I'm a R&D Engineer, Software Developer, Entrepreneur, Author, and a former Minister (no doubt a surprise to post Y2K associates).
My computer science education was non-traditional. I did a 2-year program in computer science, spent a decade in industry, then returned to get a bachelors, and subsequently two more graduate degrees.
After several decades in engineering I've covered a lot of bases: Electronics, Embedded Safety Critical Systems, SQL and Databases, Test Systems, Manufacturing Stations, Desktop, Mobile, Web, Blockchain, and AI/ML Applications.
My entrepreneurial endeavors started circa 1986 when I wrote a cutting edge Bible Translation PC Application pre-Microsoft Windows. Ten years later I had built my first commercial product which I did from A-Z...the electronics, mechanical & assembly, firmware, desktop application, sales & marketing. More recent endeavors have included building an e-commerce air purifier store.
As an author I've published a novel and penned an award winning screenplay. I've also written a few technical White Papers, and published a training course on the Medical Device Software Process.
I have a keen interest in various technology subject matter and actively work on personal hobby projects.
During my time in the ministry I spent many years immersed in biblical studies including New Testament Greek. I preached numerous sermons to audiences ranging in size from hundreds to thousands but stepped aside from the public ministry in 1998.
Finally, I'm the proud father of 2 wonderful boys.
Advisory and development role that includes Class III implantable design, solving difficult technical issues across multiple projects, oversight of safety critical software design patterns and static analysis techniques.
Pacemakers, Defibrillators, Diagnostic Recorders, Research Controls
Original member of the product development team of a highly visible startup company that created the world’s first commercially available dynamically stabilized balancing machine, namely, the Segway Personal Transporter. Enjoyed a wide variety of work experiences from upstream prototype concept creation, to product development and release, to downstream manufacturing and serviceability tools, as well as leading investigations for issues in fielded products and subsequent software maintenance releases.
Below are a couple of photos of the original "Project Ginger" firmware team taken a few months before the Good Morning America reveal. I'm the tall, bearded one in black shorts. The center photo is the Gen2 production machine.
Designed and implemented HVAC furnace control firmware.
Project Leader for the successful submission of a micro-controller-based gas ignition product line in compliance with the UL 1998 software safety requirements.
Designed and implemented real-time software applications for use in embedded systems to provide feedback for process control instrumentation in safety critical areas of industrial environments.
Refractometers, X-Ray Gauges, CO2 Analyzers, Black Liquor Recovery Boiler Monitors
This project required learning not only new web technologies but also various air purification technologies. Much of the work has included writing technical content and numerous ongoing blogs about air purifiers.
It was a tutorial built around a real physical system that housed a feedback loop using a custom circuit board with an 8051 micro that drove a DC motor and potentiometer. It connected to a PC Windows Application via an RS-232 serial port.
With the PC interface the system doubled as a real PID controller with an input port and both a 0-10v and 4-20ma output signal for complete closed loop control of a process.
Below is a small sample of the original text, in the Roman alphabet in ASCII codes, created by a UBS/Academic research project. It’s the Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 1:
_1.1 *)EN
Word for word English would be: "In beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was toward the God, and God was the Logos."
My translation software coverted that text and displayed the output in Biblical Greek using custom digitized fonts and had full interlinear capability.
That was groundbreaking at the time.
In native Greek it would be: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. – Westcott/Hort
It’s amazing how easy it is to display it in Greek today. The above is a quick copy and paste. Not so in 1986!
A few months after this photo was taken I scored 3,213,170 points in another tournament :)