Jan 2014 – Jan 2022 · 8 yrs · Ithaca, New York, United States · Hybrid

• Pioneered advances in applying Linked Data to real-world systems as a key contributor to the Linked Data for Production grant. Building upon this work, I successfully integrated key elements into the Hyrax open-source project, expanding its capabilities and fostering broader adoption.
• Project: Linked Data for Libraries
• Architected the Questioning Authority Service, streamlining the process of retrieving and incorporating data from authoritative sources (e.g., Library of Congress). This innovative solution facilitated the creation of comprehensive and accurate linked data records.
• Developed a proof-of-concept implementation of Virtual Collections, enabling patrons to create customized collections by seamlessly integrating resources from the primary library (e.g., Cornell) and external institutions (e.g., Stanford Library, OCLC WorldCat, Library of Congress).
• Project: Hyrax
• Brought together a diverse team of librarians, metadata specialists, designers, and developers to identify and prioritize extended functionality for Collections. As project manager, I outlined the timeline of major tasks, crafted issues tailored to both seasoned and emerging developers, and served as technical lead for sprints involving a remote implementation team of 12 developers from 7 universities, successfully bringing the enhancements to life.
• As a maintainer, I led substantial development efforts that significantly improved infrastructure, efficiency, and features. In addition to Collection extensions, my contributions included work on a major refactoring of the entire app when the community assumed ownership of the codebase, support transitioning to a modern backend database, and considerably enhancing developer documentation with tutorials and troubleshooting guides making it easier for new developers to onboard.
• Languages: Ruby on Rails (full stack)

Jan 2012 – Jan 2014 · 2 yrs · Ithaca, New York, United States · On-site

• As a developer and leader within the Acoustic Monitoring Project (AMP), I played an integral role in advancing bird identification through the innovative use of machine learning techniques.
• Championed an interdisciplinary project focused on animal species identification through machine learning, combining expertise in technology and biology. Key contributions included managing the development and maintenance of a website for reporting machine learning results, coordinating with ornithologists to create training data sets, fostering a cooperative environment by organizing brainstorming sessions for key stakeholders from different departments, and working with the team on the development of machine learning approaches using spectrograms to identify animal species and types from their sounds.
• Languages: MATLAB, R, Ruby on Rails

Jan 2005 – Jan 2011 · 6 yrs · Ithaca, New York, United States · Remote

• The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) is a collaborative effort aimed at providing open access to high-quality educational resources, primarily focusing on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
• Designed and implemented ON-RAMP, a content management system that enabled the efficient reuse of content across multiple distribution channels, including email, websites, and reports. This user-friendly system allowed communication specialists to select content items and specify desired distribution types, leading to ON-RAMP automatically generating the final output, streamlining the content management process and maximizing the value of digital resources.
• Leveraging ON-RAMP to store article text and image content, I was able to create a simple PHP program to provide scaffolding for Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, a visually captivating online magazine designed to engage and educate K-5 teachers on diverse scientific themes and polar issues. This eZine, featuring twenty issues, effectively integrated polar science topics into the elementary curriculum through standards-based content and literacy learning, fostering a greater understanding of the role polar regions play in the global ecosystem.
• Language: Java, PHP

Jan 1995 – Jan 2004 · 9 yrs · Cary, North Carolina, United States · On-site

• Taking on a significant leadership role for the first time, I successfully stepped into a technical lead position, overseeing a distributed team with half of the staff based in a different state. This achievement was particularly notable given that the project took place in an era before the advent of modern remote collaboration tools. Despite the logistical challenges, the project proved to be a resounding success, with each developer on the team contributing meaningfully to the project's achievements.
• Project: Common Metadata Repository
• As the technical lead of a team comprising 8 developers and 2 testers, I spearheaded the development of an innovative project that required an object-oriented (OO) approach while utilizing the C programming language. To address this challenge, I devised a novel design, leveraging header files to define the class structure and employing individual C files as objects by including one of the “class” header files. This groundbreaking approach not only achieved the project's objectives but also yielded an 8-fold improvement in performance compared to the legacy system.
• Project: User Interface Technologies
• Led diverse user interface development projects within the User Interface Technologies group, including the creation of a Macintosh interface for SAS utilizing the Macintosh Toolbox API, and the development of MFC controls using Visual C++ in Developers Studio for PCs. As the lead developer for the Macintosh Help System, I designed a stand-alone graphical interface to display help system files, which involved the creation of unique icons representing various file types and the layout of all screens.
• Languages: C, Java, SAS Component Language (SCL), Visual C++