A creative user-experience engineer who
bridges the gaps between management
initiatives, abstract research, and practical
solutions. Exceptionally broad background
including degrees in interaction design,
electrical engineering, music theory, and
the history of science. Adept at taking
projects from the concept stage to
production. Excellent collaborator with a
history of motivating teammates, attending
to details, and meeting deadlines.

Freelance: Design and maintain web sites, including the site for Oscar- and Grammy-winning artist Randy Newman.

• Randy Newman
• Willow Pond Films

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Freelance: Wrote "Multimedia," Chapter 14 in Windows 98 Professional Reference (New Riders, 1998).

• Windows 98 Professional Reference at Amazon
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Freelance: Wrote "Working with MIDI," Chapter 11 in Windows 98 Multimedia (Que, 1999)

• Windows 98 Multimedia at Amazon
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Enhanced mobile-device usability by designing user interactions (flows, wireframes, mockups, and simulations) for multimedia applications.

 

The illustration on the right is a section of a simple UI flow.

The text in this illustration has been blurred intentionally.

Shortened the software development cycle by more than 50% on the $2000 AURA mobile phone by being the first to bring Agile concepts and tools (e.g. wikis) to CXD, insuring the quick and accurate creation of phone Layout Requirement Specifications (i.e. blueprints).

 

The illustration on the right is one section of a simple layout requirement specification.

The text in this illustration has been blurred intentionally.

Created new competitive advantages for Motorola by researching and designing haptic (touch) user experiences for future generations of mobile devices.

Fostered a more collaborative development process by negotiating media improvements with other teams worldwide (e.g. China, India, Brazil, and Russia) and training coworkers in the use of web-based collaboration tools.

 

The diagram on the right was part of a document that defined one project's organizational flow.

The text in this illustration has been blurred intentionally.

Products to which I contributed.

• Aura
• ROKR E8
• Moto U9
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Specialized in audio and haptic user interfaces, design thinking, and design management.

• Master's Thesis (PDF, 12 MB):
  Motion Picture Moods for Geeks and Non-Musicians An Automated, Intelligent Music-Generation System
• Kudos:
  A letter of reference from HumanCentered, 2006 (PDF)
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Quickly created prototype web sites—using Plone and Microsoft's .NET—for ALTEC and its partners.

Facilitated ALTEC delivery of innovative software tools to educators around the country by setting up and maintaining more than ten Plone sites for various ALTEC initiatives.

• A sample Altec Plone home page
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Enhanced the sense of site-owner equity by training ALTEC project leaders to become the content managers of particular sites.

This is an example .NET page from the KAN-DIS project.

• A sample data entry page
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Helped the Biodiversity Research Center (BRC) team win a series of NSF grants by architecting, coding, and creating content for the BRC's web sites (e.g. Specify, KU Informatics, and Lifemapper)

• SpecifySoftware.Org
• Specify home page with original banner
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Enhanced significantly the usability of BRC's grant-funded Specify museum collection management software by designing, prototyping, and testing a wide variety of user-interface variations.

Reduced development costs and increased efficiency by promoting the use of collaboration-enhancing software such as Plone and Microsoft SharePoint.

• Lifemapper background article (PDF, 2.6 MB)
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Covered all the bases by writing print-oriented documentation, designing graphics, and supervising contractor work.

• The University of Kansas Bioinformatics site
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Boosted sales of Euronet’s integrated transaction-management software products as the UI design lead, crafting demonstration web browser, mobile phone, and PDA interfaces.

Decreased time to market and enhanced product consistency by managing the documentation and quality-assurance teams.

• Euronet prototype UI screen shots
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Provided extensive user guidance by writing and illustrating documents for the full range of Euronet's readership--from sales literature to end-user manuals to highly technical developer-oriented documentation.

Authored award-winning online help, printed user's manuals, and technical guides for Netopia's Timbuktu Pro and Netopia Virtual Office remote control programs (Windows and Macintosh versions).

