Served as a unix/DHCP specialist on a team of engineers at the highest level of escalation for troubleshooting @Home's broadband IP provisioning infrastructure. Performed emergency maintenance on production servers, analyzed data from Cisco UBR CMTS (cablemodem headend equipment). Designed and coded a production server monitoring system, daily IP inventory, hourly database status. Contributed to release engineering as a CVS expert, source code control and version management, software builds, dynamically updated production software status.
Founded ZeePrime, a technical consulting company. Provided services primarily to Join Systems following suspension of operations and prior to acquisition by Excite@Home. Services included customer support, network design and installation, unix system administration, web server management, and office technologies. Coordinated integration of Join Systems physical assets, unix cluster, domain services (email and website), and software development environment into Excite@Home following the company merger/acquisition.
Competitive Automation is a small software development company. The initial product was a network configuration server, implementing the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). In late 1997, the company released a new product, JOIN 4.0, which provides Dynamic Domain Name Service (DDNS) in addition to DHCP. Though the company is very small, it has a very large installed customer base. As a technology industry startup, the company has seen enormous growth, from 3 regular full-time employees in the fall of 1996 to about a dozen, one year later. In this environment, this position requires a great degree of flexibility, as well as a wide variety of skills--most important of which is the ability to learn quickly and find clever solutions to a wide variety of problems. Responsibilities include: 1. the design, construction, and maintenence of an ethernet LAN (including 10-baseT and 10-base2 segments, interface configuration, multiple hubs, an ISDN router, and multiple physical and logical subnets). 2. UNIX system administration in a multi-platform environment (Solaris, HP-UX, Dec Unix, NT, etc.), management of user accounts and disk space, automounted nfs filesystems. 3. Management of a software development environment using 'cvs' revision control system. . Software development such as installation scripts, building newly developed sources, interface between Quality Assurance staff and programmers. . Customer support including on-site visits and customized installations for large networks, training of network administrators using DHCP/DDNS services.
Pacoima Dam is a 500ft concrete arch dam located in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles. In January 1994, a magnitude 7 earthquake occurred nearby which produced a peak acceleration at the dam of 2.61g, the highest ever recorded during such an event. Coseismic displacement of the dam itself, as well as significant fracture and dislocation of adjacent rock masses, raised concern regarding the stability of the dam. Responsibilities of this position included the establishment of three permanent remote Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) stations and the continuous automated monitoring of resultant satellite survey data. One station was a previously established US Coast and Geodetic Survey monument at a helicopter landing pad within a Los Angeles County Fire Department mountain camp. Another involved the design of a steel mast, bolted to the crest of the dam, which would allow no more than a millimetre offset at the top of its two-metre height. Each station included a modem and dedicated telephone line. An IBM PC was programmed and dedicated to the task of managing the data. Each day, the computer automatically telephoned each GPS station and downloaded that day's survey data. Copies were then transferred via the Internet to remote archive sites. A test station was set up and experiments performed to determine modem configuration and the feasability of using frame-relay telecommunications. The purpose of this project is to provide local authorities with timely and accurate information with which they may consult for use in decisionmaking regarding public safety.
The Pluto Fast Flyby (now Pluto Express) Preproject is a group of scientists and engineers whose purpose is to determine the feasibility, logistics, and design of a mission to explore the distant double planet, Pluto/Charon. The mission is likely to involve sending a pair of interplanetary spacecraft, launched on a Proton booster rocket (Russian Space Program). In accordance with NASA's "Faster, Better, Cheaper" philosophy, the mission design incorporates advanced technology and revolutionary management techniques to minimize spacecraft mass and cost, and therefore expedite mission completion. Specific responsibilities of this position as "Primary Accountable Team Member" included the design and fabrication of a detailed, full-scale mockup of the most recent spacecraft design. Because the exact specifications of the spacecraft were yet undetermined, and the design continually changing, this position required frequent consultation with several other design engineers. Critical decisions were made in the development of a model design which would reflect important aspects of actual spacecraft design, but with simplification necessary to allow timely fabrication. Model fabrication required precise and complex machining of aluminum parts as well as artistic ability to produce a model worthy of display before a wide range of audiences, from members of Congress and top NASA officials, to the general public. This position also required the management and leadership of a team of students, responisibility for a $5000 budget, and travel to Washington D.C. for model setup.
