Welcome to my new WordPress-powered Shodor work site.
Education:
I was homeschooled from 1st through 12th grades, graduating in 1998.
Currently, I am majoring in Computer Information Systems at Elon University with a minor in Computer Science. As of 8 Dec 06, I can’t not graduate. Before attending Elon, I attended Hudson Valley Community College in Troy NY from Fall 1999 through my graduation in Spring 2001 with an AAS in Computer Information Systems.
Work History:
My first job out of high school was with Intermagnetics General Corporation where I worked in the Technology Development Group as a ‘High-Temperature Superconductor Temporary Intern’. Basically, that meant I was available to do anything they needed, and they thought I could do, or could be trained to perform. The two main projects I worked on during my 8 month contract with them were building an HTS Fault Current Limiter, and assembling Downleads for the CERN Supercollider in Switzerland.
An FCL is a giant surge protector for power substations, and the 3-phase unit we built from HTS has been in operation in Southern California since early 1999. The pair of downleads we built for CERN were designed to take 13,000 Amps at room temperature down to the supercollider in 5 feet, and to a temperature of -271° Celsius (-456° Fahrenheit). The HTS tape we worked with operates in liquid nitrogen (-200° C), but becomes progressively better in terms of current-carrying capacity as the temperature drops. The experimental pair we built and delivered in mid-1999 have been in use (at least experimentally) since delivery.
After my term at IGC was done, I took a couple months off before beginning college. During my 3rdsemester at HVCC (Sep 2000), I began working part time for Hertz Rent-A-Car in Latham NY, at the Albany International Airport, where I worked as a Vehicle Service Attendant cleaning cars until May 2003, when I moved to central NC to begin school at Elon.
Part way through my first semester at Elon (Oct 2003), I started working here at Shodor as a student intern. I began my tenure at Shodor proofreading, editing, and developing curriculum materials. Including my stint working for Sigma Xi as an intern on contract from Shodor to SX, I have worked for Shodor in some fashion for over three years now.
I also do freelance PC service for students, friends, co-workers, etc.
If you’re interested in my resume, you can download a Word version of it here.
Hobbies:
There are several activities I enjoy participating in, and some qualify as hobbies. I enjoy helping people move. I have joined many moving events back home in Albany NY, and several since moving here to NC. It’s the only time, generally, when people will let you go through their entire house, since it all has to go to their next abode.
I also enjoy collecting interesting bladed instruments. I have an expanding collection of throwing, hunting, fighting, and folding knives, and am always on the lookout for new (and some old) designs that look cool, or are well suited to their stated purpose.
Another activity I have been engaged in for some time is teaching. I had a couple C++ students back home in NY, but teaching via the internet turned out to not be as simple as I had expected, and they have both put programming on hold for now. I have done tutoring for some friends of mine over the past couple years, aiming towards them improving test results. I have also done for-hire tutoring at my last school, and kept tutoring one person even after I left HVCC.