Resume
Want the short version? Download my resume!
Summary
Software developer focused on strong team building and robust software development practices. Significant experience in backend / API development, front-end web development, and automated test, build, and deployment pipelines. Passionate about projects that improve humanity and the world around us. Robotics specialities include electrical integration with embedded dev boards (Arduino, Raspberry Pi) and complex software algorithms, especially localization, navigation, and computer vision.
Education
M.S. Computer Science (Intelligent Robotics) – GPA 3.38 December 2012
University of Southern California (USC)
B.S. Aerospace Engineering, minor in Computer Science – GPA 3.39 AE, 3.91 CS May 2011
University of Southern California (USC)
Work Experience
Gravitr, Inc – Cofounder, CTO March 2019 – August 2019
- Led development of gravitr.com marketing platform; tracked development in weekly sprints w/ Jira
- Front-end built with Typescript and React; back-end built with Python, Django, and Django REST Framework
- Automated test pipeline with CircleCI; automated deployment using AWS for staging and for production
- AWS technologies used: EC2, ECS, Fargate, Route53, ECR, RDS, S3, CloudWatch, and Certificate Manager
inVia Robotics – Manager, Robot Management System (RMS) December 2018 – February 2019
- Led a team to create our next generation Robot Management System with increased throughput for 100+ robots
- Created a Monte Carlo framework to run multiple simulation scenarios to gain confidence in new features before rollout
inVia Robotics – Software Developer November 2017 – December 2018
- Created our AS/RS application which integrates between customer WMS’s and our Robot Management System
- AS/RS application principally provides a REST framework, business logic and unit tests, and automated documentation
- AS/RS batches similar orders for optimal throughput and responds to changes in inventory in real-time
- Created an orchestration framework for our apps to automate merge request testing, customer deployments, and nightly simulations
- Technologies: Python, Django, Django REST Framework, PostgreSQL, Ansible, AWS EC2, Proxmox, Systemd, Grafana, Sentry
SpaceX – Software Developer January 2014 – November 2017
- Led a team to create a design tool for complex avionics systems; now used by hundreds of people for all three major vehicles
- Managed team sprints (using JIRA Agile) and quarterly priorities to deliver features with the most impact to the company
- Data-driven system design used as a foundation for automating vehicle harness design, system analysis, and integrated test procedures
- Developed primary application schema and supporting RESTful HTTP APIs using MongoDB, Python, and Eve
- Developed front-end interface as an Angular SPA including rich viewers for avionics components and systems using Raphael and D3
- Utilized continuous integration with Bitbucket and Bamboo and automated deployment to AWS GovCloud
- Technologies: JavaScript, Angular, Autobahn, Lodash, Karma, Jasmine, Protractor, LESS, Bootstrap, Brunch, NodeJS, Vagrant, S3
SpaceX – Avionics Systems Integration Engineer April 2011 – January 2014
- Designed avionics systems architecture for our pad abort Dragon 2 capsule and related propulsion test article
- Designed vehicle-in-the-loop test racks to simulate spacecraft sensors during mission simulations
- Developed a web-based graphical reports tool to review vehicle data using Django, jQuery, Bootstrap, Python, and Node.js
- Developed remote camera system capable of wirelessly managing more than a dozen cameras simultaneously using Python and Angular
Blue Robotics – Engineer January 2014 – February 2016
- Designed an autonomous surfboard with solar panels, thrusters, and a satellite comm link; numerous successful ocean trials (blog, github)
- Developed telemetry protocol for bandwidth-constrained satellite connection with serializers in C and in Javascript (github)
- Developed end-to-end, real-time satellite communication using Rock Seven API, Heroku, and MongoLab (github)
- Developed a real-time mission monitoring website including Google Maps integration, live telemetry plots, and vehicle control (github)
Illumin – Web Developer March 2008 – December 2011
- Designed and implemented a robust content management system from scratch using FreeBSD, Apache, MySQL, PHP (website)
- Built a “what you see is what you mean” editor which enhanced consistency in a magazine run by college students (inherently high turn-over rate)
- Full, multi-user article editorial workflow integrated into app including a pre-publish article audit to further enhance article consistency