• Apple Guide screen shots from Timbuktu Pro (1996)
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Expanded the global reach of Netopia's products by supervising the localization of the documentation into French, German, Spanish, and Japanese.

Awards from the Society for Technical Communication

• 1999 Denver: Distinguished Award for the Apple Guide online help, Merit Award for the printed Getting Started Guide, Achievement Award for the printed At-a-Glance card, Timbuktu Pro 4.8 (Macintosh)
• 1997 Kansas City: Merit Award, Timbuktu Pro 3.0 (Macintosh) Apple Guide online help
• 1996 Kansas City: Distinguished and Best of Show Award, Timbuktu Pro 1.1 (Windows) online help

Two Examples and one Kudos

• Netopia Virtual Office Getting Started Guide (HTML), 1997
• Timbuktu Pro Getting Started Guide (PDF, 136 KB), 1995
• A Farallon (a.k.a. Netopia) Performance Appraisal from 1996 (PDF)
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Expanded and centralized access to Intel's microprocessor QA processes by creating the popular Product Qualification (PQ) Intel intranet site.

Simplified the microprocessor QA process by developing the VBA-driven PQTool.

Attracted new customers by developing the sound set for Gulbransen's General MIDI chip set and creating effective demonstration sequences that leveraged those sounds.

A letter of reference from Gulbransen, circa 1994 (PDF)

Augmented Gulbransen's bottom line by efficiently managing the production of, and handling customer service for, Gulbransen's line of acoustic piano MIDI adapters and electronic music products.

Turned PianoDisc products into world-class musical instruments by designing, managing the production of, and creating MIDI demonstration sequences for PianoDisc’s very successful microprocessor-controlled player-piano systems.

Enhanced the ease of installation and use of PianoDisc products by writing and illustrating user guides and technical manuals.

Two Letters of Reference and one Spec Sheet

• Letter of reference from PianoDisc (PDF), 1993
• Letter of reference from Design Labs (PDF), 1993
• A 1996-vintage PDS128 specification sheet

Two MIDI sequences from the early 1990s

My 1992 MIDI arrangement of Kenny Dorham's "Blue Bossa." It was distributed as a PianoDisc demonstration sequence.

My 1994 MIDI arrangement of Bedřich Smetana's "Skočná" from The Bartered Bride.

Specialized in the history of science and technology between 1870 and 1950.

Studied ancient, early-modern, and modern science, 19th- and 20th-century intellectual history, and the philosophy of science.

Passed reading proficiency examinations in German, French, and Latin.

Developed and taught the class "Science and Technology from 1870 to 1950."

Assisted with research and class lectures for many other scientific subjects, covering everything from Albert (Einstein) to Zeno.

Performed as a computer consultant (MS-DOS and Macintosh) and dBASE programmer for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Wrote the first version of Commbase for Dr. Steven Livesey.

Awards

• John H. Patten Memorial Chamber of Commerce Scholarship, Norman, Oklahoma, 1989
• Rockefeller Foundation Program Graduate Assistant Award, Norman, Oklahoma, 1988 and 1989.

Conducted lecture and lab sessions in digital electronics, microprocessors, lab instruments, mathematics, pneumatics, semiconductor devices, and DC/AC electronics.

Earned the Outstanding Service Award for Teaching at Kansas City Kansas Community College in 1987.

Studied orchestration, music history, jazz improvisation, counterpoint, composition, piano, bassoon, organ, film music, and the business of music.

Set up, operated, and maintained sound reinforcement equipment.

Rebuilt, repaired, tuned and moved pianos, harpsichords, and electronic keyboards.

Played keyboard in a variety of jazz ensembles.

Studied physics, U.S. history, and PASCAL programming.

Analyzed Sidewinder air-to-air missile performance data.

Studied jazz guitar, literature, and philosophy.

Studied circuit theory, advanced math and statistics, electronic music, physics, acoustics, computer engineering, and various liberal arts.

DJ-ed on the student radio station (KSDB-FM) for two years and wrote humor columns for the student paper (The Collegian) for two years.