Senior information technology professional with extensive software design, development, consulting, research, technical writing and teaching experience. Offers expertise in object-oriented development, client/server environments, relational database applications and graphical user interfaces. Has collaborated with professionals in a variety of different application areas including banking, recruiting, physics, mathematics and telecommunications. Adept at learning new software development tools.

• Designed and developed a table-driven message router and a logging class for an equities trading system at a major bank. (C++/Java, Oracle, MQSeries, NEON, UNIX)
  
  

• Maintained and extended a sales workstation system for fixed income securities at the same bank. Added GUI features to the client and improved server reliability. (C++, Sybase, Galaxy, UNIX)
  
  

• Developed data analysis software for the Superconducting Super Collider, a Department of Energy national laboratory. This included GUIs for quench test analysis and cryogenic monitoring/control as well as an API for magnetic field measurements. (IMSL/IDL, C, XDesigner, Glish, UNIX)
  
  

• Developed accounting and asset management reporting procedures for a major investment bank. (C, C_pslib, SQL*Time, Oracle, Pro*C, Portia, Sybase, DBlib/C, UNIX)
  
  

• Developed interactive documentation, license management, LaTeX-to-MML translation and graphical software for a mathematical software company. (C, Motif, Lex, Yacc, HOOPS, UNIX)
  
  

• Prepared a detailed software design and business plan for an economically-priced, Web-based recruiting and jobhunting system. Work included choice of features, preparation of the functional description and database schema, and creation of development and marketing strategies. (HTML)
  
  

• Published research in several fields: algorithm design and analysis, formal languages, data structures, information retrieval, numerical methods, database design and algebraic topology. Co-recipient of two simultaneous grants that supported research into the automatic content analysis of documents. Also taught computer science at the graduate and advanced undergraduate levels.
  
  

Developed a detailed software design for an economically-priced, Internet-based recruiting and jobhunting system that solves many of the problems currently experienced in the matching of candidates to jobs, establishment of communications between candidates and recruiters/hiring managers, and tracking of candidates through the hiring process. Work included performing a business analysis, preparing a detailed design document including functional description and data definition, and developing a guided tour that illustrates the user interfaces. Features of this proposed system which will make it stand out in the realm of cost-effective recruiting solutions and make it suitable for customers of a variety of different sizes are the following:

The Design Document provides over 200 pages of detailed information essential to the efficient development of the proposed system. The Design includes the hierarchical structure of skills information and requirements information and as well as how to perform their matching, types of jobbank screens as defined by their form and function, detailed functional descriptions of recruiting, jobhunting and setup operations, a data model with entity-relationship diagrams, verifications that must be performed in order to maintain referential integrity, database functions, and a development team and schedule. The design is implementation independent except that it provides a relational definition of the database schema. The design provides the necessary input for a number of activities: choice of architectural and development tools, preparation of architecture-dependent design requirements, development of a test plan and actual system coding. Also, the design document is supported by a Guided Tour that presents an extensive collection of screens in the form of linked HTML documents that approximates the GUI that will exist in the completed system. There are a total of over 40 screens in the Tour.

Finally, there is a Business Plan in preparation that presents the necessary analysis to show that the proposed product should be developed. The many inputs to the Plan include the designer’s experience recruiting, conversations with recruiters, study of existing recruiting systems, survey results from a popular HR magazine that show that HR professionals are concerned about staffing and the utilization of technology, and the designer’s own online survey (at www.erjh.com) which demonstrates candidates’ dissatisfaction with existing job sites. A marketing strategy is also presented; it includes a plan for starting with a relatively small investment and building the business on income.

Worked on the Sales Workstation (SWS) project for the Trading and Capital Markets Technology division and on an Internet trading system for the Electronic Commerce division. Employee of NorthStar Technologies, Inc., from 6/1996 until 3/2001.

Sales Workstation was a client/server-based, real-time database interface for selling fixed income securities; the server ran on Solaris on SUN SPARCstations and the client ran on either Solaris or Windows NT. The underlying database management system was Sybase and the graphical user interface, interprocess communication and internals of the software were developed using C++ and Galaxy, an object-oriented, cross-platform development tool from Visix Software. SWS supported rapid application development by providing a meta-data definition language (in the form of stored procedures) that could be used to specify database interfaces, access privileges, and the layouts of list screens and detail screens. Responsibilities included the following:

• Performed extensive testing and debugging; provided much greater reliability in the SWS server and client software; used Purify extensively to identify memory leaks and the use of pointers to freed memory. Handled releases including startup shell scripts and used Clearcase for control of source code. Improved the NT client installation program (VC++) so that it supported configuration files that directed the installation process.
  
