Subbarao Kambhampati (Rao) was born a long long time ago in Peddapuram in Andhra Pradesh, India. After formative education at "the school next to Cinema Hall" (where he liked the teacher of the 1st grade so much that he stayed in that class for 2nd and 3rd grades too), the "School behind Anjaneyaswamy Temple" (which has since been demolished to make way for a sweet stall), Sri Veeraraju High School (S.V. Highschool), and Sri Raja Vatsavaayi Buchchi Seetayamma Jagapati Bahaddur Maharanee College (S.R.V.B.S.J.B.M.R. College, no less!), he survived JEE and did his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering (Electronics!--although he still couldn't repair the tape recorder to his father's satisfaction) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (Alakananda, Jamuna & Tapati). Continuing along his degree grabbing spree, he landed a Masters and a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park.