Amit Chakrabarti grew up in Bangalore, received a B.Tech. from IIT Bombay, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University. While broadly interested in theoretical computer science, he is especially fascinated by impossibility phenomena in algorithms and mathematics. During his high school days, he was known to cite Abel's theorem on algebraically solving the general quintic as his favourite mathematical result. This has not changed yet. He enjoys playing Scrabble at the international tournament level, and various other games with his son at a sub-amateur level.

Graham Cormode grew up in England, received a B.A. from the University of Cambridge, and a Ph.D. from the University of Warwick. His research interests within computer science span algorithms, databases, networks, and security. In his vanishingly small spare time, he likes to solve mysteries.

Andrew McGregor grew up in Scotland, received a B.A. and M.Math from the University of Cambridge, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is interested in a broad range of problems in theoretical computer science and information theory. He sometimes cares about constants but mainly when they are in the exponent. He once played Scrabble against an opponent of international renown; who won will be left as a mystery.