  

• Provided several valuable user interface features using Galaxy GUI, data structure and communication objects: completed implementation of list screens that contained an updater bar and supported vertical and horizontal scrolling by associating changes in one object with changes in another; completed a customization feature for the list screen which allowed the user to select which columns to display, the order and width of columns, and the column(s) to use for sorting; created a dialog box that allowed a user to change his/her password online and coordinated the change across multiple Sybase servers; provided support for making insertions and updates from detail screens and for automatic broadcast of updates made by users of detail screens.
  
  

• Provided enhancements for London European Commercial Paper users: ability to toggle “approved” flag on and off and to increment/decrement rates using +/- keys, support for display of “extra” information on detail screens, automatic storage of user name and time stamp for insertions and updates (for audit purposes), and support for keyboard-only use (menu selection, etc.).

Worked on an Internet trading system for the same institution. The DBMS for the project was Oracle, MQSeries was used for message passing and NEON was also evaluated for use in networking. Responsibilities included the following:

• Prepared a performance study of MQSeries Integrator (MQSeries and NEON). Defined several groups of tests and wrote put and get programs and a program to create scripts which ran the tests. Implemented all modules in C++. The tests were distinguished by choosing among the following variables: complexity of reformatting and routing rules, use/non-use of a user exit, whether messages were sent to one output queue (determined by rule) or to all output queues, and whether or not messages were persistent. Within a group of tests prepared Excel spreadsheets, corresponding to each of several different message sizes, that showed how latency was affected by using a variety of input message rates and numbers of output queues. Compiled results into a report.
  
  

• Prepared a second study that investigated the performance characteristics of MQSeries in a configuration where there were a large number of POSIX threads placing blocking gets on a queue and requesting correlation identifier matching on different identifiers. Defined groups of tests, etc., as above, compiled test results into a report and discussed results with IBM.
  
  

• Created WrapperQueue classes for Java and C++ that allowed applications to use MQSeries for message passing without dealing directly with MQSeries objects for routing and setting properties (e.g. priority, persistence, reply-to queue and, optionally, the NEON header) of messages. Instead, all necessary information was kept in an Oracle database that was accessed using JDBC (Java) or OCI (C++). In this way, an application could "put" a message to a WrapperQueue and the message would be sent to the appropriate actual queues with the appropriate properties set.
  
  

• Developed generic logging classes for Java and C++ that provided for transparent logging to an MQSeries queue. Created additional logging subclasses for Oracle, MQSeries, JDBC and the WrapperQueue above. The subclasses performed formatting of the information contained in standard objects. All classes were tested in a multi-threaded (POSIX or Java) environment. The base classes provided for storing log messages in a file while MQSeries was down and dumping the messages to the MQSeries queue when MQSeries was restarted.

Worked for NorthStar on a temporary basis as a recruiter for 6 months (in 2002). Also worked briefly in product support for a local company but decided that continuing with the design project was more consistent with long-term career goals.

For this TCP/IP conferencing software development company (now a part of AOL):

• Explored the role of the telephony-related conferencing standard T120 in the future of the InSoft product line. Provided technical comments on draft standards prepared by the Teleconferencing Standards Committee.
  
  

• Designed and implemented an API in C for saving and restoring user preferences. Learned OpenDVE, InSoft's conferencing API. Tested software that was about to be released on NT and UNIX.

Developed reporting procedures in UNIX client/server environments. All procedures created PostScript output using C_pslib from Barton Creek Software. Employee of NorthStar Technologies, Inc. Projects included the following:

• Developed general ledger reporting procedures in C for use by upper-level management. Used Pro*C to extract data from an SQL*Time database running over Oracle on a Sun SPARCstation. Greatly enhanced performance of the reporting procedures by the definition and use of temporary tables.
  
  

• Developed securities portfolio reporting procedures in C that produced reports which the Asset Management Department mailed to its clients. Data was extracted from a Portia database running over Sybase using DBlib/C. Implemented an API for extracting portfolio performance data.
  
  

Worked on TennSpeed, a system developed by Tenneco for managing requests (called nominations) to move natural gas between points on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline. Development was performed using C++ on a UNIX Sequent Sybase server accessed via PCs on a Novell network. Employee of Analytical Technologies, Inc. Responsibilities included:

• Performed maintenance of a 23,000-line program that validated nominations and used DBlib to load them into a Sybase database for scheduling. Adapted the program for use by two other gas pipeline companies.
  
  

• Assembled the requirements of the new companies and updated the existing source code. Development included adding and deleting validations, modifying Sybase stored procedures to accommodate changes in the database schema, testing, and internal documentation.

Member of the Data Management Group and the Magnet Test Laboratory (MTL) Software Taskforce. Developed software interfaces for use by analysts and operators of the MTL. Development was done on Sun SPARCstations running Solaris. Responsibilities included the following:

• Developed an XWindows/Motif GUI using XDesigner for the cryogenic monitoring and control system to be used in cold testing of superconducting magnets. Worked closely with a cryogenics engineer and an operating systems specialist to determine the functional specifications, software architecture, data structures and techniques for interprocess communication (using Glish).
  
