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I have known Bill Kennedy for about ten years.  The context has been tournament
backgammon, an area where I am a widely published theorist and have won several
major prizes, and where Kennedy is a past U.S. amateur champion, with numerous
other important tournament victories to his credit.  Kennedy has accomplished
this much with his avocation by his scholarly approach.  He has recorded every
move in hundreds of matches by the great masters of the game, coauthored a book
of selected and annotated games from his collection (Kennedy was the articulate
author), developed mathematical models of selected aspects of the game, used
computer programs to perform analyses beyond the reach of manual methods, etc.  
The temperament he has shown, combined with a quite adequate intelligence, make
him well suited as a candidate for an M.S. degree in computer science.  I would
admit him to our program without hesitation.  Whether he should be getting a Ph.D. 
is not clear to me; his academic background is too stale and too limited to form 
a clear opinion.  I hope he will enter a good M.S. program and see what develops.
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Sincerely,
Robert W. Floyd
Professor
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