About Me
I come to web development and software architecture from a unique perspective. Part of it is being a graduate of the UT Austin Linguistics Department Master's program. Part is leading-edge practice in PHP web development and an ambition for learning new skills as they avail themselves. As a Zend Certified Engineer, with certifications in PHP5 as well as the Zend Framework, I am one of less than 1,000 dually-certified ZCEs with such a combination. I am also a Certified MySQL Associate.
My current position at Wikia pairs nicely with my commitment to using big-data computing methods for interesting applications to natural language, discourse, and meaning modeling. I also really enjoy strengthening information retrieval with linguistic inferences based on document structure. Nerdy, I know.
My past roles include Software Architect at AetherQuest Solutions, Computational Linguist at Apogee Search (see my old Apogee blog posts here) and Web Developer at Vertive, Inc -- Publisher of Offers.com. These roles represent experience from both ends of the spectrum representing pure research to pure implementation with respect to web applications and NLP.
My academic background includes several several papers, a teaching assistantship, and a research assistantship funded by the National Science Foundation. My master's thesis, which stems from this work, is also available in the papers section.
I'm a big foodie, and when I'm not trying a new restaurant with my wife, Kayleigh, I'm trying a new recipe at home. We also try to explore new places (be it a new country or a new hiking trail) whenever the opportunity arises. I am a big fan of living life to its fullest, learning new ideas and perspectives, and using my cooler whenever I can.
