A Quick Introduction

Writing about yourself feels awkward, but anyone who finds this site deserves to know something about its author. I’m not an AI bot, for example, though I guess you’ll have to trust me on that. More to the point, the content here draws from several fields, and you can reasonably wonder if I’m qualified to discuss all of them. Of course, if any particular post strains plausibility, then I’ve erred in my writing. Send me a polite note, and I’ll do my best to fix it. That said, my academic and professional background includes a fair bit of math, biology, and computers—the main topics you’ll find here.

The math part started before my freshman year at college. I knew I was going to Georgia Tech, which strongly suggested an engineering degree. But I had no clue about what engineers actually did and certainly no idea about which field of engineering might suit me. There was no doubt about my love and aptitude for mathematics, however, so I asked folks which engineering discipline most relied on math. Everyone said “Electrical,” and that’s how I ended up with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Georgia Tech, like several schools at the time, promoted engineering as a peer of the sciences rather than subordinate to them, so the College of Engineering did not award Bachelor of “Science” degrees. degree. And I was just getting started with math. Research for my Master’s degree relied heavily on queuing theory, and my Doctoral Thesis includes a heavy dose of non-linear differential equations.

In fact, those PhD studies introduced me to serious biology, and math once again sparked the interest. It was exciting to learn that Biology is far more than the purely descriptive science I learned in high school and even mathematicians can make meaningful contributions with a major impact on disease treatment For example: Nowak, M A, and A J McMichael. “How HIV defeats the immune system.” Scientific American vol. 273,2 (1995): 58-65. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0895-58. My own research focused on the social behavior of bacteria, a topic that also has implications for human health. Bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa don’t intend to cause us harm when they gather together, but in some circumstances that can be be effect. My contributions seek to advance the theories behind the emergence of social behavior and its effects on evolutionary fitness. And while I am (at best) a very part-time biologist, I’ve had the good fortune to work and collaborate with renowned experts who are also some of the nicest people in the world.

As for computers, let me say that my love/hate relationship goes way back. For my first software class, we laboriously typed our programs on key punches and handed the resulting card decks to the friendly computer operators who would run them overnight. I distinctly remember waiting in line for a key punch machine to become available, hoping to be favored with the newer IBM 029 machine instead of the more numerous 026 models. I’ve since written software for giant corporations, three-person startups, and everything in-between, and at levels ranging from junior developer to senior management. I currently spend my weekdays as a software engineer for a leading international biotech organization.

If I get bored writing about engineering, math, and science, you might find a diversion into the world of endurance sports. Here I claim only hard-earned experience, not expertise. You aren’t likely to find me on any podium, but I’ve been competing as an amateur in triathlon, cycling, running, and swimming for decades. Hype about new training methods, techniques, and tools abounds, and it’s a great excuse to apply scientific skepticism and mathematical analysis in the real world.

There are probably other things I could mention, though I think that covers the basics. If you want more, links at the bottom of the page provide additional details and ways to get in touch.