- Integrated photo editor for basic photo manipulation tasks
Advanced Tactics, Inc – R/D Engineer January 2011 – March 2011
- Designed advanced, small-scale technology demonstrators (fixed-wing and rotary vehicles) under a grant from the Marines
- Developed a standardized long range (60mi), line-of-sight comm package for realtime video and telemetry for all of our vehicles
Computer Science 201 – Team Manager August 2009 – December 2009
- Managed a multi-person project over the course of a semester
- Costed task items and handled inter-personal dynamics to make student programmers more efficient
TruthDig.com – Web Consultant June 2009 – July 2009
- Advised the team on their technical platform and made development suggestions
Raytheon – Quality Engineer May 2009 – August 2009
- Interned in the Quality organization with Mission Assurance to audit labs against engineering command media
- Coded VBA macros in Excel to provide trend analysis of non-conformances in Space and Airborne Systems programs
Flash Avenue – Web Developer September 2007 – August 2008
- Worked on a number of different websites doing everything from small database updates to full framework development
- Key technologies included Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP
OneGeek – Computer Repair Technician January 2006 – September 2007
- Diagnosed and repaired customer’s computers
Projects
Mecanumbot July 2012 – January 2016
- Developed a robotic research platform that included mecanum wheels, hot-swappable batteries, a lidar, and a 3D camera (blog, github)
- Designed and built a power monitoring and distribution board with Arduino bootloader using Eagle (blog, github)
- Software projects included Hector SLAM (github) and a following algorithm using point clouds through C++ and ROS (blog, github)
CS 547 August 2011 – December 2011
- Developed real-time pose estimation and classification algorithm from 3D point clouds for LEGO blocks using C++ and ROS (github)
AME 441 Project August 2010 – December 2010
- Designed a structural health monitoring system by analyzing vibrations with custom accelerometer chips
- Developed a realtime wireless serial communications protocol to connect multiple accelerometers to a LabVIEW base station
USC Aerial Robotics Team – Software Team Lead August 2009 – July 2010
- Outlined a distributed multi-agent solution for autonomous indoor navigation and lead a team to implement it
- Implemented a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping algorithm (DP-SLAM) in C++ for quad-rotor helicopters
USC AeroDesign Team – Performance Captain January 2009 – July 2010
- Created a multidisciplinary design optimizer in MATLAB to spec out the competition plane as Performance Captain
- Gained workshop experience by building plane parts from composite materials for Design/Build/Fly competition
CS 445 January 2009 – May 2009
- Developed a particle filter to localize a robot in a known world/map with an ultrasonic sensor and magnetometer (github)
- Implemented a blob detection algorithm to identify objects and their pose from a 2D camera
Skills
- Software Development: Javascipt, Angular, Protractor, Jasmine, Karma, Raphael, D3, Autobahn, Lodash, Bootstrap, LESS, Node, MySQL, Mongo, Python, Nosetests, Eve, git, ROS, C++, Apache, Bamboo, JIRA, Vagrant, S3, AWS, Adobe Photoshop
- Mechanical Engineering: MATLAB, Simulink, SolidWorks (Certified Associate), LabVIEW, NX, E3, Solid Edge, 3D Printing (MakerBot), CNC Machining (Fireball CNC), Laser Cutting
- Electrical Engineering: PCB Design (Eagle), Harness Design (E3), MultiSim, ModelSim SE, Xilinx
Outreach
- Advisor to USC AeroDesign team 2011 – present
- Viterbi Student-Alumni Mentoring Program (VSAMP) 2014 – 2016
- Advisor to USC Underwater Robotics team Spring 2016
Honors / Awards
- 2nd place – AIAA Student Design/Build/Fly Competition (w/ AeroDesign Team) Spring 2011
- Interactive Media Awards 2010 – Outstanding Achievement: Science/Technology (w/ Illumin) Fall 2010
- “Bridging the Gap” award from the Society of Women Engineers Spring 2010
- California Space Grant Consortium UROP Research Scholarship Spring 2010
- USC Viterbi School of Engineering Dean’s List Spring 2009 – Fall 2011
- USC Viterbi School of Engineering Stillman Scholarship Fall 2009 – Spring 2011
- Most Useful Award at the Google 24 Hour Programming Challenge at USC February 2008
- Dallastown Area High School Dollars for Scholars Scholarship Spring 2007
References
- Mentioned by former SpaceX employee as an influential mentor (not by name, see “someone else at SpaceX”)
- Mentioned by Eve (Python) lead developer as a successful case-study on open-source development
- Mentioned by LAtelier Marketing founder as a web host and friend