Industry Experience...
After spending eight years in the US Navy, then going back to school to finish a Honos BS in Computer Science and Engineering, Michael felt that his continued education and development as an engineer would be benefitted by spending some time in industry. They were very turbulent times though as he chose to enter at the crest of the IT boom just before the crash. Then September 11th happened...
Academia | 
CSE@UTA, Faculty Associate: Research, Feb. 2002 - Present
Chief Scientist for the NSF-sponsored MavHome, smart home, project. Designed, built, and deployed technology and infrastructure for intelligent environments. Conducted artificial intelligence research. Infrastrucure coordinator for the Wireless Intelligent Simulator Environment (WISE) supporting 802.11(a/b/g) based infrastructure and research projects. AI Lab Manager. Undergraduate Research Supervisor for the NSF-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program.
American Airlines, Senior Consultant, July 2001 - Feb. 2002
Lead designer and developer for the Enterprise Data Publisher (EDP) system that distributes Passenger Name Record (PNR) information to various heterogeneous data systems throughout the enterprise in real-time from a CORBA-based high-bandwidth data feed originating off-site over 200 miles away.
Personal note: I worked for AA on September 11th. What a day! I had just made it in to the office that morning after a frantic phone call from my wife on the way in. I was not quite prepared for the events that transpired that day and it was amplified by working for a company that was directly involved. AA was great, but that event changed everything for them and the airline industry. Needless to say, what was once a stable industry now faced trouble. My job switched from architect/developer to being a technical manager over contractors--not what I wanted to do, so when the MavHome opportunity came along I decided to pursue it. I will never forget my time at AA and especially the days on and following 9/11/2001--it is very eerie to work at an airport and not hear any planes!
Telecommunications |
Motorola, Software Engineer II, June 2000 - July 2001
Member of the Common Base Transceiver Station Platform System Application Services (CBTSP-SAS) Software Engineering Team. Developed large-scale embedded C++ applications and middleware components in support of common reusable 3rd Generation Cellular Systems Infrastructure based on CDMA technologies (UMTS). Team lead for Channel Element Services which developed middleware to support wide-band data modem communication channel resource allocation to call-processing applications. Member of the SEI level 5 process improvement and optimization team.
Personal note: I was actually very happy at Motorola and very excited to be working on the project I was on, but the crash hit Motorola very hard. 3G cellular telephony still isn't in wide-spread deployment. In March of 2001 waves of layoffs decimated my team and made working there miserable. What was worse is that management would tell the engineers that some would be laid off by the end of the week resulting in almost no productive work by anyone. I was never really in any fear from losing my job, but it was just too difficult when all of my friends and fellow team mates were either laid off or reassigned. I was also being courted by two companies who were offering more money--I eventually went with one of them. A better move from Motorla, but I still miss many of the people I worked with there. Motorola had some of the best engineers in the world, but terrible management. It was amazing to watch emails fly by about hiring 5 new VPs while firing hundreds of engineers.
Defense |
Lockheed Martin, Software Engineer, 1999 - 2000
Member of the Software Engineering Team in the Concepts, Simulation, and Prototyping group Virtual Reality System Integration Lab (VR-SIL). Programmed defense simulation communication and control systems in C++ on Linux, Windows NT, and IRIX. Assisted in engineering design and creation of a configurable vehicle simulator used as an engineering tool to assist in the design of the next generation scout vehicle for U.S. and U.K. troops. Incorporated field trial data into simulated weaponry to improve simulated accuracy and realism. Developed interactive simulation configuration GUIs and testing tools. Designed PC interface circuits. Prepared business proposals and delivery documentation.
Personal note: The group I worked for was great! However, the story from functional management was never quite accurate. I worked in IRAD (Internal Research and Development) and often felt unsure about whether we would be funded the next week--a very uneasy feeling for a new engineer and especially since I had very little control over matters. Adding to that, a friend of mine kept calling me up everyday telling me about this opportunity for getting in on the ground floor of 3G cellular telephony. After being in the Navy for so many years, I wanted to see how the other side lived--so I eventually caved and moved on.
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