“It’s a long story, and a lot of it doesn’t involve the computer science,” laughed Professor Zachary Hutchinson as our conversation began.
He joined the Computer Science Department at AUBG in Fall 2025, arriving from the University of Maine, and already has fresh ideas on how to engage students in learning about AI.
When Professor Hutchinson first stepped into a classroom, he didn’t expect to fall in love with teaching. But as he puts it, “It was so much fun, so engaging. And my research is benefiting because I am talking to students about things rather than just being cloistered in a grad office.”
He now shares his journey to AUBG, his views on AI and computer science, and his perspective on how today’s students can succeed in a fast-changing world.
A chance encounter with computer science
“I got into computing very sparsely, but very early,” he recalls. Growing up in the 1980s, computers were just emerging, and when his maths teacher introduced him to a computer lab, he thought, “this is the most awesome thing I had ever seen”.
But his path didn’t continue into coding right away. Instead, he had a long and exciting detour. Professor Hutchinson went to Russia as an exchange student, where he met his wife and became fascinated with literature. That interest led him to earn a bachelor’s degree in German and English literature from the University of Houston.
He and his wife later spent some time in Europe, mostly in Vienna, before moving to New York, where he decided to revisit his early passion for computing at Hunter College. “I was a non-traditional student at that point because I was not 22, but 30 years old,” he said.
He went on to pursue a PhD at the University of Maine, where he discovered another fascination of his – teaching and research.
“I fell in love with teaching when I first stepped into the classroom,” shared Professor Hutchinson.
The family’s desire to return to Europe eventually inspired him to look for teaching opportunities there. “Unlike big U.S. universities, smaller ones in Europe have a good balance between teaching and research,” he said.
Stumbling upon AUBG
The job hunt lasted for two years until one day he happened on a list of liberal arts universities in Europe, where he discovered AUBG.
“The way I got here is through kind of a circuitous route and very much happenstance,” he shared.
At the time, he didn’t know that AUBG and the University of Maine shared a long history. “Professors in the computer science department at UMaine, who have now retired, told me that some of them came to AUBG in the ’90s to help set up its computer science department,” he said.
That legacy certainly struck a chord with him.
During his in-person interview at AUBG, Hutchinson had an incredibly welcoming experience.
“The faculty took time out of their schedules to meet me, show me around, and explain the university. I told my wife, if they make me an offer, I’m taking it,” he shared.
His wife, who had spent much of her career working across Eastern Europe, was supportive. “She said, ‘Bulgaria is one place I don’t know anything about, but sure, let’s do it.’”
Hutchinson says his decision wasn’t practical, but rather personal. “I think that if everybody is happy with each other and can talk and work together, then the research and everything else comes out of that.”
That leap of faith brought the couple to Blagoevgrad, and his first impressions have only grown stronger. “That was not a lying experience because I’ve shown up here, and it’s been even better than the original experience,” he admitted.
Teaching in a motivated community
Hutchinson’s first impression of the AUBG students have also been eye-opening. “Compared to other universities, they have more intrinsic motivation, and I haven’t figured out exactly toward what, but they seem more energized to do something with themselves.”
He has already had a good guess – students at AUBG are very motivated for their future, for what comes after university.
“I can see that for 30 years or so, AUBG has created a model that encourages entrepreneurship and students want to contribute to their own society,” Professor Hutchinson explained. “Other universities are trying to create that artificially, so AUBG can teach them a lot.”
Inspiring students through AI research
In addition to teaching, professor Hutchinson continues his research in computational neuroscience and artificial intelligence. These two fields combine his major interests in computer science, philosophy, and the human mind.
“I’m not the person who’s going to create the next big thing like generative AI,” he explains. “I’m more interested in asking: how does intelligence in the real world work, and how do we simulate it?”
He’s particularly drawn to the history of things, and so he’s interested in exploring the origins of AI, when early scientists, many of them mathematicians and neuroscientists, were inspired by deep questions about intelligence itself.
Today, he believes modern AI research has drifted away from those roots. “We stopped going back and harvesting the natural world for ideas,” he says. “I want to bring that inspiration back.”
He’s found a way to pass that same curiosity on to his students by bringing them together to explore AI through collaborative research. At the University of Maine, he founded an AI-focused research lab, and now at AUBG, he plans to launch a similar student project within the next year. In the meantime, he’s already mentoring a group of students as they analyze and write research papers and prepare for their next academic steps.
Professor Hutchinson brings fresh ideas and a genuine passion for guiding students, inspiring them to step into innovation without forgetting the history of things. With a diverse background in literature, philosophy, and computer science, and a deep commitment to both research and teaching, he’s already proving to be an invaluable mentor. We’re delighted to have him as part of the AUBG community.
