Alumni - Northern Kentucky University
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I am a research scientist at the IBM T.J. Watson lab. The lab is aimed at inventing the technology that will drive computing decades ahead. It is an energetic place where ideas and prototypes rule supreme. If you know how to do it better: tell us, and then show us. People on my hallway include the guys that built the chess program that beat the world champion Kasparov. Mandelbrot is on the floor right below me, as are the guys trying to build a quantum computer and Linux on a watch. Industrial research is the place for me. I like solving technical problems, and at the same time I want that problem solving to actually have impact on the world. My current project (along with two other researchers) is to develop a machine learning algorithm which automatically produces a script just by watching a person execute a sequence of steps. My group has argued such technology would create a way for organizations share procedural knowledge "documents" in a manner analogous to the way that traditioal documents are shared today. We have three years of funding to prove it.
As a researcher I focus on coming up with new (sometimes radical) approaches to solving computing problems, and then do just enough work to prove the approach is practical and useful. Development teams later take those ideas proven useful and turn them into IBM products. In my opinion, I spent my whole day doing the most fun (and challenging) part of the invention process.
Northern Kentucky University prepared me very well for graduate school. I found at Ohio State that I often had as much or more familiarity with background material as did other students. At NKU I studied both Mathematics and Computer Science; in my Junior and Senior years I also worked with several Faculty to develop specific classes that went beyond the existing curriculum. The attention I obtained at NKU would be hard to duplicate elsewhere. Both my studies at NKU, Ohio State, and University of Illinois, all feed into the work I am doing now. Programming skills, diverse and in-depth parts of my mathematics background are called upon frequently. For my research in particular, algorithm design, statistical modeling, and proof techniques often come into play. Remaining current in my field goes beyond schooling, every year I spend significant time reading new research results, publishing, and attending conferences--just the way I like it.
