Serbia. Serbia is a beautiful place full of enchanting landscapes which are a true feast for the eyes and soul. However, its true beauty lies in the hospitality of its people. If that didn't quite convince you to pay Serbia a visit, I'm sure that this video that shows off Serbia's finest dishes will do so. 😉
Growing up, we did not have much, but that made me work hard and appreciate everything as I earned it. My mother opened my eyes in the early days, teaching me the importance of education and discipline. I was lucky to get educated in Europe because our elementary and high schools are very advanced. Students study hard, lessons are of high quality, and expectations are very high. Nevertheless, that did not stop me from always being at the top of my class. Throughout high school, I excelled academically, finishing at the top of my graduating class. Furthermore, I competed in math, achieving numerous regional awards and I attended Petnica Science Center, a center for the talented and gifted.
I was also engaged in many extracurricular activities, sports being one of them. By the time I was in eighth grade, I had been playing basketball for five years, and I started to develop a huge passion for it. I was thinking about my transition to high school and what was to happen next. Then, suddenly, an idea flashed in my brain. I saw my future. I wanted to study abroad in the United States. I was mainly drawn by the opportunity to gain unique experiences and compete in the world's best basketball leagues. It took me three long years of hard work to earn a basketball and academic scholarship in a small private school in San Diego, California. Happily, I took the offer, and my journey began.
Coming to America and Basketball
Coming to the U.S., I faced lots of problems. Being so far from everything I knew was intimidating in the beginning. I had to get used to another language and other cultures. Furthermore, the basketball program at my school was top-notch, and I found the hard way that adjusting was not easy and that it was going to take a long time. However, even if by then I had any doubt about whether it is better to be a small fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond, that was soon to be settled. I cannot think of the situation where the latter case is more appropriate, assuming that it is one's goal to reach for the stars. I had the pleasure to be on the same team as DeAndre Ayton, the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft, Jaylen Hands, and many other great teammates and coaches. The harshness and professionalism of the environment made it so rewarding in terms of improvement for the ones that did not want to give up. Even though the first few months were tough, I kept reflecting and reminding myself of my dream—how I was living it and how what I did every day would lead to something valuable eventually. It was a big fight, but as always, after hard work, victory always comes.
Due to some changes made to the team, a few people started to leave. Coincidingly, I received a better financial offer from a school in Orlando, Florida, and that's where I headed for my senior year of high school. Even though I was not as satisfied with the new environment, I still had a great time. However, as my senior year continued to unravel, I kept immersing myself in philosophy. I developed an interest in the broad topics in the field and wanted to explore the deepest questions one can ask about this world. Specifically, I wanted to study mathematical physics, guided by the same reasoning as Moritz Schlick, the founding father of the Vienna Circle. He explained his choice by saying that, despite his love for philosophy, he believed that only mathematical physics could help him obtain actual and exact knowledge, and I mainly support the idea. I don't remember the exact moment, but I gradually realized that basketball could no longer fulfill my life. I decided that once I was to start college, I was to solely focus on my studies. The only problem was that without any hopes of getting an athletic scholarship, I was not going to have any money.
Undergaduate Years
Despite my hard work and efforts, luck played a major role in my education. As I literally did not have any money and my mother had already exhausted all her funds and loan options, I came very close to having to return to Serbia. Then, the family that was getting paid by my high school to host me and other students offered out of the blue to keep me at their house free of charge even after I graduated. That happened after months of me tutoring their children for free and without any expectations. To this day, that remains one of the kindest gestures anyone did for me, and I happily continued to work with their children throughout a part of my college years. It was also around that time that I was able to find my first job, working in the kitchen of a small family-owned Mexican restaurant. The money I would make there, combined with a little money that my mom could save up, was able to get me by through my freshmen year.
As a freshman, I continuously strived for excellence and achieved a 4.0 GPA averaging maximum scores in my math and science classes. Moreover, I developed close relationships with a few of my professors over multiple discussions and problem-solving sessions during their office hours. With a few strong recommendations and good grades, I was awarded the Florida-Eastern Europe Linkage Institute scholarship going into my second year. That was a $15,000 yearly stipend for the rest of my undergraduate studies, provided that I maintain a certain GPA. As you can imagine, that was a huge relief! However, I was never financially stable, and throughout my education, I have always found myself working on average 30 hours per week. As I gained more experience, I moved on and started to tutor. Eventually, I also got a job as an engineer in a local firm. My Résumé lists and describes, at greater length, some of my internships and awards.
As I began taking upper-level classes, I was often reminded why I fell in love with physics in the first place. The world of physics is the foundation of science. Physics explains life and, indeed, everything. However, it is through mathematics as a fundamental tool for understanding our world that we also understand physics. The beauty I found in physics was in its precise yet almost mystical concepts. I enjoyed spending hours thinking about new ideas and approaches to problems. My deep interest would always come from the joy of discovering something no one knew before. The second source of beauty in the laws of physics is their productivity and application in all other areas of science and real-world industries, especially technology and health.
Needing to go beyond the curriculum, I wanted to do research. Luckily, I was soon to meet my mentor, Dr. Costas Efthimiou. He encouraged me and helped me to start competing and doing undergraduate research. That led me to a few research fellowships and awards. My first big project was developing a mathematical model of COVID-19 propagation through the study of dynamical systems. I learned a lot of new math, and even more importantly, I was introduced to data analysis. Since I dealt with a lot of raw data and my mathematical model was nonlinear, I needed to use programming to process datasets and then approximate the solutions. That gave me a perspective of how beautiful and advantageous programming is. Ultimately, my model was showing accurate results, and the research was a success. Thinking back now, that is how I envision science being used to help people, improve their lives, and train further generations. I am lost for words to describe how great it felt to finally experience that firsthand.
Interestingly, it was around the same time that I took my first computer science course on algorithms and data structures. I was amazed at how closely the field of computer science was related to logic and mathematics, as well as how beautiful it is. Since then, I have acquired a taste for programming and taken many other computer science courses. Before graduating in May 2022, I took many more captivating classes and was involved in other research projects and conferences. I go more in-depth on that topic here. I was delighted and proud to graduate with honors and have my work recognized. However, I don't believe I can or deserve to "relax" now, as I always have a voice in me echoing that I need to be doing more. The reality is actually the opposite, as I have never felt more motivated to learn and explore.
Present
Upon graduation, I wanted to indulge in my new passion, computer science. That brought me to interview and work for Dr. Gazzillo, helping him and a Ph.D. student of his on their research project. I love my duties as I get to experience and work on complex projects. I am tasked with using existing tools to migrate C code to Rust and then write programs and scripts to measure the expansion and abstraction factors of the transpiled code. Ultimately, my goal is to keep educating myself while getting exposure to the industry.