  

• Developed a paradigm for designing APIs to access test data. Implemented the prototype API in C from a colleague’s object-oriented data model (in ERDraw) for magnetic field measurements.
  
  

• Developed, along with a programmer, GUI software that allowed analysis programs written in Fortran to interact with a user interface written in IMSL/IDL to display analysis results graphically. Used the interface to provide an analysis tool for quench test results.
  
  

• Developed a conversion tool in C to translate quench test results from a Sybase database created by the Short Magnet and Cable Test Laboratory (SMCTL) into the binary file format (Structured Data Set (SDS)) used by MTL Test Department analysts. Used an existing API to extract test results.
  
  

• Implemented a report generator that typeset tabular data by formatting it using LaTeX.
  
  

• Documentation: wrote a description of MTL conventions for naming voltage taps, a design document for the test data access APIs (above), a manual page for the prototype API for magnetic field measurements, and a summary of the SMCTL quench test results database.
  
  

Visual Numerics is a leading supplier of numerical and graphical software for industry, government and education. The majority of the development was done on Sun SPARCstations running Solaris and the remainder on VAX/VMS. Accomplishments included the following:

• Redesigned the user-interface for the IMSL Interactive Documentation Facility (IDF), Version 1.0, an ASCII-based Fortran program, so that it was more portable by defining an API that allowed basic screen and keyboard I/O to be written in Fortran or C. Assisted a programmer with implementation of the interface. IDF became available on 21 different platforms.
  
  

• Developed IDF Version 2.0 for the IMSL Fortran libraries. Used Motif widgets to integrate keyword searches, scrolling, on-line help and the saving of examples and subroutine descriptions (PostScript) into a hypertext TeX-viewing system. Supervised a programmer in implementing keyword search and data access routines using a commercial Btree package from Softfocus.
   

• Designed and implemented a node-locking license manager in C that operated on 10 environments and allowed IMSL to increase its sales by 20% in the 15 countries where it was used. The license manager included a program that generated a key for a specific combination of machines and a validation function that could be added to applications which checked the key. Development included some VAX/MACRO assembly language programming. Provided end-user documentation.
  
  

• Developed a C implementation of an ACM curve (z = f(x, y)) plotting program in Fortran using the HOOPS three-dimensional graphics package and the ForC Fortran-to-C translator from Cobalt-Blue.
  
  

• Developed C routines to parse and evaluate numerical functions, a C conversion tool to help translate LaTeX documents to FrameMaker markup language (both using Lex and Yacc), and presented in-house seminars on C, C++, root isolation and the license manager.
  
  

Published research in several fields: algorithm design and analysis, formal languages, data structures (quadtrees and trees to hold repeated strings), information retrieval, numerical methods, database design and algebraic topology. Co-recipient of two simultaneous grants from the state of Louisiana that supported research into the automatic content analysis of documents. Publications are listed below.

Taught many computer science courses, including several at the graduate level: algorithm design and analysis, formal languages, data structures, numerical methods, database design, compiler design, programming languages, file structures, programming and finite mathematics. (C, Pascal, VAX/MACRO, LISP, PROLOG, Lex, Yacc, relational algebra/calculus)

Worked on the Loop Maintenance Operations System (LMOS), the Bell system for the handling of complaints about telephones. Efforts were divided between maintenance of the original system which ran under the Bell Operating System (BOS) and the development of a new entity-relationship, UNIX-based system, LMOS-next. Development was done in C on a PDP-11/70 UNIX system; BOS did not support a development environment. Work included the following:

• Developed table-generation programs for the communications control manager and mechanized loop testing modules. These programs used Lex and Yacc to parse structured input and initialize C data structures that described the controllers, terminals and printers attached to the system. Developed an interface in C that allowed software to be tested on UNIX reading/writing files and then run under BOS accessing card readers and line printers.
  
  

• Developed a log tape analysis program in C that was used by operating telephone companies (OTCs) to monitor usage and balance system load. The program recorded each type of transaction entered on each terminal with its timestamp and calculated average response times for types of transactions. Memory was allocated on the 16-bit PDP-11 running BOS by starting several processes and using them as storage areas. Assisted with Beta testing at an OTC.
  
  

• Developed a batch database tester and an interactive database editor for the proprietary DBMS and file system used by LMOS-next. The editor allowed developers to interact with the database via abstract data types called “packets” which were collections of (key, value) pairs. Users could retrieve, insert, delete and modify data using simple commands.
  
  

• Developed a program for quickly copying LMOS file systems; the program allowed for physical repartitioning of records in a file and supported user exits that could be used to change physical record formats.

Graduate Assistant – Computer Science Department, Pennsylvania State University, State College.

Lecturer – Mathematics Department, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Taught linear algebra, algebra, trigonometry and calculus. Graded and assisted for programming, compiler design, numerical methods (matrix computations) and calculus.