David Grose is a local Cape Cod artist. He and his wife live in, manage, and operate a small art gallery featuring David's oil paintings of natural and well-known seashore settings of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The predominant responsibility of this position was to assist the artist in the production of a limited edition serigraph print of a particular Cape scene, "East Dennis Marsh". Secondary responsibilities included the incidental tasks pertaining to the daily function of the gallery, such as minor building maintanence, as well as public relations. An exhibit was prepared for a public art festival and press releases were sent to local media. The production of a fine-art serigraph print is a complex multistage process. The seashore scene was partitioned into 32 color separations, an unusually large number, resulting in exceptional spectral resolution. Each color separation is itself a multistage process. First a "positive" image of a single color is produced by the artist, using opaque ink on a clear acetate sheet. This positive image is then transferred onto a light sensitive emulsion by sandwiching the positive between the emulsion and a glass plate on a vacuum table. The table is then tilted and exposed to an extremely high intensity carbon arc lamp. The emulsion is then developed and unexposed regions washed away. The softened emulsion is then pressed onto a very fine silk screen, later used as a printing mask. This position required great attention to detail and a reasonable degree of artistic ability.
Colby Photo Supply is a well-established business on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It has been in operation for well over 100 years and many local residents have been customers for generations. Normally two, and occasionally three, employees run the store, which has a total staff of six or seven. One of those on duty serves as Photo Lab Technician, whose primary responsibility is to maintain and operate a one-hour, color photo processing lab. This includes a variety of tasks, such as mixing chemicals, developing film, and making prints. Photographic chemicals (developer, fixer, stop bath, rinse, and stabilizer) are mixed in 40-liter batches using graduated cylinders and a motorized mixing vessel. Component chemicals must be measured to within a 1-2% tolerance. Color film was developed using a C-41 processing machine, and then printed using a computer-controlled printing machine. Both machines required daily testing and maintainence. Standard negatives and prints were processed and analyzed with a precise densitometer to ensure a high degree of quality control. Organization and multitasking ability were essential to this position because there were often 10-20 orders in various stages of processing, and the schedule of regular maintanence and daily procedure was frequently interrupted by rush orders. Full and in-depth knowledge of photographic technology, as well as an understanding of such concepts as color balance, density, and contrast, were critical in creating a product which would be both technically accurate and aesthetically pleasing.
My greatest strength lies in the diversity of my talents and experiences.
The ideal job would be one which draws from that diversity, and
one which allows for expansion into unexplored territory. I have developed
a good sense of technical design, especially mechanical design. My recent
work has been focussed on computers, both for research and commercial use.
The rapidly expanding universe of the Internet and the World Wide Web has
provided a very dynamic learning environment. I am interested in developing
new systems, and integrating already existant systems in ways that were
not possible before....bringing together the little pieces into a much
larger whole. In the short term, I seek a position where I can
use this computer talent in an interesting and dynamic environment.
In a much longer term, I am interested in technical consulting, particularly
in the areas of accident investigation, failure analysis, emergency services,
and disaster management. A position where I can apply my diversity of talent,
either designing and building small devices, or working with computers to
simulate or even manage such events. I am interested in both laboratory work
and field work. Consulting projects lasting on the order of weeks or
months are ideal. Interaction with a large number of people is desirable.
Colleagues working as a team toward a common goal with each member of that
team having their own individual talents and responsibilities is optimal.
Priorities for me are: interesting work (accident/disaster
investigation, failure analysis, biotechnology, space exploration, scientific research), technical diversity, the possibility of
advancement, and travel.