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@begin(address)
Professor Gene Golub
Department of Computer Science
Stanford University
Stanford, California  94305
@end(address)
@greeting(Dear Gene:)
@begin(body)
	This is the letter you requested concerning Tom Binford's salary
as Adjunct Professor of Computer Science.

	In my opinion, Binford's salary should be in the neighborhood of
$50,000 for several reasons.

	1. Binford has led one of the two or three best university
robotics groups with far less support from the Department and the
University than has been enjoyed by the corresponding people elsewhere.
This salary will at best be comparable to what they are getting.

	Both his individual scientific contributions and the contributions
of the group he has led have been outstanding.
These accomplishments are adequately documented in the outside letters
concerning the appointment.

	Reviewing the probable salaries of the people to whom Binford
has been compared in the letters of recommendation will show that he
is probably the worst paid of all of them.

	2. Binford can get larger offers elsewhere.  His one day a week
at SRI pays him at a higher rate.  We are likely to lose him if we
continue to treat him badly.  The Adjunct Professor appointment has
dragged on for much too long.

	Stanford's educational and research position in production automation,
which is one of the keys to increasing the country's productivity, depends
substantially on Binford.  If he leaves, because we don't recognize his
contributions, we won't easily convince an outsider to come in and
rebuild the research and educational program.

	3. The appointment as Adjunct Professor should carry a substantial
premium over the position of Senior Research Associate.  I haven't
surveyed corresponding positions in the School of Engineering, but I
think you will easily verify the range of their salaries.

@newpage

	4. The only other adjunct professor in the Computer Science
Department is Bruce Buchanan.  Binford has been at Stanford somewhat
longer than Buchanan, and
his responsibilities are perhaps somewhat greater in that
he has been entirely in charge of Stanford's
robotics work for a number of years, while Buchanan still reports to
Feigenbaum in many of his activities.  Their salaries should be
comparable.

	I hope this answers your questions.
@end(body)
Best regards,          




John McCarthy
Professor of Computer Science