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Things I enjoy doing and seem to be good at
My long and winding career path
Projects and talks I'm proud of
Some thoughts I've written down
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Even my college experience was long and winding
University of Virginia
B.S. Systems Engineering • B.A. Economics • GPA: 3.8
Thesis: "Design and Implementation of an Automated Anomaly Detection System for Crime"
I feel fortunate to have studied under a legend, Don Brown, who was teaching us AI methods long before they became trendy.
Came to UVA to study Chemical Engineering (2003)
Original academic plan
Started with a focus on chemical processes and engineering fundamentals
Interned as an Architectural Draftsman (2004)
Experience in design and technical drawing
Learned about building systems and the importance of rigor in architectural work
Built a popular course evaluations website (2005)
Web project with significant user adoption
Got my first taste of building something that people loved to use (and is still around today!)
Started a successful web development consulting company (2006)
An idea with friends turned full-fledged business
Learned all sorts of real-world things, and was continually delighted when people paid us money
Received Dual Bachelor's Degrees (2007)
Systems Engineering + Economics
Pivoted because I enjoyed the intersection of technology, data, and policy in these other two majors
Started MS Systems Engineering (2007)
Research focus: Automated anomaly detection
Dove deeper into the data science work I had started in undergrad
Dropped out to work at a startup (2008)
First employee at Hotelicopter
Worked on a cool problem with talented founders who let me take risks and try new things
Have had a fun career path since (2009+)
Technical foundation + Business acumen
Have experienced success across startups, corporate, and government roles